Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Taqueria Guanajuato a family affair
Local Mexican restaurant offers traditional favorites
Tony Morales enjoys working for his family’s restaurant business.
“My parents started it 13 years ago with this location. “My uncle has been here since we started.” Maria and Benigno Morales and Tony’s uncle Lupe were born in Mexico and immigrated to the United States. Tony, now in his twenties, was born in California. The family moved to the Fayetteville area years ago. They all take pride in serving up traditional homemade Mexican favorites. It was, he said, a dream of his parents who just wanted to make people happy with food.
“It’s just something that my parents wanted to do,” he said. “They wanted to make food. They thought they made good food at home so they branched out.”
Tony was involved from an early age. “Oh man… I started when I was in High school,” he said. “Yea, I was like a freshmen (in high school) and I’d come in on the weekends. I played baseball, but sometimes during the summer I’d be here eight to five or whenever my dad came in. I would go play baseball in the afternoon. I’d come in and help after games and practice.”
Flavorful fiesta
While the flavors encountered at taqueria are complex, Tony said they are still traditional Mexican favorites.
“It’s something that you are not going to get at another restaurant-style place,” he noted. “It’s taqueria food.”
A “taqueria” is often a smaller restaurant specializing in tacos and other Mexican dishes.
The taqueria offers a wide variety of filling and classic entrees for breakfast, lunch, dinner and even some late night weekend options.
Beef, chicken, pork and shrimp are standards. However, a few dishes allow diners to step out of their comfort zone.
“The lingua (sliced beef tongue) is soft,” he said. “People think it’s going to be something different. But, when they taste it they change their minds quickly about it.”
True to the food
No matter the dish, Tony believes that if you stay true to the food and to quality customer service, diners will come back.
“If you make good food people will go where it is,” he said. “Just treating people with respect when they get here and attending to them quickly is vital. If you’re in a small place, and not greeted and served quickly, they are just likely to get up and walk away.”
While Tony spends much time in the kitchen, he understands it’s all about running a tight operation.
“We try to keep everything running smooth,” he said. “There are lot of repeat customers. There are some familiar faces that come around and we enjoy that. It shows that they enjoy the food and service.
Tony admits, most of his culinary knowledge was learned from his family and over time.
“Man, to be honest,” he said. “It’s my parents. When we got started we didn’t know very much about the restaurant business. We just got a place, learned from the people there and started adding our own seasoning. We didn’t know at first, but you learn and adjust. You make things that you think are good and people react well and they come back.”