Monday, May 24, 2010, 2:27pm PDT | Modified: May 24, 2010, 2:32 PM

Restaurant grows out of educational program, farmers market following

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Leticia Lopez makes pupusas at Acapulco Restaurantcito.

Portland-area farmers markets have a strong track record as a proving ground for future restaurants, but a Mexican restaurant that opened its doors earlier this year in Cornelius got more than a nudge from the local farmers market.

Restaurancito Acapulco is part of the Adelante Empresas program, a support group for Spanish-speaking entrepreneurs that grew out of the Adelante Mujeres Micro Enterprise Program.

Funded by grants totaling just over $100,000 from Community Capital Development Inc. and the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, Adelante Empresas — which essentially means “onward, enterprise” in Spanish — offers entrepreneurial business owners training in communication, business plan development, marketing and other business skills.

After incubating since 2005 at the Forest Grove Farmers Market, also a project of the Adelante Mujeres Micro Enterprise Group, the Maldonado family expanded the business with the Cornelius restaurant.

“We don’t want to be just another Mexican restaurant,” said Gaudalupe Maldonado.

The restaurant features pupusas, tamales and horchata among other menu items.

Adelante Mujeres, a nonprofit focused on the education and economic empowerment of the Latino community of western Washington County, received a $300,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture in January to lease a 12-acre plot of agricultural land to use as a laboratory for its sustainable farming education series.

The Forest Grove Farmers Market opened this year on May 12 and runs through October 13.