Mario Ponce, Takito Street
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EDITOR’S NOTE: In 2013, Mario Ponce debuted Takito Kitchen in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood. Today, Ponce helms three unique Takito brands: the original Takito Kitchen, featuring modern Mexican fare; Bar Takito, a restaurant in the West Loop that fuses modern Latin cuisine with creative cocktails; and Takito Street, a Lincoln Park favorite featuring food with a fusion of traditional and contemporary Mexican flavors.
1) Tell us a little bit about your background. How did you end up in the restaurant business? And how did you come up with the concept for Takito Street?
It was a hot sunny July day when I saw a cook cleaning his trash cans. I offered to do it for him and before I knew it I became a dishwasher, prep cook and eventually a busboy from the tender age of 13 until I graduated from high school. The experience still drives me today. The word “Takito” derives from the word “Taquito” or mini-taco. Our cuisine is contemporary and modern versus traditional Mexican cuisine. Our ingredients come from local farms and are of a high quality; and flavors are memorably unique and always approachable. Mexico’s street food has been elevated to include exciting and explosive flavors. Takito Street was designed to pay tribute to modern Mexican street cuisine. Many people don’t know that Mexico boasts some of the finest restaurants in the world!
2) How did you develop the menu for your first location? And how has that evolved over the years since you started the business?
Our first menu was designed to excite, entice and dazzle palates using all Mexican ingredients — we did not seek to mimic any other restaurant. As trends change and palates become more sophisticated, we too must adapt and seek recipes that keep guests returning. Three of my favorite items in our small network began on the first day and remain on the menu: The first is the Crispy Fish Taco — hibiscus tortilla, Alaskan cod dusted in rice flour (gluten free), coconut curry custard and pickled slaw. The second is the Lamb Merguez Taco — popcorn tortilla, lamb chorizo wrapped in baked Brunkow Cheese, tomatillo pistachio salsa. The third is the Barbacoa Taco — popcorn tortilla, pickled jicama and cotija queso.
3) How did you decide to expand?
After 16 months of strong restaurant traffic at our first restaurant, Takito Kitchen, we felt confident that the West Loop was going to come alive — the Google Regional Headquarters had been announced. Takito Kitchen did not have a conventional bar, yet 40 percent of our sales represented alcohol. The Bar Takito site met our criteria by having two bars. We believed that the area would grow — it turns out, the area has exploded!
Takito Street opened in January 2020. The location has great visibility — it is at the six corners of three very busy Lincoln Park streets — and it also has moderate pedestrian traffic.
All three Takito locations are unique, by design. Whereas Takito Street sits across from a major university and is intended to be casual, Takito Kitchen is smaller, intimate, cozy, and Modern Mexican. Bar Takito is nestled between the West Loop and Fulton Market and serves elevated/ contemporary Latin American cuisine.
4) How has your business changed since Covid upended everything? Have you made any significant changes as a result of what’s happened?
When the local government allowed diners to visit restaurants, we enjoyed a year, 2021, of bliss: concerts, conventions, festivals, sports events and other gatherings were not happening yet. Once those events re-opened and restaurants began to re-open, business contracted and we have had to work harder to keep guests returning.
We’ve made many attempts to read guests expectations. Our most successful promotions have been adding a Latin Dance program at Takito Street. Our bottomless mimosa program has always been popular — however today it appears that everyone has jumped on the bandwagon. Thus, in an effort to differentiate, we’ve added tableside magic working with professional magicians. Additionally, we’re constantly creating new cocktails and dishes. One taco that I’m proud of is our Chef Lite Shrimp Taco using jicama as the tortilla. The experience is game changing — refreshing, clean, crazy flavorful with a unique bite.
5) There are now a lot more taco-focused and casual Mexican/Latin restaurants than there were when Takito Street debuted. You’re doing a great job of remaining competitive. Do you have any advice for other taco restaurants, especially smaller independents, on how to stand out from the crowd?
Chef Yanni Sanchez and Chef Epifanio
Don’t underestimate the palates of diners today. People today are attracted to sophisticated and complex flavors — give them what they want. Our new Strawberry Gazpacho, Pepitas Hummus, Lite Shrimp Tacos, and Barbacoa & Earthy Mushroom Tacos are good examples of things we’re doing with our menus that showcase those kinds of sophisticated, complex flavors.
Also be sure to hire smart and personable staff who understand the value of each guest.
To better understand our cuisine is to know our chef, Chef Yanni Sanchez. She’s highly creative and has a lot of fun making dishes that make good sense. She is also happy to approach tables and spend time with guests. Chef Yanni is responsible for all three kitchens. She welcomes chefs de cuisine, like Chef Epifanio, to create dishes that excite. As a result, Chef Epifanio also has created dishes that have been embraced by our guests.
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