Tacos with Heart
While Pedro Arias Lopez and Crescencio Villar were working years ago as dishwashers at Big Sky Cafe in San Luis Obispo, a friendship evolved between the two Mexican men. Each Thursday night as they looked out at the bustling farmers’ market, taco options appeared scarce. They devised a plan to sell their own. The only problem was they didn’t have a business strategy and both preferred eating to cooking.
Chencho lived on a farm, where his family grew vegetables and milked cows for cheese. He remembers his mother making fresh tortillas daily for lunch because they couldn’t afford the school meal. Chencho left Mexico for California in the late 1980s with his father, who requested his son learn and master the English language. Upon arriving in Santa Barbara, Chencho didn’t understand a lot of English spoken at his first job, in landscaping, but he did learn that classic American food like hamburgers and hot dogs weren’t his favorite. Ketchup and mustard perplexed him and he missed his mother’s warm, flavorful, handmade tortillas. Later, Chencho accepted a job at Pepe Delgado’s on Monterey Street in San Luis Obispo (now home to Benny’s Pizza Palace and Social Club), where he quickly found his local “family.”
He refers to his former manager, Barbara Fleckenstein, as “my angel” and shares how she helped him sign up for high school and scheduled his work hours around classes so he could both get an education and pay rent. “If it wasn’t for Barbara, I don’t know where I would be today,” Chencho says with a certain tenderness.
Pedro’s childhood was also seasoned with culinary touches. His family earned a living by selling their homemade pan dulce, a traditional Hispanic pastry. It was a family effort and as a small child, Pedro woke up at 4am to help prepare the sweet bread. Like the tamales his family also made and sold, the bread was delicious and popular. But at that time, Pedro was only interested in eating.
In college, Pedro met a woman with a thirst for travel, and they hit it off. The young, curious couple traveled throughout Mexico and Central America, led from one city to the next by their taste buds. It was in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Mexico that Pedro watched his new love order a vegetarian pizza with garlic and onions. The vegetarian lifestyle of the woman who would later become his wife introduced Pedro to a world he admittedly knew little about.
“I didn’t know what vegetarianism was and suddenly, I had to learn,” Pedro says with a chuckle. While living with his family, Pedro and his girlfriend shopped the farmers’ market for seasonal produce, and took it home and prepared a delicious vegetarian meal with it. This alternative way of eating opened Pedro’s eyes to a new way of cooking, one that was mindful of different allergies and sensitivities.
Years later, when Pedro and Chencho met while working back of house in the San Luis Obispo restaurant, they devised their plan to sell tacos. They decided to get some experience by catering together at a relative’s wedding. Eager to make a good impression and gain practical experience, the duo rented an equipment hauler. But the huge dispensers of hibiscus tea and horchata were jostled around going up Highway 101 and when they arrived at the venue, they opened the trailer doors to find half of the beverages had spilled.
Then, when Pedro pitched the idea of making their tortillas by hand, Chencho told Pedro he was out of his mind, but he agreed to try it. Charles Myers, the original owner of Big Sky Cafe, generously lent the two men the kitchen space for use after business hours. After a full day of restaurant work, the men settled into the masa and pounded away into the morning hours. The process of making tortillas by hand is very labor intensive but for Pedro and Chencho, the payoff is worth it. Childhood nostalgia delivered with each bite of the fresh tortillas brings back memories of home.
Corazón 805 serves up inventive tacos for both meat eaters and herbivores, always with colorful toppings tucked into their freshly made tortillas. Both men feel alive when they can be creative in the kitchen. They are curious to experiment with more traditional meats such as tripas and suadero, and they love finding unique culinary ingredients at Santa Maria markets to incorporate into their dishes. They recently made a salsa using yerba santa instead of cilantro or parsley. It was a different direction than they were used to, but the flavors were a hit.
Each time they sell their tacos, Pedro and Chencho are swarmed by hungry customers. They attribute their success to the community of SLO County, to which they pay homage in their logo with a heart wrapped around Bishop’s Peak. It’s not simply that people buy their product, but also that so many in this area backed them early on: Barbara supporting Chencho’s pursuit of education, the kitchen space provided by Charles and Greg Holt, the current Owner of Big Sky Cafe, and use of the kitchen at The Carrisa provided by Owner Rodney Cegelski for other events.
As their popularity and experience grow, Pedro, who now manages Big Sky Cafe, and Chencho, the manager at Novo, consider the possibility of opening a small storefront one day. Pedro reflects on the words his wife wrote in her journal back during their travels, “At every crossroads follow your dream. It is courageous to let your heart lead the way.”
