In a town where Tex-Mex staples have long stood as comfort food favorites, Casa Mexicana is offering a fresh perspective — and doing so with purpose. Here, the guacamole is a celebration. The margaritas are muddled, not mixed. And the tacos? They feel both rooted in tradition and refined — familiar, but elevated.
The first sign you’re in for something different is in the cocktail menu: think a watermelon skinny margarita, jewel-toned and topped with citrus zest. Cold, balanced, and built on fresh ingredients, it reflects the care that goes into everything Casa does — right down to the precise ratio of lime juice to tequila.
Casa Mexicana isn’t trying to outdo what’s come before. It’s building on it — blending beloved traditions with thoughtful updates, in both the kitchen and the culture.
History
Before Casa’s white tile walls and rooftop views, there was El Charro: the original family-run restaurant that became a local institution in Oxford. Opened in 1995 on Jackson Avenue, El Charro built a loyal following through heart, hustle, and a community-first ethos.
El Charro wasn’t just a place to eat — it was a rite of passage. It was where first dates turned into anniversaries, and post-game celebrations ended in queso. It was warm, loud, and deeply familiar. And always there, somewhere in the mix, was a 13-year-old Ramiro running tickets and helping close after school.
“I would get dropped off for the dinner shift,” Ramiro recalls. “That early exposure left a mark. “You learn by being there—by watching, by listening, by helping,” he says. “I didn’t know it then, but that was my foundation.”
The family wasn’t finished when El Charro eventually closed — they were just recalibrating. They rebranded Casa Mexicana: a cleaner concept, a fresher identity, and a reinvestment in the vision they’d always had.
“El Charro started it, and Casa carried it,” Ramiro says. “We wanted something that honored where we came from, but with the freedom to grow.”
Community
Casa’s leadership is built on relationships that go back a decade. “Our kitchen manager started as a busser. Our general manager started as a server,” Ramiro says. “We’ve been building this team for years.”
It’s a restaurant where people grow together. The staff talks like family, guests are greeted like old friends, and there’s a rhythm to the place — a sense that everyone is in sync.
That continuity is no accident. Every decision Casa makes, from menu additions to sponsorships, comes from conversation and intention. “We don’t add anything unless there’s a story behind it,” Ramiro says. “It has to fit the heartbeat of the restaurant.”
This ethos shows up in small moments — a birthday serenade from the whole team, a perfectly timed to-go order packed with handwritten notes. “It’s those little things that stick with people,” Ramiro says. “They come back because they felt seen.”
Stage
Unlike many restaurants that treat the bar as an afterthought, Casa builds around it. The bar is the first thing you see when you walk in — open, welcoming, alive.
It’s also where you’ll likely find Daniel, the bar’s magnetic anchor. Regulars know him by name. Some won’t even sit if he’s not there.
“Customers will literally leave and come back when they know Daniel is working,” Ramiro says, laughing. “That’s how strong the connection is.”
Daniel brings the precision and polish of a veteran bartender. His wife, LaLa — also Ramiro’s sister — brings the soul. Together, they’ve shaped the bar into a kind of creative lab: part speakeasy, part second home.
Casa Mexicana in Oxford, Miss., Tuesday, Mar. 25, 2025. (©Bruce Newman)
Lala
At the heart of Casa’s drink program is the now-iconic skinny margarita. A minimalist masterpiece of tequila, lime, and agave, the drink is deceptively simple — and obsessively refined.
“It took me so many months to get it perfect,” Ramiro admits. “It’s like a good martini. If you don’t get the ratios right, it falls flat.”
LaLa, who prefers hers served neat, takes it a step further. Every season, she experiments with fresh fruit — whatever she’s into at the moment — to create a new twist. Strawberry, mango, dragon fruit, peach — no two batches are quite the same.
“She’ll feel something for a fruit, make a huge batch, and just serve it for a while,” Ramiro says. “She has a feel for it.”
Some of those seasonal fruits end up frozen — turned into boozy popsicles that appear during peak summer. It’s a drink, it’s dessert, it’s a vibe.
Beyond Margs
Not every drink at Casa sticks to clean and classic. Some lean bold, playful—even a little wild. Take “Everyone’s Pornstar,” a cheeky, bubbly fishbowl made for sharing. It was inspired by a rowdy trip to Tulum that the team hasn’t stopped talking about since.
“It was so freaking good,” Ramiro recalls. “We had an epic night and couldn’t stop raving about it. We didn’t bring it back exactly, but it inspired something even better.”
That something became Everyone’s Pornstar — sultry, citrusy and laced with bubbly. It’s the kind of cocktail you order with friends, toast with laughter, and immediately recommend to the next table over.
Inspiration
Casa’s menu isn’t a copy-paste from Mexico. It’s the result of immersive research. The team makes regular trips to places like Guadalajara, Tulum, and Michoacán — eating, watching, absorbing.
“We divide and conquer,” Ramiro says. “One of us studies the kitchen, another reads the menu, someone else just watches the bar.”
They don’t mimic — they extract essence. An ingredient here, a technique there. Back home, they translate that inspiration into something local, something original.
“Sometimes we come back with a single idea that changes everything,” Ramiro says. “That’s what keeps it exciting.”
Family
For all its polish, Casa remains grounded in its people.
When a longtime regular lost their home in a fire, LaLa was the first to call. The restaurant quickly organized a percentage night to raise funds — and the community showed up.
That kind of support isn’t a PR move. It’s core to the mission. Casa backs the Oxford Arts Council, sponsors “Iron Bartender,” and regularly contributes to local events like “Best of Oxford” and “Top 40 Under 40.”
“If we have a relationship with the people or believe the cause truly benefits the community, we’re in,” Ramiro says.
That generosity is mutual. During a recent holiday season, regulars brought in home-baked cookies and handwritten cards for the staff. “That hit us hard,” Ramiro says. “We realized we’re not just in the community — we’re part of people’s lives.”
Perseverance
Opening El Charro was a proud moment. But sustaining Casa — weathering hard nights, reimagining tradition, building a culture — is the greater achievement.
“There were nights I wanted to shut it down and walk away,” Ramiro admits. “But we kept going.”
That perseverance is why Casa isn’t just a restaurant. It’s a living story — one that keeps evolving, season after season, shift after shift, with every ticket run and every skinny shaken just right.
Casa Mexicana is perhaps the purest expression of that evolution — built from scratch, rooted in tradition, and guided by years of lived experience. It’s more than a flagship; it’s a love letter to the town that raised them.
