Dining
BY KAREN CHANEY
Seven Mares soup ($10.50 small, $19.50 large) includes sh and other seafood in a housemade broth.
Tablitas ($22) are short ribs and shrimp on a bed of bell peppers and onions in a sizzling skillet served with rice, refried beans, salad and tortillas.
PHOTOS BY KAREN CHANEY COMMUNITY IMPACT
El Pollo Alegre sees tides turn to seafood demand
Norma and Carlos Nevarez own El Pollo Alegre. Their daughter, Karla Mercado, also works at the restaurant.
When Norma and Carlos Nevarez moved from their native country of Mexico to Texas in 1996, they worked at a taqueria for six years before launching El Pollo Alegre in 2002 in McKinney. The married couple started out with a chicken-centric menu but overtime, saw rising demand for seafood selections. The backstory Carlos Nevarez thought he would continue work- ing in the computer science eld when he moved to Dallas, however, he opted for a career reboot. “We had no money, just a vision,” Norma Nevarez said of the couple’s plan to open the eatery. On the menu The restaurant serves authentic Mexican fare.
Carlos Nevarez changes the menu almost annu- ally and weeds out underperforming menu items while adding new options. Camarones a la Diabla, a dish featuring pan-seared shrimp in homemade Diabla sauce, is a popular dish as well as Seven Mares soup, a seafood dish. What’s in a name? Karla Mercado, the Nevarez’s daughter, said she never really liked the business name but when her dad explained the true meaning of ‘alegre’, he changed her mind. “El Pollo Alegre means more than just ‘The Happy Chicken’” Mercado said. “Alegre means more than ‘happy’, it means positive and joyful. It’s a way of life—not just a moment.”
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