Socorro Herrera
Out in Hernandez, just north of Espanola by the side of the road on US 84/285, is a magic little spot called Socorro's, owned and operated by Socorro Herrera, who was born and raised in Hernandez and whose family has owned the building since she was a child. Socorro's is a fixture in Northern New Mexico, a local landmark frequented by cops and road- trippers alike. Herrera, now 80, has owned the restaurant for 18 years, but this is her second career.
Her first and primary life was in music; as a singer, she was famous for ranchera tunes. She married her husband, Lorenzo Herrera, who plays trumpet, at age 16. They cut their first album in 1978 and for many years had a band called Socorro y Los Sueños, while also raising three boys and a girl.
Herrera first started singing when she was 5, when her father would plunk her on the counter at the family grocery/liquor store, which occupied the building where her restaurant stands now, and have her sing for customers. "All my family is in the music business," she says. "We used to play all over. People are still playing my records."
Socorro's is Herrera's first and only restaurant. She didn't even know how to cook when she got married - living at a family-run grocery store made it less-than- urgent for her to learn. When she and her husband moved to Los Angeles for a few years after they got married, she had to give herself a crash course in all things home economics.
"I didn't know how to cook, I didn't know how to sew, I didn't know anything," she laughs. "My dad and mom had a liquor store here, so I had potato chips, I had Vienna sausage, I had candies. I was lost. I learned the hard way."
The New Mexican food at Socorro's comes primarily from family recipes, with the food all done to taste Socorro's taste. The menu is voluminous, encompassing New Mexican favorites (enchiladas, tacos, rarely found chicos, combo plates, and so forth) as well as more diner-y American items, including pizzas and steaks. No alcohol is served.
"At first I kept getting people from Colorado, Nambe. Eighty percent of my clientele were out-of-staters. Locals probably figured I didn't know how to cook, all I knew how to do was to sing." Now, of course, Socorro's is legendary, well worth the drive to have fresh, crispy sopapillas on her vast back party patio.