The sweet smell of success is different for everyone. But if you are a member of the de la Cruz family, more than likely it is tinged with the aroma of green chilies, chipotle peppers, sizzling meat and homemade flour tortillas.

Thats what has made the familys five restaurants a mainstay in the East Valley for the past 14 years. Even if you dont know the de la Cruz name, chances are good you are familiar with their businesses.

Ever had a breakfast burrito at Mangos in downtown Mesa? Thats de la Cruz. Have you tried the flan at Chandlers El Zócalo? De la Cruz. Munched a burrito or sweet pastry at El Sol? De la Cruz again.

Those three restaurants as well as Casa de la Cruz in Mesa, which was added last summer, and the familys newest, simply called De la Cruz, in Gold Canyon are unique not only because of how they are the same, but because of how they are different.

I wanted each store to stand alone, to have its own atmosphere, says Obed de la Cruz, who heads up the family business. We wanted several restaurants, but I didnt want to be a chain.

That meant that even after the success of the de la Cruzes first venture, each successive restaurant would have its own name and look.

We built up a following, he says, but diners can be fickle. Even if the tortillas are the same at both spots, people will perceive a difference. Or, worse, they will begin to see you as an assembly line kind of place. We certainly arent that.
They certainly arent.

The closest the de la Cruzes ever got to an assembly line was in the early days, back in 1987. Daniel and Beatriz de la Cruz moved to Mesa from Utah in an effort to ease Beatrizs arthritis symptoms. The couple had long been in the restaurant business and were ready to retire.

Or so they thought. As with many people who built careers on cooking for others, it was in their blood. Neither really wanted to stop cooking, and so they didnt.
When Obed entered the picture, his parents restaurant careers got a second wind.

I visited them at Easter and never went back, never looked back, says de la Cruz, an articulate, soft-spoken father of four kids under the age of 7. For the remainder of 1987, Obed de la Cruz worked at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. Meanwhile, his father was getting up at midnight to make dough. Then Daniel would go back to bed and his wife would get up at 5 a.m. to bake what he had made, as well as make chorizo and tamales. After he had a few hours sleep, Daniel would load the goodies into his truck and drive through local Hispanic neighborhoods.

Thats all it took just a couple of weeks of driving through the barrios, peddling what they made in the morning, says de la Cruz, who helped his parents out one day a week with a Queen Creek route. He would stop at one house and they would say, This stuff is great. Heres my cousins address and my parents address and my brothers address. Youve got to get some of this over there too. 

Soon the elder de la Cruzes were doing routes in Mesa, Chandler, Gilbert and Tempe. That success, says Obed de la Cruz, made it easy for him to walk away from his airport job.

I said, To hell with this and started putting something together with my dad, he says.

That something was El Sol Bakery, which the family opened in November 1988 a few miles north of downtown Chandler on Arizona Avenue. Guedos Taco Shop had just opened up the street; Elmers had served the neighborhood for years. But El Sol was one of only two Mexican bakeries in the entire East Valley.

At first, El Sol concentrated just on baked goods, chorizo and tamales the same items the family had peddled door to door. Three years after opening, the bakery expanded, adding on a full cafe next door.

When the de la Cruzes were ready to add a second restaurant in 1996, they also were hoping to add more de la Cruzes to the family business.

Mangos, named for a Mexican chili pepper-and-mango-flavored sucker, also opened originally as a bakery. As soon as the restaurant was open, says Obed de la Cruz, the Mesa business-lunch crowd descended upon it.

We were busy for lunch that very first day, recalls de la Cruz. Its been running water ever since. No lulls, no problems.

In 1999, Omar de la Cruz took over from his brother as manager of Mangos so Obed could concentrate on El Zócalo, which opened in downtown Chandler in June 2000. Last summer, de la Cruz was offered a deal too good to refuse on a space in north central Mesa, and he opened Casa de la Cruz.

De la Cruz jokes that his restaurants have customers who eat breakfast at El Sol, lunch at Mangos and dinner at El Zócalo. Apparently, that is no joke.

Oh, yeah, Ive done that, says a surprised David Ballard, a Chandler resident who works in downtown Mesa and says he eats at Mangos five or six times a month. I didnt even know they were owned by the same people. But yeah, there have been a couple of times when I have lunch at Mangos and then take my family to El Zócalo for dinner.

Ballards words are music to de la Cruzs ears and exactly what he hoped would happen when he gave his restaurants similar menus but different names and different personalities.

Today, the de la Cruz empire is a true family affair. Nephews David, Daniel and Ismael run Casa de la Cruz; sister Esmeralda runs El Sol. Two nephews help Obed de la Cruz out at his newest restaurant, which is perhaps the most ambitious and potentially lucrative of them all.

This will be a landmark, he promises of the new restaurant, De la Cruz. Theres nothing else out here.

In fact, De la Cruz is the fifth restaurant in all of Gold Canyon and its first Mexican eatery. In its first few weeks of operation, the cozy, rustic- feeling restaurant with the huge patio and gorgeous view has been like an oasis to the residents of Gold Canyon, Obed de la Cruz says.

Eventually, he says, he would like to be his own competition and open another Gold Canyon restaurant. And the name? Hell have to think about that.

Surprisingly, though, he is not averse to duplicating the name of at least one of his spots.

I'm going to let this place settle down and get established, he says of De la Cruz. Then Ill look to expand out here, as well as franchise Mangos. Eventually, I picture Mangos all over (the East Valley).

He hopes, too, to take some much- needed rest. The stress of these past few years in addition to the growth of his businesses and his own family, de la Cruz also suffered the loss of his mother in 2000 has been tremendous, he says.

Im a workaholic, and I love the business, he says. I want to take a year off, but Ill be back. I have a lot more I want to do.

De la Cruz restaurants each have own flavor

One family, five restaurants. Each is owned and operated by the de la Cruzes, and all have similar menus. But these restaurants are like children similar, but no two are exactly the same.

El Sol Bakery (760 N. Arizona Ave., Chandler, ). The granddaddy of the de la Cruz restaurants, El Sol was opened in 1988 as a bakery-only operation. Since 1991, though, it has been a Mexican bakery on the left and a restaurant on the right.

Mangos Mexican Cafe (44 W. Main St., Mesa, ). A haven for business lunchers, Mangos came along when very little else was available. Loyal customers are sure to flock to the future Mangos locations envisioned by the de la Cruzes.

El Zócalo (28 S. San Marcos Place, Chandler, ). Arguably the most upscale of the de la Cruz restaurants, El Zócalo holds court on the square in downtown Chandler. Pretty to look at, with great steaks and fabulous flan, its the most date-worthy restaurant in the family.

Casa de la Cruz (1328 W. University Drive, Mesa, ). A sort of accidental acquisition, the space that became this restaurant came along at just the right time for the de la Cruzes. With a slow start when those driving by thought it was just a bakery, the Casa is now coming into its own.

De la Cruz (5301 S. Superstition Mountain Drive, Gold Canyon, ). For those of us who dont live in Gold Canyon or far east Mesa, it is a drive. But it is cute and laid-back, with live music, a huge patio and a phenomenal view of the mountains.