La Una Cantina opened its doors Tuesday for the first time.
Executive chef and general manager Dean Wirkerman, 34, bounced between the front and back of house, checking in with staff as the first three customers sat at tables alongside Mexican-inspired murals.
The restaurant, located on the corner of Seventh Street and North Walnut Avenue, offers a menu of traditional Mexican dishes from beef barbacoa tacos to pork cochinita.
“We felt that the cuisine of Mexico is not being represented well, and that we could bring some amazing beverages, some amazing food, and do it better than anyone else,” Wickerman said.
Wirkerman said he spent the formative years of his career working in the kitchens of restaurant giants such as Charlie Trotter. Having trained exclusively in French restaurants, he said La Una Cantina is a challenge for him, despite being half-Mexican.
“It was an interesting experience to realize I’ve climbed this very high ladder, but I don’t even know the food of my people,” he said. “I went to Oaxaca and worked in a restaurant called El Criollo, and I gained my Mexican palette to paint with from that experience.”
His training at El Criollo has influenced the traditional Oaxaca cuisine of La Una Cantina. Staples such as tortillas, torta bread and salsa are made fresh daily, with an emphasis on quality of ingredients.
“We’re putting in the extra work that a lot of people don’t want to pay for,” Wirkerman said.
Towards the back, servers and bartenders hovered around a sleek, modern bar equipped with shelves upon shelves of spirits, anticipating the day’s crowd.
“We’re fresh squeezing everything behind the bar,” bar manager William Osterholt, 38, said. “Everything we do, we do with passion, but we do it from scratch.”
He also said the restaurant has one of the best tequila selections in Bloomington, and the most extensive selection of Mezcal, an agave-based liquor, in the state of Indiana.
Wirkerman’s goal for La Una Cantina is to provide an atmosphere that both Bloomington residents and people from major cities can enjoy. He hopes it will gain national recognition.
“There’s a lot of cultured people in Bloomington who are frustrated they don’t have those options, and we’re going to provide them,” Wirkerman said.
The management duo said they want to focus on the employee experience in addition to customer satisfaction. Having worked in hospitality for many years, both Osterholt and Wirkerman said they know what they to provide in a restaurant work environment and what they don’t.
Wirkerman said the culture of restaurant work tends to encourage negative behavior such as drugs, alcohol and bad mental health practices. He wants to move the industry forward by changing the standards. Osterholt, who said he has dealt personally with such things, couldn’t agree more.
“I’ve made it a personal mission of mine to really focus on mental health with my employees, specifically having a good work-balance life,” he said.
Osterholt plans to help workers by being an open-book and encourgaring positive outside of work activities.
Kyra Taylor, 20, who works full time serving and managing, said she left a different job to work at La Una Cantina. She said Wirkerman values respect and teamwork.
“I just feel like everyone should be talked to with respect," she said.
She said schedule flexibility makes La Una Cantina a great place to work as well as a great place to dine.
“We’re giving something that customers can be proud to bring their friends to,” Wirkerman said. “And we’re giving a place for a young father to come support his family.”
La Una Cantina is open 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday and 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday.
