Traditional Mexican food is one of the most easily distinguishable cuisines, known for its vibrancy and richness. Bold and aromatic flavor profiles mingle on the tongue to create a culinary experience unlike any other.
Salvador “Sal” Alamilla, owner and executive chef of Amano Restaurante in Caldwell, Idaho, understands this abundance of flavor more than most. Born in Michoacan, Mexico, and raised in Santa Ana, California, since age 5, Sal’s ties to Mexican food and heritage run deep.
Sal started his career in architecture. He didn’t intend to own a restaurant until he moved to Idaho and found himself yearning to share food from his childhood with others.
“We thought that the people of Idaho needed a restaurant of food that I grew up eating,” Sal says. “I wasn’t experiencing it anywhere, and we thought it was important that people got to experience it.”
When Sal mentioned this desire to his wife, Rebecca “Becca” Alamilla, she was initially skeptical.
“He told me he had this dream of opening a restaurant one day, and I did not always believe him at the very beginning,” Becca says. “My response always was, ‘Well, in order to do something like that, you’re going to need experience.’”
With his dream propelling him, Sal decided to get a part-time job as a dishwasher in a Boise restaurant.
“That’s when I knew he was really serious and was going to be opening a restaurant one day,” Becca says. “Not many people would say, ‘I’m going to start from the ground up and learn how to do everything.’”
Within three years, Sal had worked his way up from dishwasher to executive chef.
Sticking to Tradition
Amano translates to “made by hand,” the restaurant’s overarching philosophy since its inception in August 2019.
“That’s exactly how we run it,” Sal says. “For everything on the menu, we always ask ourselves, ‘Are we keeping true to tradition as much as possible?’ That creates more labor and more costs, but we felt that that was important to keep the flavor of the area as close to traditional as possible.”
The menu is inspired by Southern California, Michoacan and Oaxacan styles of Mexican food. According to Sal, creating traditional food can be incredibly time-consuming and laborious but crucial to the meals served at Amano. The process of making tortillas from scratch and paying attention to each ingredient is akin to how Sal’s mother and grandmother cooked.
“There are people that connect with the food in a very emotional way, which we love, and that’s what we’re here for,” Sal says. “And then there are people that didn’t grow up that way and they get to experience it for the first time. They’re just in awe, like, ‘I’ve never had food like this. I didn’t know that Mexican food was like this.’ And that’s what keeps us going and keeps us motivated to just keep pushing.”
According to co-owners Sal and Becca, the launch of Amano coincided with the needs of many in Caldwell and the surrounding areas.
“I think the whole concept of Amano was something that was really wanted,” Becca says. “I think that’s part of why we’ve been successful. We came at that pivotal time when everybody was really wanting that food that reminds them of home but just didn’t have the time to make it on a daily basis.”
Embracing the Community
Sal and Becca located the restaurant in Caldwell to be a part of the larger Latino community. While working as a fifth-grade teacher in Homedale—where she grew up—Becca also realized the importance of representation in small towns.
“I really felt like I saw a lot of my students have big dreams,” she says. “And especially a lot of my Latino students didn’t see themselves reflected in the community as business owners or managers. I did notice there was an opportunity to have that be represented. There was also an opportunity to help propel that social change.”
Since opening Amano, Sal and Becca have seen the town flourish around them. According to Sal, new businesses in Caldwell have been inspired by Amano’s story and its success.
“It’s important for us to remain [in Caldwell] because it has developed a following, and people associate going to Amano with going to Caldwell,” Sal says. “It does bring a lot of new guests to the city of Caldwell. There’s a lot of people that have told us, ‘I haven’t been in Caldwell for about 10 years, and I came here because of this.’ It means a lot to us.”