Angela Flores makes tortillas at Abuelita’s. (Photo by Jay Paul)
Karina Benavides, co-owner of South Side’s Abuelita’s, has tortilla making in her DNA. She learned to shape tortillas from fresh masa dough through her mother, whose family owned a tostaderia in Mexico. At Abuelita’s, the kitchen staff makes anywhere from 300 to 1,000 fresh tortillas a day. Using Maseca-based dough, they press and cut each tortilla with a machine before cooking them on a searing-hot flat-top until they develop their characteristic bubbles and charred notes.
For Benavides, there’s simply no other way: “If someone wants to treat you,” she says, “they’ll make fresh tortillas.” True to her tostaderia roots, Benavides takes Abuelita’s leftover tortillas and allows them to air-dry before deep frying, using them to make chilaquiles served alongside posole.
Martin Gonzalez, co-owner of long-standing area institution La Milpa, says he prefers El Milagro corn tortillas for tacos because they have the flavor and chew that he’s looking for. For their daily catering orders, La Milpa sources tortillas from Los Comales, a Chesterfield-based tortilleria. The street-style tacos at the 24/7 eatery come with the traditional two tortillas each — one to hold the fillings and one to catch the fillings that try to escape.
At Arco Iris, a family-run market with three area locations, the Benitez family makes tortillas in house. Salvadoran-style, they are smaller in size, thicker in texture and served alongside soups, meat entrees and breakfast, says owner Yolibeth Benitez.
“My grandma who is 85 and lives in El Salvador always says, ‘If you haven't eaten a tortilla today, you haven't had a proper meal!’ ” Benitez says. The modern Tex-Mex restaurant she also co-owns, Terrazza, serves flour tortillas with its dishes, but some savvy customers, especially the Salvadoran clientele, know to ask for the homemade corn tortillas. And at Arco Iris, Benitez says, “Not only are two handmade tortillas served with each dish, people buy them in bulk to take home every single day.”
A labor of love, making fresh tortillas is a way to stand out from the competition, says Iliana White-Padilla, whose mother comes in daily to craft tortillas for Kahlo’s Taqueria in Union Hill using Maseca dough and a tortilla press from her travels to Mexico City. “RVA is saturated with Mexican restaurants,” White-Padilla says. “Therefore, it is important that we maintain a niche that separates us from the rest.”
Lost in the Sauce
From sweet to heat, these local sauces take tacos up a notch
Don’t Look Back
Dawn of the Red
Spicier than a jalapeno, and with a fruity flavor to boot, Fresno chiles give Dawn of the Red its characteristic kick. A creation of chef Nate Gutierrez, it's an ode to former DLB chef Justin Cropper’s popular Red Dawn hot sauce.
TBT El Gallo
Salsa Macha
A high priority for chef Carlos Ordaz-Nunez: highlighting all 64 native chiles of Mexico at TBT El Gallo. In his salsa macha, he blends pasilla, ancho and guajillo chiles with crushed peanuts, resulting in a tantalizing and uber-flavorful nutty heat.
Casa del Barco
Habanero Carrot
Available by the bottle and inspired by travels to the Yucatan, this balanced sauce marries fiery habanero peppers with sweet carrots, ginger and star anise. A vivid bright orange, it’s also included in Casa del Barco’s Emergency Taco Kit.
Soul Taco
Agave Hot Sauce
Five peppers — serrano, Fresno, jalapeno, arbol and piquin — join pure blue agave in Soul Taco’s signature creation, which chef and co-owner Ari Augenbaum says was engineered to bring the ideal heat-plus-sweet balance to every taco.
La Milpa
Spicy Guacamole
Co-owner Martin Gonzalez says he felt like a pioneer introducing avocados to Richmond’s dining scene 20 years ago. This house-made hot sauce marries the wallop of green chile heat with creamy avocados — a perfect addition to shrimp tacos.