Restaurant owners put in many hours, as Arnulfo and Martha Marquez can attest. As small shareholders in another Mexican restaurant, the Marquez couple felt they were going most of the work for a small share of the profits.

So they decided to launch their own restaurant, El Pueblo. They started in a big way -- no tiny carry-out for them. This restaurant seats 160 people, has hand-painted murals on the wall and uses the traditional family recipes both Arnulfo and Martha grew up with.

"My husband always wanted a restaurant and I wanted a grocery store," Martha Marquez said. "I guess he won. My brothers had always been in the restaurant business, so this was fine with me."

They passed by a vacant location that had formerly housed another restaurant, thought it would be a good place for a dine-in/carry-out spot and went to work.

"Everything inside here is new," Martha said. "Business has been good since we opened the doors. People are telling their friends about it."

They had four names picked out for the restaurant, but a lawyer found many of them to be taken. They settled on El Pueblo, thinking it would be easy for American people to pronounce. The mural depicts the restaurant's name.

Arnulfo, a former metal finisher, serves as the cook. In addition to serving the typical tacos, burritos and fajitas, Martha considers the restaurant specialty to be a Mexican bowl filled with chicken steak, shrimp, chorizo and bacon. Family recipes like that set the Marquez's restaurant apart from the competition, according to Martha.

"Running a restaurant is a lot of work, and if we are going to work that hard, we wanted to take a larger share of the profits," she said. "People just love what they eat here, our customers go away happy."

El Pueblo

Location: 5350 U.S. 6, Portage

Phone: (219)764-8226 (TACO)

Owners: Martha and Arnulfo Marquez

Number of employees: Six

When opened: Dec. 1

Type of business: Mexican restaurant