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22 | July 18, 2019 | the frankfort station dining out frankfortstation.com The Dish Flavor, homemade food key to Frankfort’s El Motor Nuria Mathog, Contributing Editor At El Motor Mexican Restaurant, the focus is on family. The four members of the Martinez clan who run the Frankfort restaurant are united by a common goal: encouraging area families to keep coming back for flavorful Mexican cuisine made from scratch. “My dad has been cooking for more than 25 years,” El Motor owner Ernesto Martinez said. “He’s always been our cook, so about two years ago he wanted to start up his own restaurant, and we’ve all worked in the restaurant industry — me and my sister and my brother.” Each member of the family plays a different role at the restaurant, Martinez said. His father, Gabriel, cooks up the dishes in the back, while his brother Valentine and sister Gaby help out as servers. “We’ve always been familyoriented people,” said Martinez, who added that working with his father and siblings has been a great experience. Frankfort’s location and business community made it an ideal site for the restaurant, Martinez said. “We knew people that started businesses here,” Martinez said. “And we live close, 10 to 15 minutes from here.” El Motor offers traditional Mexican staples such as tacos and tostadas. Many of the items can be purchased as standalone dishes, as well as part of a dinner option that includes rice and beans on the side, and the restaurant also offers specials such as half-price margaritas from 4-8 p.m. Fridays. The tacos, fajitas, burritos and quesadillas are among the restaurant’s most popular items, Martinez said. The fajitas de res ($12.95) feature steak strips cooked with tomatoes, green peppers and onions, and are plated with rice, El Motor Mexican Restaurant 9645 Lincolnway Lane Suite 107, Frankfort Hours • 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Tuesday- Thursday and Sunday • 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Friday and Saturday • Closed Monday For more information ... Phone (815) 464-5219 Web: www.facebook.com/ elmotormexi canrestaurant/ beans and salad, then served with the customer’s choice of tortillas on the side. “With every table, we bring out our own chips and salsa,” Martinez added. “We make our own chips here, our hot and mild sauce also, we make it here, and our pico [de gallo]; it’s very popular.” All of the items on the restaurant’s menu are made from scratch, including the drink selection, which includes horchata, a strawberry lemonade and agua de jamaica, as well as two types of licuados, or smoothies. “We don’t make it with ice cream,” Martinez said, of the licuados. “We make it with real strawberries or bananas, real fruit, and then we mix it with ice and milk.” Martinez said the restaurant began offering delivery services through Doordash two months ago. “It’s really helping us grow and gain new customers,” he said. Ultimately, Martinez said, the restaurant’s goal is to create a family-friendly environment. Many of the restaurant’s customers are families who drop by after their child’s baseball game, and El Motor also offers a 10-percent discount to customers with a Supporters in Area Music, or SIAM card, which benefits At El Motor Mexican Restaurant in Frankfort, the fajitas de res ($12.95), made of steak strips cooked with tomatoes, green peppers and onions, are plated with rice, beans and salad and served with the diner’s choice of tortillas on the side. Photos by Nuria Mathog/22nd Century Mediav The steak tacos are sold for $2.20 each with lettuce, cheese and tomato. the Lincoln-Way Community High School District 210 Music Booster organizations, he said. “I like seeing that people love our food, and they keep coming back,” Martinez said. “They kind of became like family, because they know my dad, they know it’s a family restaurant. ... It’s the relationship that you build with people in Frankfort, that we build with them.”
frankfortstation.com puzzles the frankfort station | July 18, 2019 | 23 crosstown CROSSWORD & Sudoku The crosstowns: Frankfort, Homer Glen, Lockport, Mokena, New Lenox, Orland Park, Tinley Park Crossword by Myles Mellor and Cindy LaFleur Across 1. Just barely 5. First name in fairy tales 9. Rhyme for “stash,” appropriately 14. Fashionable clothing store 15. Long, long time (variation) 16. Bypass 17. Book part 18. Court group 19. Bogotá babies 20. James of jazz 21. Homer Glen neighbor 23. Western or eastern 25. Civil War soldier 28. A Manning 29. Picasso’s country 31. Evil soldier in “The Lord of the Rings” 34. Finish 38. Automobile pioneer 39. Trouble 41. Land of opportunity 42. Misanthrope 43. Gas seller 44. Kind of line 46. Man-mouse connection 47. Deli order 50. Omega or flaxseed 52. Spot for a tattoo, perhaps 53. PJs 59. It runs north to south through Homer Glen 61. Rent-__ (airport service) 63. You might talk to her often at home 65. Halftime lead, e.g. 66. Flower receptacle 67. Kind of acid 68. They often clash in Hollywood 69. “So what ___ is new?” 70. Societal division 71. Change for a $50, maybe 72. Comes out with Down 1. Legally qualified 2. Choppers, so to speak 3. Weaken 4. Knock down 5. Arrests 6. Fable maker 7. Tally mark 8. Chinese calendar animal 9. River craft 10. State 11. Lowest female voice 12. Get going 13. Publishing execs 22. Cousin of ante- 24. “Why should ___ you?” 26. Terminator 27. Big city in Iraq 30. Blue grass 31. Scarlett of Tara 32. More sparse 33. Crunchy vegtables 35. French nobleman 36. G.I. entertainers 37. Video camera action 40. Bean 42. 1967 musical 45. Much-admired woman 48. Intertwine 49. Zero 51. Fall ground cover 54. Receive 55. ___ podge (mess) 56. Append 57. La ___ opera house 58. Smart-mouthed 60. Escape route 62. Roger of “Cheers” 63. Beginner instruction in a subject 64. Mauna ___ (Hawaiian volcano) How to play Sudoku Each Sudoku puzzle consists of a 9x9 grid that has been subdivided into nine smaller grids of 3x3 squares. To solve the puzzle each row, column and box must contain each of the numbers 1 to 9. LEVEL: Medium Crossword by Myles Mellor and Susan Flanagan answers FRANKFORT Pete Mitchell’s Bar & Grill (21000 Frankfort Square Road, Frankfort; (815) 464-8100) ■6-8 ■ p.m. Wednesdays: Free N’ Fun Bar Game. Free to play. ORLAND PARK Traverso’s Restaurant (15601 S Harlem Ave, Orland Park; (708) 532- 2220) ■5-7 ■ p.m. Mondays: Free bar bingo TINLEY PARK 350 Brewing (7144 W. 183rd St., Tinley Park (708) 825- 7339) ■6:30 ■ p.m. First Thursday of each month: Laugh Riot. Cost is $25 and includes dinner, two beers and a comedy show. For tickets, email todd@350brewing. com. LOCKPORT Strike N Spare II (811 Northern Drive, Lockport; (708) 301- 1477) ■9:30 ■ p.m.-12:30 a.m. Mondays: Quartermania ■10 ■ p.m.-midnight Saturdays: Cosmic Bowl MOKENA The Alley Grill and Tap House (18700 S. Old LaGrange Road, Mokena; (708) 478-3610) ■9 ■ p.m. Tuesdays: Karaoke nEW LENOX Hickory Creek Brewing Company (1005 W Laraway Rd, New Lenox. (779) 803- 3974) ■3 ■ p.m. -close Fridays: Happy Hour from 3 to 6 p.m. followed by Smokin’ Z BBQ food truck from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. and live music. To place an event in The Scene, email a.datta@22ndcenturymedia. com.
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