La Mexicana Taqueria Is Coming Back to Highland as Don Raúl's

Raúl Hernandez was 31 years old when he opened his first restaurant in Highland back in 1984. Except nobody called it Highland then. It was the Northside. Different name, different neighborhood, same corner of Denver that a lot of people have opinions about now.

That restaurant became La Mexicana Taqueria. And for decades it was one of those Northside spots regulars just knew. Not a concept. Not a pop-up. A family place.

Now it is coming back. And here is the part that makes this one worth your attention.

The daughter is taking the helm

The space at 2538 West 32nd Avenue is reopening as Don Raúl's Mexican Cuisine, and it is being run by the next generation of the Hernandez family. Alejandra Hernandez is the one steering it. The new name is a tribute to her dad.

So let me back up and give you the timeline, because it matters.

Raúl opened in the neighborhood in 1984. By 1995 he bought the building a block away, the one at 2538 West 32nd, and debuted La Mexicana Taqueria there the following year in 1996. That is the address people remember. That is the corner.

The family took the space back on September 21, 2026, and they have been moving fast. As of October 28, they were waiting on the food license from the City of Denver. Alejandra had hoped to open by the first week of November. Anybody who has ever dealt with a City of Denver license knows how that goes. When it clears, the opening date gets announced on the restaurant's Facebook page. That is the one to watch.

The decor is original. That is not a gimmick.

Here is the detail that got me. The decor inside is not some designer's idea of what a Mexican restaurant should look like. Alejandra's mother and grandmother brought those pieces up from small towns in Mexico, and they are still in the space. Still on the walls. Nobody gutted it.

The family is Eloisa and Raúl Hernandez and their daughters, Daniella and Alejandra. So when you walk in, you are walking into something three generations actually built with their own hands and their own hometowns.

The menu is staying intact too. The original La Mexicana recipes. What is changing is just how it reads. Alejandra is reorganizing it in a more modern way, with more detailed descriptions so you actually know what you are ordering. The food stays. The presentation of the menu catches up to 2026. Fair trade, if you ask me.

This story was first reported by Molly Martin for Westword on October 28, and credit where it is due, that is where the details came from.

Why this is bigger than one taqueria

Look, Highland has turned over a lot. Walk 32nd Avenue today and you will see the proof. The housing stock tells the whole story. The old Northside brick bungalows and Denver squares that sold for not much in the 80s and 90s now trade at prices that would have made 1984 Raúl spit out his coffee. The neighborhood got discovered, then got expensive, then got a second wave of people who wanted the charm without the grit.

And in a stretch like that, the places that disappear first are usually the family restaurants. The rent goes up. The founders age out. The kids go do other things. The corner becomes a boutique or a brewery or a building with a rooftop.

So when a family actually takes a space back, keeps the recipes, keeps the decor their grandmother carried across a border, and names it after their dad, that is not a small thing. That is a neighborhood holding onto its own history instead of letting it get paved over.

Most people do not realize how rare that has become on the Northside. The independent spots with roots this deep are a short list and getting shorter.

What to do about it

If you were a La Mexicana regular, you already know what you lost and you already know what this means. If you are newer to Highland, this is your chance to eat at the place the neighborhood was built on before you knew it by its current name.

The address is 2538 W 32nd Ave, Denver, 80211. The old phone number was (303) 433-3008, though I would not go off that yet. Watch the Facebook page for the opening date, because once that food license clears, Alejandra is ready to go.

Hayley and I have watched a lot of good Front Range spots come and go, and the ones that come back almost never come back like this. Same building. Same family. Same food. Just a new name honoring the guy who started it all at 31.

Don Raúl's. 32nd and the Northside. Keep an eye on it.