Villa Corona Napa is a Mexican family legacy
By Lisa Adams Walter
NAPA, Calif. — In the 1960s Ismael and Guillermina Villaseñor left their home state of Jalisco, Mexico, to begin a new life in San Francisco. In the early ’70s they moved to Napa and opened the Villa Azteca restaurant. Longing for the flavors of their homeland, the couple served up the fresh, authentic tastes of their native country – and their family is still doing the same thing today.
Initially the restaurant was roughly where the produce department of Trader Joe’s Market in the north Napa Bel Aire Plaza shopping center is now located. Ismael drove to Dixon for the fresh milk to make Mexican cheeses such as queso fresco, and for 14 years he drove to San Francisco’s Mission District to sell directly to Mexican markets and immigrants that included Carlos Santana’s mother. All the while he operated Villa Azteca with his wife and five children.
Then in 1985 a spot opened in the southeastern corner of the Bel Aire complex. The Villaseñors decided to take a chance, and that is where Villa Corona is today. They changed the name of the restaurant to blend Guillermina’s maiden name, Corona, and Ismael’s family name, Villaseñor.
“At first, Villa Corona was simply a Mexican market,” said Carlos Villaseñor, the middle child of the five. “We sold tortillas, tortilla chips and traditional Mexican baked goods.”
There was less traffic in Napa at that time, and he recalled that the location was somewhat hidden behind a drive-through bank overhang. Business was difficult because people didn’t know that Villa Corona was even there.
“We struggled with the business,” he added.
That being the case, his father reinvented the business model by taking a cue from his San Francisco wholesale success. He took his children out to sell directly, traveling up and down the Napa Valley. They sold authentic Mexican food items that they made to immigrants and farmworkers and their families, connecting and building relationships with people who also missed the flavors of Mexico.
Carlos said they began at Villa Corona and drove up Silverado Trail in his father’s truck. The first stop was always at Regusci Winery, where they knew some people.
“Then we would head all the way up to Calistoga, and back down to Napa on Highway 29,” he recalled.
Eventually the bank overhang was demolished, revealing to Napans the hidden culinary gem. The Villaseñor family continued to add customers and grow the business into the restaurant that it is today. Yet while Napa has dramatically changed, Villa Corona has remained pretty much the same.
Today four of the five Villaseñor children run the business, serving communities in Napa, Sonoma and Solano counties. In addition to the original location in Napa, the operation now includes a restaurant in St. Helena, two in Vacaville and the burgeoning Villa Corona Catering company, which Carlos runs.
The longevity of a locally founded and still family-owned restaurant is both admirable and rare.
“Other than Buttercream Bakery,” Carlos said, “Our family’s restaurant business may be the only family-owned restaurant today that has been in business in Napa for more than 50 years.”
Along with his siblings, he grew up on South Coombs Street in Old Town Napa, and some of his earliest local memories are the walks through the neighborhoods to and from Shearer School.
Today a visit to Villa Corona in Napa is similar to stopping at the home of a longtime friend. The colors are bright and the authentic décor appropriately kitschy. Photos of Mexican folk heroes and old-time actors grace the walls, along with mirrors, memorabilia, sombreros, cerveza signs, and images of Our Lady of Guadalupe and Dia de Los Muertos masks — called calacas — that dot the space. Multicolored celebratory banners and handmade star-shaped metal lanterns hang from the ceiling, all providing a spectacle for diners who line up to order at the counter before making themselves at home either inside or at an outside umbrella-covered patio table.
It is still possible to pick up bags of tortillas and tortilla chips to go at Villa Corona, and the reasonably priced menu ($7.95-$23.95) features burritos, tacos, nachos, breakfast selections such as huevos rancheros and chilaquiles, and seafood dishes that include shrimp cocktail and fish tacos. On weekends specialty items such as menudo and birria are available.
“At Villa Corona the burritos are what people always want,” Carlos said. “The go-to is always the wet burrito, also the menudo, all of the shrimp dishes — especially the garlic shrimp — and the enchiladas.”
On the catering side of the business, the everyday Mexican fare is fancied up a bit to what they call a “nice casual” tone.
“The taco bar is the most popular catering item,” Carlos said. “We make handmade tortillas. We also serve starters such as mini spinach and mushroom tamales that are super-good, as well as mini sopitos.”
Wineries and wine clubs that host parties for their members are regular customers of Villa Corona Catering. In addition to the in-demand taco bar, chicken mole, burria made from veal, a variety of seafood dishes, Mexican wedding cookies and homemade flan (Guillermina’s family recipe) are served up all over the North Bay Area and beyond. Carlos said the catering company will travel anywhere, and they have even been invited to Mexico to cook for customers. Most of the business, however, is here in Wine Country.
Villa Corona has continuously given back to Napa by participating in fundraisers, donating to nonprofits, and hosting dine-and-donate events that benefit local groups and teams. Participation in annual events such as Hands Across the Valley and recently an event that honored Latinos hosted by Rep. Mike Thompson have made the business and the Villaseñor family an even more integral part of the Napa Valley community.
“Napa has changed drastically since we moved here from San Francisco,” Carlos said. “Before, nobody would stop in Napa. It was in the late ’80s and early ’90s when it changed and became the wine valley. Over the years it has gentrified.”
Carlos said that when he graduated from Vintage High School everybody wanted to move away.
“At that time nobody wanted to stay in Napa,” he said. “Now no one wants to leave.”
The siblings running the business do not anticipate that any of their children will carry on the legacy of Villa Corona, but Carlos said that is fine with them.
“Most of the kids in the next generation of our family have gone on to college,” he said. “They are now doing their own thing. I never put my daughter to work in the restaurant, and I am glad.”
He said he is grateful to have worked alongside his parents and proud that his daughter, a college senior currently studying in Spain, will graduate from Sonoma State University next year.
Villa Corona in Napa is located at 3614 Bel Aire Plaza in Napa and is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., Saturday and Sunday from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. For more information, visit VillaCoronaNapa.com, follow Villa Corona Restaurant in Napa on Instagram @VillaCoronaNapa and Villa Corona Catering on Instagram @VillaCoronaCatering.
Lisa Adams Walter is a writer, storyteller, editor and publicist who has been published in media outlets locally and nationally. A California wine country native, she brings intimate insight to an array of wine, food, arts, entertainment, lifestyle and travel stories.
Glad to learn this family restaurant history. Thanks!