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Finding the spice of life at Señor Jalapeño at Merchants Greene

The signage has been there awhile and now the doors are open: Señor Jalapeño has opened at 4357 Erica Greene Circle in Morristown and Morristown’s newest Mexican restaurant has impressed visitors with its offerings.

Owner Noel Montepeque said it’s been some time coming and a few hurdles have been cleared to open his business; he moved to Morristown in 1996 and knew that he was where he was supposed to be.

“I fell in love with the mountains and all the trees; Morristown has been heaven to me,” he said. “When you move here as an outsider, people don’t look at that. They just see you as a human being. Morristown is just a wonderful place with great people.”

Montepeque arrived with dreams and got to work on them immediately. Without the foresight of the lessons he has now learned, he invested all of his resources into a restaurant and it didn’t work out.

“Two months after I invested all my money, I lost it all,” he recalled. “But God was the guidance for me to stay, and God took care of the rest. I never had an idea that 29 years later I was going to own my own restaurant.”

Montepeque credits his faith and trust in God in his current venture. He said he heard from God that he should open a restaurant. He listened and found a partner in Jose Flores, who is a co-owner in Señor Jalapeño and runs the day to day operations.

Their dreams matched and now so do their business interests.

“Jose Flores had a dream to open his own restaurant, and I decided to encourage him to go ahead and do it,” Montepeque said. “Jose Flores has been in the restaurant business over 20 years. Basically, I built it, and he’s going to run it — but I also made him a partner.”

And they’ve built a restaurant in the hottest growing retail section of Morristown off of Merchants Greene Boulevard. It took a long time to open due to architectural and engineering obstacles that were thwarting proper placement of their commercial hood and kitchen equipment.

The branding and the environment are a little more vibrant and different, in a good way, than typical and their offerings are just the same.

A rarity in the area: a salsa bar gives some options that really give patrons some room to explore unique flavors before their meal arrives.

What really stands out, and Montepeque says is the only experience around like it, is the guacamole cart that pulls up to tables and prepares fresh guac to the delight of those watching.

“Our guacamole is not a regular one, it’s an authentic recipe,” Montepeque said. “Jose and I, we sat down and we decided to bring new things to Morristown.”

There are a lot of little hints of the things they have worked on to provide a good experience for customers, though not all of it is as obvious as the guacamole service.

“Like, for example, we make our own tamales,” he said. “We started buying it from vendors, and we decided, you know, this is not what we want to serve. This is not what we want to sell to our customers. So we decided to start making our own.

“And now we get feedback from our customers, and they ask, ‘Hey, you know, are you guys making your own tamales?’ And they’re asking to place an order ahead of time. Not just to eat here, just to take home. And of course, you can do that.”

It’s only been a few months that the restaurant has opened, but Montepeque said they’ve been blessed.

““We’re getting more business than we expected; the people have been great,” he said. “Our folks are thrilled to have a new place in town where they can feel at home.”

With even more development, Montepeque said he’s hoping things will continue to grow.

“There are going to be three hotels right behind us. People won’t have to drive — they can walk, have a good meal, sit at the bar, and have a margarita.”