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Many people make the mistake of thinking that flour-tortilla-bundled burritos are a Tex-Mex or Californian phenomenon. But the burrito originated in Chihuahua, where, as in much of northern Mexico, Spanish colonialists introduced cattle ranching and wheat crops, and flour tortillas came to enjoy almost as much popularity as those made from corn. A 50-year-old native of the northern state of Durango, Payan remembers his grandmother rolling out flour tortillas, smearing them with refried beans, and wrapping them in white towels for his grandfather to carry with him to the fields. Now he offers his customers fresh, blistered, 12-to-14-inch tortillas de harina as well as fresh handmade corn tortillas and gorditas.
Payan’s current tortillera, Maria Dominquez—Doña Mari, as her coworkers call her—responded to a help wanted sign he taped to the front door four years ago. She just happens to hail from Payan’s hometown. On busy weekends she’s gone through as much as a 50-pound bag of masa a day. For the flour tortillas she makes a great ball of dough—sometimes twice a day—and then portions out smaller balls, flattening them first with a rolling pin and then with a DoughPro manual electric tortilla press on the thinnest setting. She turns these out in batches of 40 to 50.
Guacamole is made to order, and four of his salsas need to be made fresh daily due to their short shelf life—two avocado-based numbers (one chunky, one smooth), his basic pico de gallo, and a cactus-based pico de gallo. To keep the current rotation stocked, he shows up for work every day around 4 AM. But he has a short commute: his house is just across the busy street. “I live here,” he says. “I just sleep over there.”
101 W. Grand, Northlake 847-288-0713
