WINDHAM, Maine — Reporter Hannah Yechivi is highlighting Hispanic community members who call Maine home and are contributing to making Maine a better place to live and work for all on NEWS CENTER Maine. The features are in celebration of National Hispanic Heritage Month.
It all started with a small taco shack in the town of South Paris.
"Where we live, we are very inland. I was driving to Portland, sometimes to [Massachusetts], to go try to find some Mexican food," Katherine Mitchell said.
After spending almost a decade learning about food safety, testing ingredients, and perfecting recipes, Mitchell was ready to open Luchador Tacos.
"For like 10 years, we were trying to make a sauce that we thought was comparable to flavors that we had over there. Finally, we said, 'I think that's close enough. Let's do it,'" Josh Mitchell, Katherine's husband, said.
"It was kind of a 'see a need, feel a need' type of deal, and I was like, 'You know, we should open a taco place because there needs to be tacos at least somewhere," Katherine added.
Luchador Tacos opened five years ago as a hobby for Mitchell, and she initially operated out of a food truck.
"It was more of a hobby or something to keep my wife from being so homesick," Josh said.
It gained momentum and popularity, and Katherine convinced her husband to leave his job as an engineer and help her open up a brick-and-mortar restaurant. Now, the couple owns and runs three Luchador Tacos locations in South Paris, Windham, and North Conway, New Hampshire.
Katherine is from East Los Angeles. She said there, and in many parts of California and other states, there was a stigma that you had to be "American" if you wanted to live in the U.S., so many people stopped teaching their kids Spanish.
Katherine was raised by Mexican parents, so having good Mexican food was part of her daily diet.
She met Josh in college. They got married and moved to Maine to raise a family.
When she moved to Maine, Katherine's biggest problem was that she couldn't find the right Mexican restaurant or even good, simple street tacos. She felt she was missing a part of herself because she couldn't satisfy her food needs. Sometimes she drove over an hour for Mexican food.
Street tacos are one of the big staples at Luchador Tacos.
"You could get the taco with carne asada, cilantro, onion, and salsa. Just keep it simple. Don't add dairy, just eat it how it's meant to be eaten. And I think, if anything, that's the culture I want to share," Katherine explained.
The couple said Luchador Tacos has something for everyone. There are bowls, breakfast burritos, street tacos, burritos, nachos, fries, churros, and a lot more.
"So, on our menu, we do offer Taco Americano because my big thing is once you put cheese and sour cream on it, it's not Mexican anymore," Katherine explained. "We offer a cowboy burrito, which is very Americanized with barbecue sauce, but it's a big hit!"
The restaurants are located at:
- 243 Main St, South Paris, ME
- 781 Roosevelt Trail, Windham, ME
- 1833 White Mountain Hwy, North Conway, NH
"I know how Mexican food should taste; I know the flavors I'm used to; I know my culture that I want to share," Katherine expressed. "Food is a great connector."