Olé, Lock Haven: Mama Martina’s authentic Mexican food truck coming to town
By Christopher Miller
LOCK HAVEN – About 35 years ago Martina Reese moved across the country from California to Lock Haven.
“I met my now ex-husband in California and when he decided that he wanted to move back home to Pennsylvania I decided to follow him since we have two children together,” Martina said.
Something that Martina has wanted to do for a very long time is to start an authentic Mexican restaurant, reminiscent of her roots.
“I was born in the state of Zacatecas, Mexico, and down there every state has its own regional flavor and dishes,” she explained. “I want to bring these regional flavors and foods to our community but some things are time-consuming, like real tamales, tacos al pastor, and carne asada.”
An eye-opening experience that Martina explained was what people of different nationalities and ethnicities eat when she was living in California.
“Everybody tends to eat their own kind of food in California but one day I was out walking and stopped at a food truck selling carne asada tacos and there twas this guy, very tall, blue eyes, very handsome just eating tacos, and he yelled “how can people eat this food,”” Martina said. “I have always been very into my culture and I have learned so much more about it living in PA when I couldn’t get ingredients I used to when I lived in California.”
When Martina moved to Lock Haven, Walmart was not yet open in Mill Hall. Selections of some cultural ingredients were very sparse and hard to find without traveling to a larger city.
“When I came to PA I was amazed by everything; the culture was not what I was used to in CA, and I could always find what I needed to make a dish, but that wasn’t the case when I moved here – there were only a few things on the shelves and I was always hungry for my food, my heritage, and my culture.”
In time, Martina grew accustomed to navigating the internet and having some things shipped, and then she started cooking for friends.
“Oh everybody loved my food and I had an idea to open a restaurant some day, but for now I want to start with this food truck idea and I am in the process of ordering the truck, and I was able to qualify for a low-interest loan from the city,” she said. “I am so excited, nervous, and anxious to introduce the community to how many flavors we have in my culture…this current generation are so good about being open to trying new things and I cannot wait to show them the other foods that are out there, that is different form what we have here.”
The menu will start small, and there is no set opening date yet, but “Mama Martina” told The Record that it might be as soon as late-August.
“I am still working on the permits and the process, but I hope for sometime in the next two months,” she said.
Martina is very blessed and happy to be starting this dream of hers, which she has dreamt for many years.
“I’ve been around in Lock Haven for many years, I raised my kids here, I watched some neighbors kids, I’ve cleaned houses, and now I am a CNA in State College,” she said. “I have a very good support team with my kids and people who have come to my rescue in the past, I really think this will be a good thing to be in Lock Haven and I really do appreciate all of the people here waiting for me to go through the process to open up.”
Martina’s favorite thing to cook are enchiladas and burritos.
“I love to make everything from scratch, even my rice and refried beans, people just really like it, and I will do my best to please them with my cooking,” she said. “I love to see people enjoying what I cook, I get such a good and happy feeling from it, all happy faces.”
As for her business logo, it’s a blend of the United States flag, the flag of Mexico, a caricature of Martina, and hummingbirds, her favorite bird which is a symbol or spirituality and grace.
Time will tell when Mama Martina’s will officially open, but stay patient Lock Haven – it’s coming.
