Mexico City may be over 8,000 miles away from Mahomet, but the Salgado family has brought a taste of Mexico City to the small Illinois town.
In what started out as a food truck, the Breaking Taco owners just wanted to share the food they enjoy at “home” with the community.
“My daughter, she eats this food,” Alejandro Salgado said. “I eat this food.”
“Here in Champaign-Urbana, you guys don’t know Mexican food,” he continued. “We don’t want to Americanize the food. If I go to an Italian place, I want Italian food. If I go to a Chinese place, I want Chinese food. Here you will get Mexican food.”
While the owners put tacos, burritos, and quesadillas on the menu, they also put Mexican regional favorites such as made-to-order guacamole, cactus, masa, mole, rice water and hibiscus tea on the menu.
“Enchiladas verdes is my favorite dish ever,” Alejandro said. “I’ve been pushing it.”
Patrons have noticed that the Mexican rice Breaking Taco serves is even a little bit different.
“The rice we are serving right now has pico de gallo in it,” he said. “There is also an orange rice and a yellow one. We’d like to make a different rice every week.”
Alejandro said the menu will change over time, but only two months into opening, the family is just figuring out the rhythm of the restaurant.
The Salgado siblings followed their parents to the United States while they were still in school. One brother stayed in Mexico City.
Having worked in various restaurants, the siblings believed that they could turn their mother’s Mexican cooking into a successful restaurant.
With plans to open a food truck, the family put money into naming their business Breaking Taco, after the hit TV show Breaking Bad.
But when the family looked at the building located at 608 E Main St., they fell in love with the space and scrapped the idea of the food truck.
“It was just the right place,” Alejandro said. “We’d been looking for a while, and hadn’t found anything. We walked in this place, and we knew this was going to be it.”
“The name doesn’t fit (the building), but we already spent so much time and on the name, and decided not to start again from the beginning.”
But, with high wood beams and a cozy space, Breaking Taco and East Central Illinois feels like home for the Salgado family.
“We even have glasses instead of cups because we wanted you to feel like you are coming home,” Alejandro said.
I have to be honest. When I heard Mahomet was getting another Mexican restaurant I was not excited but this is not your typical Tex-Mex that everyone else is serving around here. I have been there 4 or 5 times and the food is authentic to Mexico and very delicious. They have great selection of Mexican soda’s and beers. Also the margarita’s are potent and priced right. When they are busy expect a small delay as they are cooking everything fresh to order. Order a Pambazo it’s not on the menu but should be. Good Luck to Alex and his family. I hope the community will embrace the concept.