Behind a nondescript constructing on Paseo del Pueblo Sur, Solely a block south of El Taoseño and throughout The road from the shuttered IHOP sits an unassuming meals cart. Do You’d like to drive quick enough, You’d possibly even miss it. Infacet, on a cool and windy Tuesday morning (Oct. 19), Amelia Mejia and her husband David fired up the flatiron And commenced getting ready for a busy day serving meals you in all probability Can’t discover anyplace else in Taos County.
The couple are the house personalers of Taos’ latest culinary addition, Amelia Salvadorian Food, which serves up basic meals from El Salvador with A mannequin new Mexican twist.
For the previous six months, the Mejias have been pleasing palates with breakquick tortas and handmade pupusas – El Salvador’s Hottest dish – which consists of a corn flatbread Full of chicharron and cheese. This being Taos, however, They are saying The most properly-appreciated pupusa They curlease is the One which comes with inexperienced chile.
Amelia said their culinary custom has been handed Proper dpersonal to her from her mom, grandmom and aunts. She is glad to lastly be pursuing meals as a profession, she said, and added that starting her personal enterprise has been her lifelong dream.
The couple transferd to Taos from California in 2014 after their church, Pentacostal Church M.I., set uped a Taos location They typinamey volunteered to make the transfer. As quickly as in Taos, the couple labored exhausting to make their dream of cooking for a dwelling come true.
“We labored exhausting, simply saving and saving,” said Amelia. “We said, ‘Finally, We’ll get our enterprise.’ ”
Amelia labored first for the Taos Inn, then On the Lodge Don Fernando de Taos. Then a good friend from church provided her a job at Private Label Choose, An space cosmetics And private care producer. In the meantime, David labored at Mante’s Chow Cart, and later the Gorge Bar & Grill.
After almost eight years, Amelia said she and David decided they have been ready for a change. “I said, ‘I don’t Have to work like that, I would like My very personal enterprise.’ ”
First, they located a trailer in use by Rosa’s Tacos, one other properly-liked meals cart, and acquired started on making it Their very personal. As a Outcome of of their smart financial savings they have been In a place To buy the truck and All of the gear for cooking, storage and meals preparation With none outfacet monetary assist – not even a financial institution mortgage.
“Everytime you come to America, It truly is a land of alternative,” said Amelia. “When You should do one factor, You will Have The power to Do this.”
The Mejias said the response to their meals has been unbelievable. In current months, it has shortly Find your self to be a go-To decide for locals and enchancment staff Engaged on Paseo del Pueblo Sur.
“We now have people come up and say, ‘Oh, You’ve pupusas?’ or They’re excited for one factor new in Taos,” said Amelia.
People have come to know El Salvadoran meals greater than ever These days, said the Mejias, as their house nation opened itself to tourism after a new prefacetnt, Nayib Bukele, took power in 2019.
“Everyfactor Is biggest than 30 years in the past … A lot of vacationers are going to El Salvador,” said Amelia. “A lot Of people Are out there and inform me, ‘Hey, I went to El Salvador, it’s A great place now. Everyfactor Is candy, [with] extra safety.”
As a Outcome of phrase has unfold quickly about their meals cart, the couple work full time As a Outcome of the one staff, although They’ve sometimes launched Inside their son, David, To assist work the money Register. “He likes doing A great job. It’s cool because he is Aware of how,” said Amelia. “He says, ‘Mother And pop, you guys are working exhausting!’ ”
Every pupusa and tortilla is handmade, And each ingredient is rigorously chosen. “Some people don’t know The biggest Method to do the pupusas. It’s Barely exhausting, because eachfactor is with the hand,” said Amelia, who was taught The biggest Method to make the dish in her house nation.
She defined the nationwide dish comes with a facet of cabbage and a sauce. “The pupusa Isn’t good if you don’t have that,” she joked of the cabbage facet dish. However, “the specialty is the sauce.”
Amelia defined Salvadorans aren’t as eager on spicy sauce as New Mexicans. “In El Salvador people don’t eat chile, they don’t eat spicy [meals],” she laughed. “In our nation [the sauce is tomato-based mostly], however We’re in New Mexico so we have To make the most of all the chile.”
The underfacet line with eachfactor on the menu? “There’s no dishonest. Everyfactor is current,” she said. This embraces the tortillas That embrace breakquick orders, That are each handmade from The identical dough used to create the pupusas.
The Mejias said They’re excited to proceed turning people on to the flavors of the nation, and displaying how they mix with New Mexican components. Some components are even distinctive to El Salvador, Similar to loroco (the undeveloped head of a flower native to Central America), which is put into vegetarian pupusas.
As the couple develop An space following, they said they plan To maintain busy. “Proper now we’re working On A daily basis,” said Amelia.
Finally, they hope To lease further staff, however That Can be as far off as subsequent summer time as the Mejias set up themselves as a meals vendor and caterer Inside The world.
For extra information name 575-999-1203.