About La Via Great Green Chili
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It all started with the Espinoza Family!
La Via Authentic Great Green Chili was started in 2019 by Jim Espinoza from a desire to share his mother's delicious green chili with others. All of La Via's products are made using authentic family recipes cultivated by Jim's mother, Teresa Espinoza, in her home kitchen right here in Colorado!
Deep Roots in Colorado
Teresa Espinoza was a Colorado native born in 1894. She was the wife of Samuel Espinoza, a coal miner at the Columbine Mine in Serene Colorado which was once located on the rolling hills just west of the present-day Interstate 25 on State Highway 7. Serene, Colorado was once the company town but has now become a public landfill.
When Jim was a young boy the family moved their coal mining home from Serene, Colorado to Lafayette, Colorado.
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Our Business Beginnings
In 1968 Jim and his oldest brother Ben opened Benito's restaurant in Broomfield, Colorado. Benito's became famous for their flautas smothered in their mother’s great green chili.
In 1993 Jim returned to his roots in Lafayette, Colorado and introduced his home-grown Mexican cooking to his hometown when he opened Mexican Jim’s restaurant together with 3 of his sons.
With these restaurants now a thing of the past, Jim wanted to keep the flavor of his family's heritage alive in hopes that his authentic green chili sauce would continue to grace family tables for generations to come. So in 2019, Jim decided to start bottling their La Via Great Green Chili through Espinoza Foods to allow even more people to enjoy the flavors of this authentic green chili first cultivated by his mother many years ago.
In 2021, Jim sadly passed away, and we all still love and miss him greatly to this day. Thankfully before Jim left us, his passion for sharing La Via Great Green Chili for future generation was passed on to his wife Nolie and sons, Richard, Mario and Tony.
It is now our great honor to carry on Jim and Teresa's legacy and to introduce you to this secret family recipe that has been handed down through the generations.
Thank You
We are so excited you stoped for a visit