{"id":96925,"date":"2018-12-03T12:26:58","date_gmt":"2018-12-03T19:26:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cortezs-restaurant-row-gets-some-country-flavor\/"},"modified":"2018-12-03T12:26:58","modified_gmt":"2018-12-03T19:26:58","slug":"cortezs-restaurant-row-gets-some-country-flavor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cortezs-restaurant-row-gets-some-country-flavor\/","title":{"rendered":"Cortez\u2019s Restaurant Row gets some country flavor"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"The
The Wigglin\u2019 Pig crew \u2014 Kristie Jaramillo, Ruben Gomez, Eleica Watts and owner Ernie Padilla \u2014 pause for a photo during the lunch rush at their new location, 44 W. Main St. in Cortez. Their signature pork sliders and gourmet mac and cheese beckon in the foreground.<\/span>Jim Mimiaga\/The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The culinary dreams of Wigglin\u2019 Pig owner Ernie Padilla continue to come true with the opening of a storefront restaurant at 44 W. Main St. in Cortez.<\/p>\n

Padilla had such good success with his local food truck specializing in barbecue, he jumped at the opportunity to expand into a permanent space on Cortez\u2019s famous Restaurant Row.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy menu attracted quite a following, so when this space became available, I knew this was my moment. It really is a dream come true. I love cooking and serving the public quality food,\u201d he said during a break from the kitchen.<\/p>\n

His signature barbecue and \u201cgourmet comfort food\u201d dishes like macaroni and cheese, pulled pork tacos, smothered fries, grilled cheese, and sliders and burgers keep people coming back.<\/p>\n

\u201cI appreciate the support,\u201d Padilla said. \u201cI have daily specials and plan to expand the menu.\u201d<\/p>\n

A staff of 10 employees bustles and hustles to cook and serve up customers during the lunch and dinner rushes at the spacious restaurant, formerly Pepperheads.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe keep a friendly, upbeat atmosphere where people can come and enjoy a good meal relaxing with friends and family,\u201d Padilla said.<\/p>\n

Soon they can have a cocktail and a local craft beer with the meal once a liquor license is approved.<\/p>\n

Attention to detail, experience in the kitchen, and flavorful recipes are what makes his food especially good, Padilla said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince I was a child, I have been cooking and experimenting with different dishes and sauces. My mom and aunts were a big inspiration,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt family reunions, I was the guy manning the grill, and as a family man I\u2019ve perfected my style by experimenting with recipes served up to the wife and kids.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Wigglin\u2019 Pig food truck will continue to show up at festivals, events and anywhere around the county where people need a hot, homestyle meal.<\/p>\n

The new restaurant\u2019s hours are 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday-Thursday (Closed Wednesdays), and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018Gourmet comfort food\u2019 features barbecue, mac and cheese, sliders, tacos<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":96926,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5742,5735],"tags":[21,13],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-96925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-news","tag-cortez","tag-frontpage-lead"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96925"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96925\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96925"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=96925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}