EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) – Being so close to our sister city Juarez, Mexico, it’s easy for the community to cross the border and enjoy real authentic Mexican food. But what happens when, for some reason or another, you can’t go there?
Photos courtesy of Lonches Juaritos
A local family-owned business is bringing all the Mexican flavor to the Borderland with its delicious and authentic “Lonches Juaritos.”
Lonches Juaritos, which is open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday, currently has five locations throughout El Paso including the following:
2701 N. Mesa St Suite 100B
8404 Alameda Ave.
Pellicano Dr. and Darrington Rd.
11449 Socorro Rd. Unit A
13001 Eastlake Blvd. Suite 108
Its menu ranges from offering hamburgers, hot dogs, nachos, barbacoa, French fires and natural aguas frescas. However, the main dish on its menu is its “lonche.”
Photos by Luisa Barrios – KTSM
If we try to translate a “lonche” to English, you would be surprised to know it translates to “sandwich,” but in reality, it’s so much more than that.
KTSM had the opportunity to talk to Alfredo Alvarez, the owner of Lonches Juaritos.
Alvarez said Lonches Juaritos started nine years ago when he left his previous job in a popular restaurant chain he worked at for almost 10 years.
“From Juarez side, we have family members who have a pretty big and recognized ‘loncheria.’ He [the family member] had a project to bring his business here to El Paso. When he bought and established a food truck in El Paso, he didn’t have clients and gave up. I had experience in the kitchen, so I offered to help him with the business, and he said no. That’s when I said, ‘I can start on my own,'” Alvarez said.
Alvarez said he started with a “small” food truck, like a typical Juarez’ business. And being a family business, Alvarez started involving his family into it.
“My oldest son is an engineer, and he knows a little bit more about math, so I asked him – How many ‘lonches’ do I have to sell to make the same amount of money I was making in my previous job? Which after making his calculations and everything, he said 20 lonches a day. I realized that the number was not as big and I said, ‘let’s go for it,'” Alvarez said.
Alvarez said they had some money saved from his family and he had the food truck made in Juarez. They had the food truck cross the border and go through inspections.
“We started at the bottom with very few ingredients. It took us a month to start getting the same amount of money I was making in my previous job. From there, we said that we were going to move forward and keep working hard,” Alvarez said.
When talking about the menu, Alvarez explained how he couldn’t cross to Juarez for almost 10 years because of his migration status. And because of that, his family member, who has the “loncheria” in Juarez, would help him cross his “colita de pavo lonches” for his business.
“There are a lot of people like me who can’t cross the border for whatever reason, and sometimes they crave Juarez’ food. It’s very rare for us to find ‘colita de pavo lonches’ here in El Paso, which is one of those foods Juarez is known for,” Alvarez said.
The menu started very simple with the ‘colita del pavo lonche’ and it’s been evolving to what they offer nowadays.
If you too are craving some authentic Juarez food without having to cross the border, check out Lonches Juaritos at your nearest location.
You can find Lonches Juaritos on Instagran here.
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