MANSFIELD – The owners of the Panchos Tacos food truck say Richland County has been so kind to them that they want to give back a piece of their culture.
Alejandro Anchondo and his partner, Jesus Davalos began by opening a taco stand last summer, which later expanded into a food truck in November. The next step is to open a restaurant in Mansfield by the end of summer.
“Mansfield — all of Richland County — they been so good with us,” Anchondo said. “So, we are going to give to the community a little bit of our culture … the real (Mexican) food.”
Anchondo and Davalos, both of Mexico, were determined to find a downtown Mansfield location, but after looking at a few spots, Anchondo began to feel discouraged. With the advice of an architect, the two focused on finding a former restaurant building. It was too expensive to start from scratch.
“We decided it’s going to be a lot of money to invest in downtown,” Anchondo said. “So, I was sad because we were really excited.”
A friend then suggested the former What’s 4 Dessert building, 1344 Lexington Ave. The restaurant with 115 reviews raving about its cupcakes and apple pie permanently closed Friday, June 2.
Anchondo and Davalos were quick to look at the building, and they hope to open as soon as next month. No target date or hours have been set yet.
But Anchondo has been thinking about how the menu can expand in a Chipotle-style restaurant. All the food truck favorites — nachos, burritos, quesadillas, rice bowls and more — will also be available at the restaurant, but choices like shrimp ceviche and other seafood dishes might be added.
“The tacos, we eat it like that with onions and cilantro. That’s the way we eat it in Mexico,” Anchondo said, explaining that Panchos Tacos makes authentic Mexican food.
Everything – the salsa, rice, beans – is made just like Anchondo remembers it.
He now works some evenings at another local Mexican restaurant, Los 3 Mayas, in addition to operating the Panchos Tacos food truck. Sometimes he stays up until 1:30 a.m. preparing food for the next day, then wakes up again the next morning at 7 a.m. to continue.
“When you have a dream, you just work hard to get it,” he said. “(But) it’s not easy… Right now, I work here (Los 3 Mayos) in the evenings and do the food truck in the morning. And sometimes, I work all the weekends, like Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays.”
His wife, Anna Marquez, of Venezuela, typically helps him prepare the food truck ingredients. The couple met in Columbus and married last December. They are expecting a baby girl, Anna Valentina, in October.
“It’s been an amazing year,” Anchondo said, undeterred by the hard work and long hours.
Meanwhile, Davalos is engaged and planning a wedding for next year.
Anchondo, of Chichuahua, Mexico and Davalos, of Jalisco, Mexico met about 10 years ago at a local bar. The two grew to become good friends when they discovered both worked at Mexican restaurants. Anchondo worked for Rancho Fiesta and Davalos worked for El Campestre.
But on June 17, 2016, they began serving their own Mexican cuisine from a taco cart. A year later, he posted on Facebook, “Thank you, Amigos.”
Anchondo later expressed his thanks for his customers, employees and locations that allow him to park his food truck outside. He specifically mentioned Mechanics Bank and the Phoenix Brewing Company.
One of his frequent helpers is Jose Fransico, who he calls “Pancho.” Anchondo recalls working alongside his friend at another local Mexican restaurant.
“He was a really good server. People asked for his section,” he said. “So, one day I told him ‘When I have a restaurant, I want to (call it) Panchos.’ ”
Of course, Pancho didn’t believe his friend, but he’s supported Panchos Tacos from day one. And now he jokingly tells Anchondo, “Oh, you have to pay me money.”
Panchos Tacos opened its food truck in November 2016, and intends to keep the truck open along with its restaurant. Though it may need to close for a short time while a few new staff members are trained at the new restaurant. Anchondo anticipates no more than a month without operating the truck.
The restaurant’s windows need some new signage and the interior needs paint and tables, but Anchondo describes the work as minimal.
“People, all the time, they ask me… why don’t you open a restaurant?” Anchondo said.
He couldn’t find any reason to not.
“This is my dream: Put another restaurant in Ashland, Galion, Shelby, Loudonville … all those little towns, so they have a little restaurant to go eat,” he said. “That’s my dream. Maybe one day.”
