Chattanooga Pulse

Nestled in the Los Altos mountainous region of the Mexican state of Jalisco is a town known as Jesus Maria. It’s a small town, barely more than 15,000 people.  It sits within a farming area, the most prominent crop being corn, but there are also wheat, beans, and agave, the plant used to make tequila.  Food cooked in the Los Altos region is centered on beef and chicken, with very little seafood because of its distance from the coast.

Restaurants there are usually small, with the owners living above them and only a few tables and a diner-style bar as seating—nothing too elaborate in this sleepy little area of Jalisco.  It is from here that the Fuentes family, proprietors of La Altena, hail.

The family arrived in Chattanooga almost 20 years ago, originally coming for a vacation.  They liked it so well they chose to make the Tennessee Valley their home.  After a lengthy process and legal meanderings, the Fuentes and their ten children settled in.  Says Maria Fuentes, daughter of La Altena founders and manager of the Main Street location, “Before [my parents] more »