FRESNO, Calif. – When Amparo Garcia and Edie Serrano lived in San Jose, the Mexican couple shared more than a home — they shared a workplace and a passion for cooking.
“Cooking means a great deal to me. On days when I don't cook, I feel restless…I just can't sit still,” Garcia said in Spanish.
Each discovered that passion at different points in life: Serrano began working at a taqueria in Mexico City at 13, while Garcia found her footing in the kitchen at 20, preparing food orders for families in the Mexican state of Michoacan.
The two later met while working at a Bay Area taco truck, where their interest in food grew into a shared dream: to open a taco truck of their own.
Despite their love for the work, the couple found it difficult to move forward. Serrano said long work hours and the high cost of living in San Jose made that goal feel out of reach.
“Life over there is very expensive. To begin, the mortgage starts from $2,800. And rental rooms are around $1,200,” he said in Spanish.
The pace of life only added to the strain. Once they became parents, Garcia said they often had to take turns caring for their baby, with one of them waking as early as 4 a.m. for a 5 a.m. shift.
“Life in San Jose is very rushed. To be honest, I didn’t like it. You get very little sleep, then it’s off to work,” she said.
Seeking a change, they began looking for opportunities elsewhere — somewhere their culinary experience could translate into something of their own. Eventually, they turned to Fresno, a city they had visited before and saw as more affordable.
They moved to the city in 2019. And, according to Serrano, that’s when they saw their opportunity.
“I felt like it lacked flavor, a special touch,” he said – not referring to the food, but to the city itself.
So they started saving. That same year, they finally realized the dream they couldn’t achieve in the Bay Area: they debuted Tacos La Villita, a food truck serving authentic Mexico City-style cuisine, first located in central Fresno but moved next to a car wash in north Fresno. It had cost them $125,000.
"We both wanted to move forward, and we felt good about having a better life," Garcia said.
Serrano and Garcia joined an established community.
Fresno is a city known for its wide variety of food, especially tacos. Every fall, thousands of people gather downtown for the annual Taco Truck Throwdown, in which attendees vote for their favorite among dozens of local taco trucks. The love of tacos here is so great that the Fresno Grizzlies – the city’s minor league baseball team – occasionally rebrand themselves as the Tacos for special games.
Tacos La Villita offers popularized dishes like tacos, quesadillas, and burritos, as well as more specialized Mexican meals like pambazos, gorditas, huaraches, and alambres.
As a mainly family-run business, they do it all themselves: from preparing the meat, salsas, and aguas frescas, to lining up suppliers and even cleaning the truck after the workday ends.
In Fresno, wages may be lower than in the Bay Area, but Garcia and Serrano still find that the cost of living is manageable compared to where they used to live.
And in a place that already has a melting pot of food, Garcia says she makes sure to always throw one important ingredient into everything she prepares.
"[I’m] making them with love, because I feel like doing things with love can make them good, not just for me, but for everyone," Garcia said.
With one dream come true, the couple has now set their sights on another: opening up a second location this fall.
"The goal is to get another taco truck," Garcia said. "God willing, and then onward, to see what happens."
