Small Business Spotlight: Little Tijuana Neighborhood Lounge

Article by Becky Fillinger, photos provided

Travis SerbusTravis Serbus is co-owner of the revamped Little Tijuana, and he invites you to plan a visit to the new location at 17 E 26th Street. We talked to him about his interest in the restaurant business, the vision behind the restaurant’s rebirth and a drink you must try!

Q:  You’re owner or part owner of two Minneapolis restaurants, Petit Leon and Little Tijuana. What prompted your interest in restaurant ownership? How did you get your start in the restaurant business?

A:  I started working in restaurants when I was 15 years old. I started in the back of house washing dishes and line cooking before moving to front of house. I enjoyed the fast-paced environment, camaraderie, new friends, providing hospitality to guests. What prompted my interest in ownership was probably mostly hubris. As I got older my interest in ownership became things like providing well-paying restaurant careers and adding something unique to the culture of our city.

Q:  Little Tijuana was recently awarded “Best Comeback Bar“ by the 2022 Eater Awards – congratulations! The award mentions that you and your partners brought the restaurant roaring back to life with “scrappy panache.” Can you share with us the vision and philosophy your team had for revamping of Little Tijuana?

A:  We knew the previous history of Little Tijuana and wanted to hold true to some of the soul of the previous business but also put our own little twist on it. We wanted to ramp up the quality of the food and beverage programs but keep the relaxed atmosphere. We wanted co-owner Dan Manosack to have a platform for his cooking; we're really excited about his future. For the interior I tried to design it to feel like a southwest dive bar. Every aspect of the startup was totally DIY. I was the general contractor and designer, and did a lot of the interior work myself. I'm not qualified to do any of those things. Ultimately, we wanted to honor Little T's past while re-creating it for a new generation and provide something for the city that we didn't think existed anywhere.

Q:  Several articles about you mention that you are a cocktail aficionado. Do you agree with that label? How do you design a cocktail menu for your individual restaurant properties?

A:  I don't know about that label. I think I have a pretty decent palate and know how to set up a bar fairly well. I design each cocktail menu based on the restaurant concept and what the space of the bar allows. Things like the food offerings, how much we want to spend on labor, and beverage price points all factor into the cocktail menu. Little Tijuana was really fun to create because we were so handcuffed. We have a tiny 6-seat bar with hardly any backbar space and very little cold storage available, and we didn't have money to spend on redoing the bar or adding new equipment. We wanted to make an enjoyable and nostalgic cocktail menu with drinks that we're quick and easy to prepare to allow for us to only have one or two bartenders working because you can't fit anyone else behind that cramped bar. We can be at full capacity at the restaurant and one talented bartender can make drinks for that entire restaurant. I'm really proud of it.

Q:  What’s your favorite cocktail from all of your restaurants? Would you share the recipe with us? 

A:  I like all of the cocktails for different reasons, but I'm really into one at Petite Leon called Verde. It has a lot of different flavors going on but they all shine in their own way without any of them bullying the other ingredients. It's well balanced and it's very easy to drink. Here's the recipe:

3/4 oz Luna Cupreata Mezcal

3/4 oz Ida Graves Aquavit

3/4 oz Pineapple Syrup

1/2 oz Ancho Reyes Poblano Liqueur

   1 oz tomatillo juice

1/2 oz lime juice

Shaken and strained over ice and then topped with cava/sparkling wine.

Q:  Sounds exquisite! What’s on the horizon for you in 2023?

A:  We're working on a few things. Nothing that we can officially say yet but there are a couple new projects on the way.

Q:   We are interested – so how may we follow your news?

A:   Stop into the restaurants and say hi! Or, check Instagram.