A few years back, a taco truck, Taqueria El Rancho, closed down. On Oct. 13, 2022 the food truck opened its doors again belonging to a new owner. This time, the truck was known as “El Mulito.”
Before Marcela Perez owned the food truck, she had been working at an American restaurant in Victor, Idaho — two hours away from Rexburg.
“It wasn’t part of my plans to do this,” Perez said. “This came because of my father. I used to work far from home and he would tell me to not work far. He wanted me to be closer so I could be with my girls.”
When the first food truck closed down, the previous owners placed the property for sale.
“My dad’s friend bought the land and he offered it to him,” Perez said. “My dad didn’t tell me about it until he was sure he could buy it. After (he had bought it), he told me he wanted me to get this place so I wouldn’t have to work far from home. He wanted a family-owned business.”
Perez said that the reason the family moved to Rexburg was because she felt that the education provided in town was more suitable for her daughters. After school each day, both of her daughters go to the food truck and help in the front, attending to customers.
Perez and the rest of the family was born in Guanajuato, Mexico and then migrated to Logan, Utah where their father was working. Perez and her siblings attended school in Utah.
In the 2000s, they decided to move back to Mexico. The older kids, including Perez, soon emigrated back to the U.S., leaving their mother, Rosa Perez, and their younger brother in Mexico.
Marcela’s mother, Paz, initially failed to cross the border, but made it across on her second attempt.
Paz recalls coming back from work one day when Marcela was a child to homemade tortillas, prepared by Marcela.
When she first opened her restaurant, Marcela thought about adding American food, such as hamburgers, to her menu — but people told her to just do Mexican food.
Aside from her food seasoning, she is well-known for her homemade tortillas. While Perez cooks the food, Paz helps her every day by making the tortillas.
Paz grew up making tortillas at a very young age in Mexico. She recalls harvesting the corn and grinding it to make the dough. Nowadays, she only has to make the dough.
El Mulito sells tortillas for people to buy and take home, with bundles of half a dozen to a dozen tortillas available.
In addition to the tacos, tortas, burritos and quesatacos that El Mulito offers, they also have desserts and aguas frescas on the weekends.
El Mulito is open Tuesday through Saturday weekly from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Follow the truck on Instagram for updates regarding special offers.