“I love to see the reaction of people when they try our food, and they’re just blown away. When you have one of our tacos, you’re like, ‘Wow!'”
Businesses and non-profit organizations regularly open and move in Saskatoon. Today the StarPhoenix talks to Fred Martens, who together with Arnold Mendoza, opened Fiesta Tacos & Tequila downtown in July.
Fred has worked in restaurants for years while Arnold has been cooking for years, having developed a Birria taco recipe that led the two to partner together in this restaurant. The pair, along with manager Chelcea Stagman, spent over four months of their own time renovating the former Italian restaurant into the casual and fun dining atmosphere it is today. They believe they bring the ‘Wow factor’ to the Birria taco and all the other tacos and items on their menu.
Q: Why did you open Fiesta Tacos & Tequila?
A: Some taco places have opened up and they are okay, but they didn’t hit it. I love to see the reaction of people when they try our food, and they’re just blown away. When you have one of our tacos, you’re like, ‘Wow!’ You can tell that we get up early and we start the cooking process early and we work and work on it so it’s just right. It’s that wow factor that we try and strive for. You can’t beat that quality of in-house made.
Q: What is your restaurant background?
A: I used to cook at Los Palapas. I was there for about four years, off and on. I worked at Birmingham’s, I opened up Milestones and I’ve been in the restaurant industry for a while. I did learn a lot from Los Palapas. I remember being there at 6 or 7 in the morning getting the chickens on.
Arnold is our head chef and my business partner. I reached out to him because he does really good Birria. He loves cooking. He’s very creative. All of our in-house salsas he created. He’s just got that knack about having things just right. He just knows how to create these certain sauces and certain tacos.
Q: What is the atmosphere at Fiesta Tacos?
A: Once you walk into our restaurant you notice that we are a lot different. We’ve got a vibe of being a fun, easy going and very comfortable restaurant. The previous restaurant used to be a fine dining Italian restaurant. It was kind of dark. What we did was we brightened it up. We put TVs in. We put a bunch of neon signs in. We painted the red brick to lighten it up with German white smear. We’ve got chairs that are higher in the middle. It’s a place to just go hang out and maybe watch a game, have a beer, have some tacos. The atmosphere is just easy-going.
Q: You specialize in the Birria taco?
A: Birria is the hot taco of the last couple years. Most places will have a Birria taco. The Birria is the style of the chuck roast. Traditionally it’s goat, but in North America we do lots of beef here. There’s a Birria battle going on in the city right now. There’s seven restaurants, including us, that are doing Birria. It’s been popping up everywhere. Birria is the number one king taco that people are trying to strive to perfect.
What stands out about our Birria taco is that we use two tortillas, where all the other restaurants use just one tortilla. We find that you get the crunch on the outside but also some of the softness inside the taco. That’s what makes our Birria. Plus it takes about nine to 10 hours just to make the meat. It’s a long process, but it’s definitely worth it because once you take a bite of it, you’ll be impressed.
You’re going to get a nice cheese pull on it. With the Birria you get the purple onions, cilantro, mozzarella cheese. And then it’s cooked on the flat top and then it’s topped again with some cilantro and some purple onions. And you get a consume with it. The juices from cooking the beef, we render it down a bit and then you dip it just like a beef dip. Once I had this taco, I thought man this is the best taco I’ve ever had. There’s nothing compared to it.
Q: What are some other popular tacos?
A: Our Chicken Tinga has tomato with a little bit of orange juice and some spices. And then we’ve got some Pico de Gallo on top with some cheese. The Chicken Tinga is a pulled chicken which is cooked in a saute pan. So all the flavours just hit and it’s juicy.
Then we have our Mojo Pork Taco. We take this Cuban-inspired dish where they use oranges and lemons and then we marinate a bunch of spices overnight and it soaks into the pork. Then we slow cook it for about three hours. It’s a nice little change from all the other tacos.
Right now at this moment, we have about 10 different tacos on our menu. There’s a lot of variety. And all our tacos are singles. You can buy a Birria, fish taco and a chicken taco all on one plate.
Q: Do you cater to different diets?
A: We have a vegan taco. We also have a mushroom taco which is also vegan friendly. We have about six items on the menu that are vegan or vegetarian friendly. Then we have halal and we also have a lot of gluten-free options. One of my chefs who is my nephew, his parents are vegans and he’s been a vegetarian all his life. Who better to know how to make really good vegan and vegetarian dishes, than a person who’s ate it all his life? We do get a lot of people who need it a certain way and we’ll do it.
Q: What else is on your menu?
A: We have burritos. You can get them in Birria style or Chicken Tinga or Pork. They are pretty big meals. If you’re very hungry, we recommend the burrito. Quesadillas are a nice little snack. They are kind of light, not too heavy. We also have chicken wings. A lot of people really like our chicken wings because we cooked them with the flavours in a saucepan, so they set in and the flavours burst out. And then we have Taberna tots, which are really tater tots. Lots of people really like them just to start with. It’s something light and shareable.
Our nachos are really good. Some places just put the toppings on top. We double layer. We take some chips and put our cheeses and proteins and then put another layer of chips and again cheese and proteins. The whole time you’re eating these nachos you’re always going to get some cheese and some of the meat that you ordered through the whole layers of the nachos.
Q: What kinds of tequila do you serve?
A: Our house tequila is 1800. That’s a tequila we use for our margaritas, which are the number one selling drink on our menu. We have a traditional Margarita or a Spicy Margarita. We fresh squeeze lime every day. It’s a lot of limes. We go through boxes, but it’s worth it. Our Margaritas just stand out where you can taste the freshness and the quality of the ingredients in the margarita.
For tequilas, we have our Blancos, our Reposados, Anejos and Ultra Anejos. We have all the aged versions of the Patron to the 1800s and Casamigos. And then we have bottles of Mezcal that we’re going to try and expand more in that. We have many different options of Tequilas to taste and sip.
Q: Why did you call yourselves, Fiesta Tacos and Tequila?
A: Fiesta means party in Spanish. It’s a party time. You go in there and you just want to have a good time. It’s a fun time to come to our restaurant.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
Fiesta Tacos & Tequila
The Saskatoon Star Phoenix has created an Afternoon Headlines newsletter that can be delivered daily to your inbox so you are up to date with the most vital news of the day. Click here to subscribe.
With some online platforms blocking access to the journalism upon which you depend, our website is your destination for up-to-the-minute news, so make sure to bookmark thestarphoenix.com and sign up for our newsletters so we can keep you informed. Click here to subscribe.