Back Row L/R - Alfonso Lopez, Elias Martinez, Hector Martinez, Sr., Gabriel Martinez, Gina Martinez, Cruz Martinez, Katelyn Martinez, Christian Martinez.
Front Row L/R - Sebastian Martinez, Hector Martinez Jr., Myriam Martinez, Emiliano Martinez
Our Story
In Degollado, Jalisco, Mexico a young boy had a dream of opening his own Mexican restaurant in America and in 1987 at the age of 17 he traveled to America to do just that. Gabriel Martinez began working for a family friends restaurant in Tennessee and started off doing dishes to managing the restaurant.
In 1997 a dream became a reality when Gabriel and his partner opened up the first Casa Blanca in Fayetteville, Tennessee. Shortly after, Gabriel sold the restaurant to his partner and decided to open Casa Blanca in Pulaski, Tennessee with the help of his wife Gina. The dream didn’t stop there. Gabriel and Gina decided to venture to Athens, Alabama and open a Casa Blanca with the partnership of Gabriels brothers, Elias and Hector. From that point they moved forward opening more and more restaurants in the North Alabama area.
The family has been through success and failure but all that has mattered is that we have stuck together through it all. In 2014 our family got the news that Gabriel, Hector, and Elias’ mother had cancer. It was a difficult 2 years but thankfully Luce Maria Aguilar Lopez became cancer free in 2016. The brothers wanted to do something special and decided to open two restaurants named Lucia’s in honor of their mother. Family is a major component in our business and its what makes the business run. We hope that when you come visit one of our 6 restaurants you can feel the love like we do.