Taqueria El Rancho still popular after 15 years

Tina Parker/Herald-Leader The meats at Taqueria El Rancho are prepared fresh daily.
Tina Parker/Herald-Leader The meats at Taqueria El Rancho are prepared fresh daily.

After 15 years of business, Lourdes Alvarado feels like her taqueria is a communal location for all classes of people.

Lourdes and her husband, Wilmer, have a business model at Taqueria El Rancho that they believe brings people back on a weekly and sometimes daily basis -- fresh food, expensive cuts and only they season all of the meats.

"Everything is fresh -- that's the secret -- it's fresh and homemade," Lourdes said.

Sam Skeirik of Fayetteville made a trip to Siloam Springs just to eat at the taqueria. He said it's his favorite place to stop and get lunch.

"The food here is really fresh and I love the taco plate," he said. "It's really hard to find good Mexican food in Arkansas, so I drive all the way from Fayetteville."

The taqueria has 25 to 30 different plate options, homemade horchata (a rice drink with cinnamon), and tamarind (a Mexican fruit drink). There are other options, but that is what is made in the taqueria.

Each week, Lourdes purchases 300 to 400 pounds of beef, 200 pounds of chicken and 100 pounds of pork.

"It's a lot -- we buy about $2,000 in meat a week," she said.

The cost for the taqueria is high, but the cost for patrons is low.

"My husband wanted to get good meat with good flavor so people would like it," Lourdes said. "If we used brisket it would not taste as good."

Even when the price of meat was $5 a pound they never changed the price and continued to buy the good cuts of meat.

"We're not going to be rich in the restaurant -- if we have low prices it will keep us open," Lourdes said. "Other restaurants close because the prices are high."

Over the years the chefs in the kitchen have changed, but the flavor of the food doesn't. That is because Wilmer or Lourdes are the only ones who season the meats.

"We have had the same flavor as 15 years ago," Lourdes said. "With other restaurants things change with the chef, but here no -- all of this food is because of my husband."

The business started just a few storefronts down at the corner of Jefferson and Washington streets. After six years, they moved to the new location at the corner of Jefferson and Britt streets. Lourdes said that when they first opened they did not have any Hispanic patrons, but as word spread more people came to their restaurant.

"When we started it was only Americans. The Hispanic population came after one year and now it's about 50/50," she said. "Now, we have all classes of people here."

They said that inside the restaurant everyone is an equal.

"No one is better here, everyone is the same," Lourdes said. "Everyone picks up their food, adds their own toppings, and throws away their own trash."

Lourdes said it was hard for her at first because she couldn't speak English and had to learn by listening to other people communicate.

"It's really interesting to meet all of the people that come here," said Wanda Alvarado, Lourdes and Wilmer's youngest daughter. "People come here every day and we can say 'the usual?'.

Both of the women said that the regular customers have become their family. They know about their families, when they're sick and they notice if we change anything about ourselves.

"They care about us, too," Lourdes said. "It's like a family."

The Alvarados moved to Siloam Springs after they came to visit family who already lived here. "We came here for a different life," Lourdes said. "We wanted a normal job, with normal hours. My husband worked for Simmons for five years and then he decided to open a taco place."

When Wilmer decided he was going to open the taqueria, he realized he would have to take out a $10,000 loan to get it started. He went to a local bank to request a loan and he was denied. So he went back the next day. He was denied again. For weeks he went back on a daily basis and one day, to his surprise, he was approved.

"He persevered and he worked hard to get it," Lourdes said. "He wanted it so bad and here we are."

General News on 06/24/2015