AzTec Taqueria in Verona takes tacos on the street | Meals & Drink
On Madison’s southwest aspect, suburban Verona has change into a hub for Mexican meals. With this collection, we’re introducing the newest eating places to open there, serving acquainted favorites like tacos and tamales in addition to regional dishes drawn from household recipes.
The primary on this collection was Taqueria Los Atlantes at 300 S. Important St. This week, comply with Salvador Tecpoyotl-Daniel as he brings recipes from outdoors Puebla to his family-run restaurant, AzTec Taqueria on Keenan Court docket.
AzTec Taqueria
Opened: Could 5, 2022
Proprietor: Salvador Tecpoyotl-Daniel
Origins: Puebla, Mexico
For AzTec Taqueria proprietor Salvador Tecpoyotl-Daniel, opening a restaurant in Verona final Could symbolized his household’s journey and resilience.
“Each dish tells a narrative of our historical past, tradition and adversity — it’s extra than simply meals,” he stated. “Lots has occurred to get us right here.”
Julie Vornholt painted a mural on the wall at AzTec Taqueria in Verona.
Tecpoyotl-Daniel’s dad and mom migrated to Fresno, California within the early ‘90s, the place they labored for 15 years harvesting grapes for raisins. In 2004, they moved Salvador and his three brothers 2,000 miles east to the Dairy State the place some members of the family lived, in quest of higher alternatives.
It was November 2004, and Salvador was 17. He remembers being depressing on the sudden swap from the heat to a chilly local weather. He accomplished his final semester of highschool in Madison, however as an immigrant he felt school was out of attain. He began working within the restaurant trade.
Over almost 20 years, Tecpoyotl-Daniel went from busboy and dishwasher to serving and bartending, and finally administration and management roles. He gained company expertise in customer support, budgeting and funds, and eventually determined he had sufficient abilities to be a enterprise proprietor.
Final March, Tecpoyotl-Daniel formally grew to become a U.S. citizen. He nonetheless stays very a lot related to his dwelling in Mexico, a small rural colony simply outdoors of town of Puebla, the place there are gravel roads and no electrical energy. There, he stated, he shared a “brick shack” together with his brothers, dad and mom and grandparents.
Each of Tecpoyotl-Daniel’s dad and mom now work for him full-time at his restaurant, situated at 160 Keenan Court docket.
“My mother and pop are those behind all of the recipes,” he stated. “Their arms lower, marinate, and cook dinner every part. It’s very conventional. It’s like in the event that they have been cooking for a special day or get along with our household in Mexico.”
Recipes straight from Puebla
To create the menu at AzTec Taqueria, Tecpoyotl-Daniel has traveled again to Mexico 3 times to gather recipes. One among Tecpoyotl-Daniel’s favourite reminiscences of rising up in Mexico was the tortillas his grandma and mother used to make out of a white corn, which have been molded and pressed on an vintage picket machine.
“I believed it could be cool to copy that within the States, even thoughI it’s labor intensive,” he stated. “I wished the inspiration of our tacos to be particular. I didn’t need to accept precooked tortillas with preservatives and synthetic substances.”
AzTec Taqueria, situated at 160 Keenan Court docket in Verona, serves quite a lot of dishes from recipes created by the proprietor’s household in Puebla.
From molding to urgent then cooking on the flat prime grill, every tortilla takes round a minute and a half to make on a standard Mexican press.
Tecpoyotl-Daniel calls his meals as “conventional as potential” and says he doesn’t use the phrase “genuine” as a result of everybody has their very own concept of genuine. He makes 4 salsas, a pico de gallo (“contemporary, colourful, vibrant”), tomatillo and serrano-based salsa verde, an “azteca” salsa based mostly with contemporary avocados, and smoky roja, made with guajillo and puya chiles smoked in home.
“In case your salsa is lower than par your home received’t make it in Mexico. That’s the reason it’s one in all my three pillars,” Tecpoyotl-Daniel stated. “In any a part of Mexico the tacos principally come the identical approach, with explosively juicy meats, cilantro, onions and lime. The salsas are what separate the spots down there.”
A wealthy adobo “secret sauce” is the idea of the marinades for the entire meats — and the tofu too — and tofu at AzTec Taqueria. The hen (pollo), grilled to order, is a well-liked option to showcase that marinade. He marinates carne asada with citrus and peppers, and shreds beef for birria after gradual cooking chuck roast for six to eight hours.
Probably the most premium meat on the menu is cow’s tongue (lengua), which Tecpoyotl-Daniel calls the “most tender meat on the earth.”
Cucumber lime agua fresca is made in-house at AzTec Taqueria.
“It’s like consuming butter,” he stated, and he needs to unfold the phrase. Domestically, “individuals will be conservative about what they eat. They get caught on it being tongue and get grossed out.
“However as phrase about its style began spreading round, it grew to become one in all our prime three promoting meats. Individuals who have tried it now order nothing else.”
Already Tecpoyotl-Daniel has needed to take away some objects from the menu, together with a mole poblano that, whereas it offered properly, took two individuals and an entire day to make. Enchiladas, one other time-consuming dish, are actually a particular. This autumn, he intends so as to add a squid taco and a deep fried fish taco to the menu.
A conveyable taco bar
The restaurant only in the near past received accepted for a liquor license, and can quickly supply margaritas. Till then, diners pair their meals with aguas frescas, both cucumber lime and pineapple mango. These are “precise juice, pure and contemporary,” Tecpoyotl-Daniel stated.
“It brings Mexicans again to reminiscences of getting mother squeeze and make it at dwelling,” he stated.
From left to proper are lengua (beef tongue), tofu and al pastor tacos at AzTec Taqueria.
The restaurant’s hottest selfmade drink is horchata, made with sweetened rice or nut milk. “Horchata is king right here,” Tecpoyotl-Daniel stated. He’s planning to introduce strawberry horchata as a limited-time summer time taste.
Final September, the restaurant has expanded its attain with the launch of a catering enterprise. Tecpoyotl-Daniel brings a taco bar to company lunches and weddings, and has invested in a complete second set of economic grade cooking tools that’s transportable. This enables him to arrange a kitchen and cook dinner on-site at occasions.
Tecpoyotl-Daniel plans to broaden in 2025 with a second restaurant location. However that’s not how he measures success.
“As we method the top of a really profitable first yr, I feel the largest accomplishment has been giving again to the group and being a useful resource to individuals who don’t have a voice, particularly in Hispanic neighborhoods,” Tecpoyotl-Daniel stated.
