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February 17, 2025
RICE LAKE – One business moves, and another is born for business partners Juan Martinez, Alejandro Flores and Ignacio Infante – co-founders/owners of La Autentica in Rice Lake.
As finishing touches are underway at the Mexican restaurant’s new space, located at 2498 S. Main St. – “eight doors down” from its old location in the South Ridge Plaza – Martinez said there’s still more work to be done in both of their spaces.
After opening La Autentica’s original location – located at 2468 S. Main St. – roughly two years ago, Martinez said it quickly became too small to serve all of its Rice Lake patrons.
“People started following us a lot and our old location was just too small,” he said. “That’s why we decided to upgrade, but because we put a lot of money and cooking equipment (into the old location), we didn’t want to just leave it in there. So we decided to keep it and build an ice cream shop.”
That ice cream shop, Martinez said, will reflect his and his business partners’ culture – just like La Autentica.
“We are from the State of Michoacan, back in Mexico, and our food is based off of the surrounding areas of Michoacan,” he said.
Though currently open for business, Martinez said he and his partners have plans to elevate La Autentica even further.
“We’ve been working for the last seven months to build this change, and we are not quite done with the bigger space,” he said. “We have plans of making it a sit-down restaurant with waiters and an à la carte menu, a lunch menu and we are also working on building nice outdoor, patio seating for the summer.”
Martinez said though he and his business partners have plenty of ideas for the forthcoming La Autentica ice cream shop – official name pending – it is still under construction with an opening date yet to be announced.
“We’re going to build a Mexican ice cream shop with more than 160 items on it, and it’s going to be (made by) us, too,” he said. “So, we’re going to have a cross-menu from one place to the other – a lot of snacks and a lot of food.”
La Autentica 2.0
Unlike its last location, Martinez said La Autentica’s new location has much more space that allows it to expand not only its menu but its staff as well.
“(Right now) people walk (up to the counter) and they pick from the menu, and we are helping people there,” he said. “But we for sure are going to change it in the next 15-22 days. That’s going to be a big change in our menu, also for our staff, because it’s going to be a sit-down (restaurant) with menus and waiters and all that stuff.”
However, regardless of how the food is ordered or served, Martinez said the Rice Lake community has continuously appreciated and loved what La Autentica has had to offer despite not being the first or only Mexican restaurant in the area.
“We know that Rice Lake has a really good Mexican restaurant (that came) before us, and we know what they have, and we know they’re good,” he said. “We make friends there and we visit. They come to our place, we go to theirs – they’re a very good place – but we don’t want to be competition for anyone. We just want to have our own little team and be authentic and unique.”
Being authentic and unique, Martinez said, is exactly what led him and his partners to choose a name for their establishment.
“As we started (thinking about) what we were going to add in the menu… we started saying, ‘Oh, those should be authentic tacos, that should be authentic fajita – (everything) should be authentic,’” he said. “And we’re like, ‘Oh, we should just call it Autentica.’”
A new home
As they approach La Autentica’s third year in business, Martinez said he and his partners are grateful for the support they’ve received from the Rice Lake community.
“We appreciate all the people that, with time, have become nice and loyal customers,” he said. “When we first opened, we went through our rough times because it was winter, and we were not sure if we were going to make it.”
Now, Martinez said he and his partners not only made it but are expanding their business portfolio.
“And now, thanks to all the beautiful people and all the beautiful support that we get from the community of Rice Lake and surrounding areas, we are able to upgrade and make a better, new place for them,” he said. “We’re doing it for them… and we just hope to keep having all the beautiful support that we have from all the community.”
Martinez said more growth is on the horizon as well, as he and his partners are now proud to call Rice Lake home.
“The people give us the strength to do it, and now we are so happy to have this,” he said. “We hope to just keep growing and bringing new things to Rice Lake, because this is where we’re from. People ask, ‘Where are you from?’ And now we can say that we’re from Rice Lake, because we love the place. We have plans for, I hope, the near future to build new things for the community of Rice Lake and surrounding areas. We are very excited for whatever the future brings.”
Find La Autentica on social media or visit laautenticawi.com to order and learn more.
