Gustavo Soto never aspired to become a restaurateur. It just kind of happened. He was working as a construction supervisor in the early 1980s when he mentioned to his in-laws, Kurt and Margita Steinmaier, that their Dog n Suds restaurant in Carpentersville would make a good location for something different. “I told my father-in-law we could convert it into a Mexican restaurant. He went along with it,” Soto said. In the mid-1980s, “there weren’t that many Mexican restaurants, especially out here,” Soto said. “We took a chance because there was...

Four former Patrón tequila executives are getting back into the alcohol industry with the launch of Weber Ranch 1902 Vodka, an agave-based spirit distilled in Jalisco, Mexico, and finished in Muenster, Texas, 45 miles northwest of Denton. Weber Ranch vodka launches May 7, 2024 and will be distributed in Texas, California, Florida and New York, then nationwide, said Lee Applbaum, president and chief operating officer of Weber Ranch’s new parent company, Round 2 Spirits. “What we do has to be truly disruptive,” he said. It’s rare to make vodka out...