Return of Dairy Queen, opening of Rosa Maria’s Mexican Restaurant in Hesperia

One business corner in Hesperia is about to become very popular when Dairy Queen and Rosa Maria’s Mexican Restaurant open, possibly this year.

Construction crews were working on both stand-alone restaurants this week on the southwest corner of Bear Valley and Cypress roads.

Employees with Hi-Desert Alarm and Diversified Glass were seen working on the Dairy Queen building, which was in the pre-stucco stage.

The Rosa Maria’s building, which was in the final framing stage, sits adjacent to Dairy Queen and next to a daycare center on Bear Valley Road.

Rosa Maria’s 1.5-acre parcel is owned by Camelot Unlimited LLC, while Dairy Queen’s 1.5-acre parcel is owned by PL & D Investments.

Rosa Maria’s 

Jose and Guadalupe Robles opened the first Rosa Maria’s in 1975, serving a variety of homemade Mexican dishes from its restaurant on North Sierra Way in San Bernardino.

Since then, the business has expanded to places like Highland, Fontana, Redlands and now Hesperia.

Several High Desert foodies said that the restaurant’s fresh ingredients and its “Garbage Burrito” are what keep customers coming back for more. The garbage burrito is made with chicken, pork verde, or pork colorado and wrapped in a handmade tortilla with beans, rice, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, and onions, the company said.

Other favorite handmade menu items include tortillas, rellenos, beans, rice, and a variety of burritos and tacos.

The restaurant serves breakfast, lunch and dinner, with take-out and dine-in options.

Before opening their first restaurant, Jose Robles worked in the orange groves while his wife, Guadalupe, managed the home and took care of the couple’s children.

Every morning, the aroma of freshly made tortillas would fill the house as Guadalupe prepared the day’s meals for her family, which also included Jose’s lunch, the company said.

After Jose shared his wife’s burritos with co-workers, the demand for more of his wife's cooking turned into the idea of opening Rosa Maria’s.

Dairy Queen returns

In 2019, Dairy Queen fans were excited about once again tasting Peanut Buster Parfaits and Buster Bars when the company announced its return to the Victor Valley

Those hopes were dashed in 2020 when the restaurant decided not to move into a new Shell gas station on the northeast corner of Ranchero Road and Seventh Avenue in Hesperia.

The 2023 return of Dairy Queen comes after the late Robert "Bob" John Steele of Hesperia shuttered all three of his locations in the Victor Valley.

During the early 1990s, Steele began researching franchise opportunities when he realized that the telecommunication world that he worked in for years was changing.

In 1995, Steele opened Dairy Queen on Main Street in Hesperia, which at that time was the largest Dairy Queen west of Mississippi, he told the Daily Press.

After that, Steele expanded his empire to Victorville and Adelanto.

Health issues and the Great Recession were two main factors that forced Steele to shutter all three locations, the last Dairy Queen closed in Hesperia around 2010.

Steele’s daughter, Courtney Crookham, told the Daily Press in 2015 that her father was diagnosed with aggressive colon cancer earlier that year.

On February 5, 2023, Steele was surrounded by loved ones at Desert Valley Hospital in Victorville when he died after suffering cardiac arrest. He was 65.

Daily Press reporter Rene Ray De La Cruz may be reached at 760-951-6227 or RDeLaCruz@VVDailyPress.com. Follow him on Twitter @DP_ReneDeLaCruz

This article originally appeared on Victorville Daily Press: Dairy Queen returns to Hesperia, Rosa Maria's opens next door