OFF PAGE ONE
Tuesday, February 15, 2022
own fl avors. My grandma and
my mom have this unique
recipe that they’d make all
the time, and everybody in
the family loves them.”
The restaurant plans to
put the dish on the menu as
“Mama Irene’s Enchiladas,”
though the owner said she
would have to work on the
recipe first. As with many
home cooks, she said, her
mother-in-law did not use
standard measurements.
Rather, ingredients were
measured in “pinches” and
the restaurant.
Vero’s Kravingz is at 1725
N. First St., Hermiston. It
occupies the space the Delish
Bistro once operated in.
Veronica Flores, 24, said
opening the establishment,
her fi rst restaurant, is a life-
long dream.
“I’ve always wanted to
open a restaurant, even when
I was a kid,” she said.
Previous to opening Vero’s
Kravingz, she was a night
manager at a local McDon-
ald’s. This job, she said, did
not suit her. She enjoyed the
customers but had confl icts
with other management. She
said she quit and planned to
operate her own business,
where she would be respon-
sible for decisions.
Later, she said, she began
making food and selling it in
her home. She did this until
she discovered it was illegal.
Then, she made plans to open
the restaurant.
Vero’s Kravingz sells
mulitas, birria pizza, birria
quesadilla, tacos and more.
Birria is traditionally made
with goat, but Vero’s Krav-
ingz makes it in a modern
style with beef instead.
Veronica Flores said she
learned about it on TikTok,
before researching it and
making it herself.
She opened Vero’s Krav-
ingz on Jan. 15, and she said
business has been good.
“We’ve been busy,” she
said.
She added that her restau-
rant sold all of its food almost
every day in the fi rst week.
After having this early
success, she decided to open
for breakfast, serving food
such as biscuits and gravy.
She measures her success
in more than sales, however,
she said. She has family and
friends working alongside
her, and this has been an
enjoyable part of her success,
she said.
Looking at the success
of Delish Bistro, which is
the previous occupant of her
restaurant’s space, Veron-
ica Flores said she hopes she
can do likewise. She said she
wants to grow her business
and eventually move into a
location with seating.
You have to shut the program
down. That’s how it has to be
done and I think that’s a really
poor approach to business.”
Previous rounds of layoff s
and budget cuts have come
with pushback from the faculty
union, and in a statement,
union President Pete Hernberg
struck an optimistic tone.
“The college’s enrollment
has begun to stabilize — in
fact our enrollment is doing
much better than many other
community colleges around
the state,” he said. “Because
of how the state’s funding
formula works, this means
we’ll get a bigger piece of the
pie. Although we have a far
smaller faculty than we used
to, we’re proud of the work that
everyone is doing to rebuild
enrollment.”
Browning said the college
is taking the right steps to
reverse recent trends and
grow enrollment, but the long-
term fi nancial outlook for Blue
Mountain remains uncertain.
Restaurant:
Continued from Page A1
A large photo of her moth-
er-in-law was on a stand next
to the cash register.
Chacha Flores, Veronica
Flores’ wife, was at the regis-
ter for the reopening. It was
Chacha’s mother who died.
“My mom was wonder-
ful,” she said.
Rudy Flores, Chacha
Flores’ uncle and Irene Flores’
brother, also expressed his
sadness over the death. His
sister, he said, was a special
woman.
“Irene was a fun-loving
person,” he said. “She always
brought everyone’s spirits
up. If you had a problem, you
could talk to her. She could
bring you out of a slump.”
His sister always was
ready to laugh.
“You could call her with a
sad moment, and she’d turn it
around and make it a joking
moment,” he said.
She also “was really
good,” he added, “about
reminding you of God and
that God’s there for us.”
The family, Rudy Flores
said, has had a string of
deaths recently. COVID-19
caused the deaths of cousins
and other family members,
he said. Irene Flores had the
disease, but he attributed her
death to a busted vein.
“She was a big part of our
lives,” Veronica Flores said.
“She was always with us.”
The restaurant owner
credited her mother-in-law
for being one of the people
who encouraged her to open
Vero’s Kravingz. Irene Flores
even created a food, her
special enchiladas, which
soon will appear on the menu,
BMCC:
Continued from Page A1
he said. “Because, right now,
I can’t go and eliminate one
instructor in one program
and one in another and just
adjust the program that way.
East Oregonian
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Laura Steff en drops a new pan of bacon-covered hot dogs
into the warmer Saturday, Feb. 12, 2022, at Vero’s Kravingz
in Hermiston.
Veronica Flores said.
Chacha said the enchila-
das have been passed down
through generations, which
make them special in her
family.
“Everybody makes enchi-
ladas. They all taste good,”
she said. “They all have their
“handfuls.”
“Mom’s not here, so we’ve
got to perfect it before we
let anybody try it,” Chacha
Flores said of her mother’s
enchiladas.
Compounding the loss of
Irene Flores, they said, was
that she never was able to visit
“I’VE ALWAYS WANTED TO
OPEN A RESTAURANT, EVEN
WHEN I WAS A KID.”
— Veronica Flores, Owner of Vero’s Kravingz
Making a dream
a reality
Sale:
Continued from Page A1
have frequently chatted
about the ups and downs of
their lives and have enjoyed
one another’s company.
Since this is the case,
she said she feels let down
by having to move. Her
plans are to move in with
her parents. Baros said she
would like to start looking
to buy a house, but there
are not many place to live
in town and prices are high,
she said.
Like other tenants at
Highland Manor, she pays
$630 for a two-bedroom
apartment.
Baros said she is trying
to vacate her apartment by
Feb. 19.
‘We don’t have
energy to fi ght’
Another tenant, Karen
Dela Cruz, also had set up a
table at the yard sale, off er-
ing gardening equipment
and other goods.
Dela Cruz, who has
been renting a two-bed-
room apartment for the last
three years, lives with her
husband and a dog that she
refers to as her emotional
support animal. At 72
years old, she said, she has
health problems as does
her husband. She added
her situation with the apart-
ment has exacerbated their
illnesses, causing stress.
She said she would fi ght
the request to move, but
she does not know how to
begin such a fi ght.
“We don’t have energy
to fi ght,” she said. “We just
have to fi nd a place.”
Her daughters, she said,
are looking for a new home
for them. And though Dela
Cruz expressed gratitude
for the help, she said she is
a little worried.
“We can aff ord to pay
our own rent, but it’s
getting to where we can’t,”
A9
she said.
She added she doubts
she could fi nd an apartment
with rent as low as the $630
she pays now.
She also expressed
uncertainty about fi nding
a home she likes as much
as Highland Manor, where
she has been able to have a
garden. She placed a bench
and potted plants with tall
fl owers in the garden. And,
she said, she has enjoyed
sitting on the bench among
the fl owers and taking in
the sunshine.
On Feb. 12, she was sell-
ing her fl ower pots and her
bench. If she starts a new
garden, it will have to be
somewhere else, she said.
Resident has help but
others don’t
Another resident, Lind-
say Lloyd, expressed the
same feelings as her neigh-
bors. While also selling
items at her yard sale, she
spoke of her three years
living in a two-bedroom
apartment.
“There’s def initely
nothing out here that’s this
affordable,” Lloyd said.
“They’re outdated, but
they’ve been kept up really,
really nice”
She said she likes her
apartment manager, and
she appreciates the way the
apartments have been kept
clean and safe.
As she is the office
manager of a Hermiston
radio station, Lloyd said
she will need to stay local.
She stated she will move
back in with her parents.
“I’m thankful that
they’re in the area and will-
ing to help out,” she said.
This situation, however,
will not be permanent, and
she said she will need to
fi nd another place to live.
And like the other residents
at the yard sale, she said
she is concerned about her
neighbors who might not
have the same support she
does.
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