Plaza Morena owner unveils plans to open Medford Event Center

Jose Herrera, who has owned the Plaza Morena restaurant in Owatonna for over 20 years, is now setting sights on a new venture, the Medford Event Center.

The Medford facility will be totally different from Plaza Morena, Herrera said, featuring an American menu rather than Mexican.

Current plans call for the restaurant to be open for breakfast from 6 a.m. to 1 p.m. and reopening at 5 p.m. until about 12:45 a.m. for dinner plus live entertainment.

Although they will likely serve some Mexican dishes, that will not be the focus, Herrera said, as the Medford location is too close to the Owatonna restaurant. Also, on Sundays the brunch will include Brazilian cuisine along with American and Mexican.

Herrera said he has been planning to open a restaurant in Medford for a number of years and has owned the building since 2014.

The building, he said, is located at 217 N. Main St. and is 6,200 square feet. It has now been totally gutted inside and is undergoing the transition into a restaurant with space for live entertainment. All the necessary permits to remodel the facility have been obtained, with only the food and liquor licenses to come nearer to the opening date. The facility will have a seating capacity of 300, he said.

Current plans call for the remodeling to be completed around October with the opening anticipated in November or December.

The event center will also have space to accommodate private parties. He said that he has often been asked at the Owatonna location if he is aware of a place that is available for private events.

He said Medford residents who have heard about his plans have been excited to know they will soon be opening up in their city.

In addition to the Owatonna restaurant, he also owns a Mexican restaurant in Faribault. He previously also had restaurants in Albert Lea and Dodge Center, he said, but his brother is now the sole owner of the Albert Lea Plaza, and he also is no longer is the owner of the Dodge Center Plaza, although all three still have the same name and share menus and online ordering, he said.

Several months ago, he announced that he would be changing the name of Plaza Morena Compestre Grill to Casa Morena Cocina. He said that he has already changed the name legally and is now just waiting to change the signs. He indicated this week he may actually run under both names for a period of time so people understand that even with a new name it will be the same restaurant, and he is still the owner.

He also introduced a house coffee brand, Casa Morena Café at the Owatonna restaurant, he said, featuring coffee from Columbia.