Owner of Seis Kitchen on Westside says restaurant brings him back to his roots

MERCADO SAN AGUSTÍN, Tucson (KGUN) -- — Generations of families helped build and grow Menlo Park and other neighborhoods in Tucson's west side.

One small business owner shared the story of his family's deep roots: tracing back four generations ago to present day where he now runs a restaurant inside the Mercado San Agustín.

Jake Muñoz said through their ups and downs his family has always wanted to both honor the past and invest in this neighborhood's future.

Stepping into the Seis kitchen just off Congress, the smells bring Muñoz back to when his great-grandmother would cook his favorite food: fresh corn tortillas made in another kitchen not far down the road.

"(They were) these big, fresh gordita corn tortillas on a daily basis," he said. The dishes at Seis are a nod to six different regional cuisines from Mexico.

Both sides of Muñoz' family came from Mexico, but he keeps a family treasure that constantly reminds him that Tucson has been his family's true home for generations.

It's a brick — the kind men from his great-grandfather's age may have used to build and add to the St. Augustine Cathedral on Stone Avenue.

"My uncle and aunt brought this to me when we opened here," Muñoz said as he reflected on the start of his small business more than 10 years ago. They gave it to him, he said, "to remind (him) of the roots that we have going back to my great grandfather."

Muñoz's family has seen all the changes to the west side of town. Standing at the Mercado in 2023, more business owners are opening their stores and developers are building brand new apartment buildings across the street.

Muñoz said he's glad he took the risk to open Seis inside the now-recognizable building. Back then, there were more dirt lots surrounding the Mercado.

"(It) seems like a no-brainer today," he said, "but when we started in here over 10 years ago, it wasn't what it is today. There was no trolley out here."

Muñoz said seeing his family's strong work ethic influenced his choice to start a business after years working in the corporate world.

"Working all the time, missing out on family... I thought that we could do something different," he said.

While success in the restaurant game is never a guarantee, sitting down in the Mercado's courtyard, hungry customers seem more than happy to keep Seis in business.

"The very first day, we had a line out the gate because the neighborhood came out to support us," Muñoz said. "It's such a cool feeling to be a co-owner with my wife (Erika), started this company, be with family and to make family the most important thing in our lives."

The Muñoz family now runs three separate Seis locations.

As they work to keep sales tax dollars for the Mercado location on the west side, Muñoz said he does his best to reward their best workers with both leadership roles in the company and experience to start their own businesses and invest in the community.

Seis Kitchen's west-side location can be found at 130 S. Avenida del Convento. Seis also has locations at 1765 E. River Road and 9740 N. Oracle Road in Oro Valley.