OFF PAGE ONE
Wednesday, February 16, 2022
HerMIsTOnHeraLd.COM • A9
Kravingz:
Continued from Page a1
The restaurant owner
credited her mother-in-law
for being one of the peo-
ple who encouraged her
to open Vero’s Kravingz.
Irene Flores even created a
food, her special enchiladas,
which soon will appear on
the menu, Veronica Flores
said.
Chacha said the enchila-
das have been passed down
through generations, which
make them special in her
family.
“Everybody
makes
enchiladas. They all taste
good,” she said. “They all
have their own flavors.
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
“handfuls.”
“Mom’s not here, so
we’ve got to perfect it before
we let anybody try it,” Cha-
cha Flores said of her moth-
er’s enchiladas.
Compounding the loss of
Irene Flores, they said, was
that she never was able to
visit the restaurant.
Vero’s Kravingz is at
1725 N. First St., Hermis-
ton. It occupies the space
the Delish Bistro once oper-
ated in.
Veronica Flores, 24, said
opening the establishment,
her first restaurant, is a life-
long dream.
Ben Lonergan/Hermiston Herald
A poster board with photos of Irene Flores sits on the counter Saturday, Feb. 12, 2022, at Vero’s
Kravingz in Hermiston as the restaurant, which her daughter and daughter-in-law own, holds
a fundraiser for Flores’ funeral expenses.
Ben Lonergan/Hermiston Herald
“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
McDonald’s. This job, she
said, did not suit her. She
enjoyed the customers but
had conflicts with other
management. She said she
quit and planned to operate
her own business, where she
would be responsible for
decisions.
Later, she said, she began
making food and selling it in
her home. She did this until
she discovered it was ille-
gal. 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 mod-
ern style with beef instead.
Veronica Flores said she
learned about it on TikTok,
Laura Steffen drops a new pan of bacon-covered hot dogs
into the warmer Saturday, Feb. 12, 2022, at Vero’s Kravingz in
Hermiston.
Ben Lonergan/Hermiston Herald
Sosena Hernandez fills tacos Saturday, Feb. 12, 2022, at Vero’s
Kravingz in Hermiston.
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
restaurant sold all of its
food almost every day in the
first week. After having this
early success, she decided
to open for breakfast, serv-
ing food such as biscuits
and gravy.
She measures her success
in more than sales, however,
she said. She has family
and friends working along-
side her, and this has been
an enjoyable part of her suc-
cess, she said.
Looking at the success
of Delish Bistro, which is
Ben Lonergan/Hermiston Herald
Veronica Flores, left, and Laura Steffen work the griddle
Saturday, Feb. 12, 2022, at Vero’s Kravingz, Hermiston,
during a fundraiser for Flores’ mother-in-law, Irene Flores.
Veronica Flores, who recently opened the restaurant with her
wife Chacha Flores, held the fundraiser to help cover Irene’s
funeral expenses.
the previous occupant of her
restaurant’s space, Veronica
Flores said she hopes she
can do likewise.
She said she wants to
grow her business and even-
tually move into a location
with seating.
Sale:
Continued from Page a1
“I couldn’t have asked
better from a first apart-
ment,” she said.
The 24-year-old Baros
said she moved into High-
land Manor after leaving
her parents’ home and get-
ting married. She is raising
two boys and reported hav-
ing good memories.
Her neighbors, she said,
are like family. A couple
of them, she added, are lit-
eral family. Throughout
their years together, she and
neighbors 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 par-
ents. 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.
Erick Peterson/Hermiston Herald
Jennifer Baros, Highland
Manor
resident,
stands
behind a table of yard sale
items Saturday, Feb. 12, 2022.
She is among the tenants
moving out of the Hermiston
apartment complex. The new
owner is encouraging people
to leave so he can renovate.
could find an apartment with
rent as low as the $630 she
pays now.
She also expressed uncer-
tainty about finding a home
she likes as much as High-
land Manor, where she has
been able to have a garden.
She placed a bench and potted
plants with tall flowers in the
garden. And, she said, she has
enjoyed sitting on the bench
among the flowers and taking
in the sunshine.
On Feb. 12, she was selling
her flower pots and her bench.
If she starts a new garden, it
will have to be somewhere
else, she said.
‘We don’t have energy to
fight’
Resident has help but others
don’t
Another tenant, Karen
Dela Cruz, also had set up a
table at the yard sale, offer-
ing gardening equipment and
other goods.
Dela Cruz, who has been
renting a two-bedroom apart-
ment 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 situ-
ation with the apartment has
exacerbated their illnesses,
causing stress.
She said she would fight
the request to move, but she
does not know how to begin
such a fight.
“We don’t have energy to
fight,” she said. “We just have
to find 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 lit-
tle worried.
“We can afford to pay our
own rent, but it’s getting to
where we can’t,” she said.
She added she doubts she
Another resident, Lind-
say Lloyd, expressed the
same feelings as her neigh-
bors. While also selling items
at the yard sale, she spoke
of her three years living in a
two-bedroom apartment.
“There’s definitely noth-
ing out here that’s this afford-
able,” Lloyd said. “They’re
outdated, but they’ve been
kept up really, really nice”
She said she likes her apart-
ment manager, and she appre-
ciates the way the apartments
have been kept clean and safe.
As she is the office man-
ager of a Hermiston radio sta-
tion, 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 willing to help
out,” she said.
This situation, however,
will not be permanent, and
she said she will need to find
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 sup-
port she does.
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