Sal Y Limon Mexican Cuisine

When talking to Sal Y Limon co-owner Carolina Rivera, the word that comes up most often is “family.” And rightfully so; restaurants – and Mexican restaurants in particular – are in her blood, part of a family tradition that goes back to her formative years in Manzanillo.

“I grew up with my older sister and her husband, and they had a Mexican restaurant,” she recalls. “And I used to work with them all through high school and university. I learned all these recipes, and it was part of my growing up. And when I met [co-owner Adriana Basantes], her husband was working in a Mexican restaurant, and I found out that he had a passion for it, too. He wanted to open up his own place. And when I found that out, it just clicked.”

So, in the spring of 2012, Carolina, her husband Sebastien Jutras, alongside Adriana and her husband Jose (Pepe) Cedeno, decided to band together, using some of those same family recipes – further developed by Carolina and Pepe – to bring an authentic taste of Mexico to the Fraser/Kingsway neighbourhood. “We were talking, and it just happened,” she recalls. “It felt like the right thing to do with the right people at the right time.”