Mercedes City Commissioner Ruben Saldana spoke of there being “a magic to it” when walking into Cortino’s Italian Restaurant.

“You come here and you feel at home,” Saldana said of the iconic Mercedes restaurant that is celebrating its 60^th anniversary. “Cortino’s is a great jewel to our community.”

Hector Rocha Jr., the president of the Mercedes Chamber of Commerce board, concurred, saying Cortino’s has “a lasting legacy.”

“We’re happy to share in this moment,” Rocha said during a recent ribbon-cutting celebration at Cortino’s. “It has stood the test of time. You think of all of the weddings, dates, and birthdays that have been celebrated at Cortino’s. This place has been historic.”

The Mercedes Chamber and city leaders gathered at the revered restaurant in mid-June to congratulate the Cortino family in reaching the milestone of being in business for 60 years. It was standing room only in the restaurant as chamber members from neighboring Weslaco joined in for the 60^th anniversary celebration.

Patricia Cortino is the third generation of her family to operate the Mid-Valley Italian restaurant. She spoke of the difficulties her family is going through with the recent passings of her father, Joseph, and brother, John, while expressing a determination to continue the business.

“We want to maintain the levels we’ve set so far and just keep going to serve the communities that have treated us so well,” she said. “We’ve had the hard times this year and everyone showed up. It’s amazing to know that you have that much support from the community.”

Making A Home & A Restaurant

“Gourmet’s Delight!” exclaims a November 1968 print advertisement about a new Italian restaurant on “mi 2¾ W & Hwy 83” in Mercedes with a local phone number of LO5-2309.

The ad touts “Genuine Italian Cuisine” featuring “steaks, chops, pizza, spaghetti, ravioli and lasagna.” The old ad is among the historic items and pictures hung up on the walls of Cortino’s. John Cortino was in the construction business when he and his wife, Mary, purchased property in Mercedes along Highway 83.

The Cortinos would build a home there. Patricia recounted that one day her grandfather arrived home from work and announced to his wife that he wanted to build and open a restaurant next door. And so they did, and in quick order, as John called on his construction contacts to help get the restaurant built and running. The Rio Grande Valley of 1966 didn’t have many Italian restaurants, and to have one with authentic Italian recipes and food made Cortino’s worthy of a drive to Mercedes.

John and Mary would pass on the restaurant to Joseph and Maria Anna and then on to siblings Patricia and John. Patricia spoke of the family and their customers “growing up together.”

“They (customers) had their first dates here, then they brought their kids here and now they’re bringing their grandkids,” she said. “To see generation after generation, keeping it going and being part of that and having them feel like family, that’s really special.”

Welcoming A New Era

John and Mary started with a one-room restaurant in 1966 along what was then the main highway cutting through the Valley that served as the region’s main street running from McAllen-to-Brownsville.

It would expand over the years while maintaining that familial feel of going home to eat a delicious lunch or dinner.

For the Cortinos, their restaurant is more than a business. It’s where Patricia’s parents met and a place that for her grandfather became “his life’s passion.” Patricia’s father, Joseph, would in his own right have the same kind of commitment to Cortino’s in taking over the restaurant's operations. What John and Joseph Cortino’s restaurant has come to mean to Mercedes and the Mid-Valley was evident at the recent ribbon cutting commemorating the 60tth anniversary of business.

Patricia and her mother, Maria Anna, greeted their many customers and admirers and then used outsized scissors to cut the long blue Mercedes Chamber ribbon to welcome in another era of the Cortino’s Italian Restaurant in the Mid-Valley.

- Ric Cavazos

‍