New family restaurant in Crystal Lake offers Mexican treats

Elisa Boyso said business is bustling at her new Mexican restaurant.

Boyso opened La Mega Premium La Michoacana last month at 19 E. Berkshire Drive, Crystal Lake.

The family restaurant offers more than its 4-year-old sister site, La Michoacana, 135 N. Main St., which sells snacks and ice cream treats.

La Mega Premium La Michoacana offers homemade frozen confections along with homemade tacos and burritos.

“Business has been great. We’ve had a great response,” said Boyso, who co-owns the restaurant with husband, Art Salinas. “Everything is homemade. We make homemade salsas, the green, spicy and nonspicy.”

Boyso said she’s a stickler for cleanliness and organization. The new restaurant is open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday through Sunday.

“It takes a lot of prep work,” she said. “We’re here early in the morning planning everything. We cook small batches so everything is fresh. Quality and freshness is everything to us.”

Boyso said their restaurants are named after Michoacán, the Mexican state that Boyso said started the tradition of blending fruit pieces, pure sugar and cream together.

“It’s where this type of ice cream was born,” she said.

Among her more than 30 ice cream and sorbet flavors are caramel, birthday cake, watermelon and raspberry, which Boyso said quickly is becoming a customer favorite.

Still, their most popular offering remains the mangonada, a bright orange-and-red frozen treat made of mango sorbet and topped with lime juice, chamoy sauce and chili powder if requested. A tamarind-dipped straw can be added for tartness.

“Everybody comes looking for it,” Boyso said.

Future plans

Boyso said she hopes to start catering for parties and experiment with more exotic ingredients such a tripe. This week, Boyso began serving tongue tacos.

“We’re going to expand our menu,” she said. “People have been asking for tripe tacos.”

Boyso said they’re also in the process of getting a liquor license so they can sell liquor-infused frozen bars.

“We’ve had a great demand for wine, margarita and tequila sunrise bars,” she said. “Some people having a party want a red wine bar or a tequila sunrise bar or a margarita bar. We’re different.”