Today we’d like to introduce you to Maria G. Landa and Gilberto Ramirez.
Maria, please share your story with us.
My husband Gilberto Ramirez and I started selling produce at Maxwell Street Market in the early 90’s along with Gilberto’s mother who started the business, in the year 1997 Basiliza Diaz (Gilberto’s mother), gave us the great idea of selling Mexican food instead of produce.
She planted the seed and we ventured it on our own. We’ve been apart of Maxwell Streets history original and new for many years, our children grew up here and when they were old enough they began working with us. At first our business didn’t have an actual name, we were just known as “Los del Mole” which translates to, “The ones with the Mole” (mole a traditional chocolate based Mexican dish). In 2000, we had our 3rd child, whom the business was then named after Rubi, our youngest daughter. Rubi is now 18 and also helps out in the family business. Everyday, we are humbled by how far we’ve come and we see many more years in our future. Our main priority has always been to make our customers feel as if they were eating at our home, every dish is made just as it would be for a family gathering, with so much love because as Mexican immigrants we understand how it feels to miss those home cooked meals our mothers, grandmothers or aunts made in our native country. We want everyone to feel like family and the love that goes into our cooking. Every recipe used was passed on to me by my mother in law, inspired by Guerrero, Mexico. We find so much gratification in greeting our customers old and new with the best dishes that we can offer, to us that is love and it’s a welcome into Rubi’s.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
We’d say for the most part it hasn’t been too bad, for every struggle or mistake there was always a lesson learned and that’s always how we tried to look at it. It’s taken a lot of work to get where we are at now and everyday we feel very blessed to have made it so far. We are also very excited about our future.
Rubi’s at Maxwell St. – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Every Sunday we set up at the historical Maxwell Street Market from 7am to 3pm, we specialize in Mexican street food, like the kind you’d find in the state of Guerrero, Iguala, Guerrero and Buenavista de Cuéllar Guerrero to be exact. When we began, we were known for our Mole Rojo, it quickly progressed to the way we make our Tortillas and now it’s turn into every menu item is popular but the Al pastor is what we’d say people are raving about at this moment. We are so proud to have made it so far together as a family, with our children now getting much more involved and bringing in a new fresh perspective. We’ve also always been very lucky to count with amazing employees who are also family. We’ve all seen Rubi’s grow and we are sometimes still in awe of what’s happened in the last 20 years. We are proud to be spreading our love for Mexican food to others and showing them our take on Mexican dishes. We are very humble and with so much humility we say that what sets us apart is the priority to only serve the freshest ingredients and never trying to cut corners because at the end of the day quality is always much more important than quantity and we take pride in only serving what we ourselves would eat and would serve our family. That’s how we show love, appreciation and respect to every single person that goes into Rubi’s.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
Every milestone is a proud moment, we wouldn’t be able to narrow it down to just one. We’ve met so many amazing people during these 20 years, ranging from our regulars, new customers and very single person that has ever interviewed us. We’ve learned so much from every experience and are very thankful.
Pricing:
- Tacos range from $3 to $3.50
- Quesadillas range from $3.50 to $4.50
Contact Info:
- Address: 800 S. Desplaines St. (Booth A21)
- Phone: 7733189526
- Email: rubismaxwellstreetmarket@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rubis_maxwellst/
- Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/Rubis-at-the-New-Maxwell-Street-Market-181746865195315/
- Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/rubis_maxwellst?lang=en
- Yelp: https://m.yelp.com/biz/rubis-at-the-new-maxwell-street-market-chicago
Image Credit:
Rubi’s, Evelyn Ramirez Landa
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