Haz clic aquí para leer esto en español
Diana y Arturo Flores
Ay Güey Taquería and Bar, new restaurant in Springville, Alabama, unites the best of two Mexican worlds: wrestling and tacos.
Ay Güey, founded by couple Arturo and Diana Flores, has been open for a month and has fascinated customers, most of whom are American. To the owners’ surprise, the lengua taco prepared by Arturo is the best seller.
As well as being a fan of tacos, Arturo Flores is passionate about Mexican wrestling. He was born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, and, although he has lived in the United States for 20 years, Mexican wrestling remains his obsession and what connects him to his childhood memories.
“Wrestling in Mexico means passion and culture. Behind the mask and its colors there is another identity, a kind of alter ego that you can become to be whoever you want to be,” Diana says.
When he was a child, Arturo’s father, grandparents and uncles took him to the Arena Coliseo in Guadalajara, the wrestling venue that inspired the restaurant’s decor. Now as an adult, Arturo collects masks that decorate the restaurant and connect him to his favorite wrestlers.
In fact, Ay Güey's logo features two iconic wrestlers from Mexican culture that children of a certain era saw in wrestling and movies as their heroes.
Customers get into the lucha libre fun at Ay Güey Taquería and Bar in Springville, Alabama
The Phantom Appears Nightly
“When people come it’s an emotional experience,” Diana says. “Arturo puts on the mask of the wrestler Blue Diamond, and becomes ‘The Phantom,’ like the Phantom of the Opera, as I call him. He takes pictures with the children, passes by the tables and entertains the customers.”
The Phantom comes out every night transformed and people can take pictures with the masks. It is common to find customers in their 50s and up who remember wrestling with nostalgia, as it evokes memories of when they were children and watched wrestling with their parents and grandparents, Diana says. The atmosphere is friendly, which is why they called it Ay Güey, (which roughly translates to “Oh man!”), alluding to that comradery that is felt in the place.
When a Baby Comes, Something Good Comes Up its Sleeve
Before embarking on their restaurant project, Arturo and Diana Flores went “taco hopping” in Guadalajara. They tried as many tacos as they could and learned how to make them just like they do in their hometown. The tacos of birria, al pastor, lengua and everything they offer is traditionally prepared; the marinated pork with pineapple chunks, the serrano chile with its radishes on the side, the lemon and the cambray onion.
Once they defined the concept and the menu, they remodeled the space they occupy today. It took them a year to paint the walls, decorate it and assemble the mask collection. The restaurant has been a success because it has brought a fresh, fun and tasty concept.
A month after embarking on this project, the couple found out they were going to have a daughter. Today, as Flores comments, they have three children: the baby, the restaurant and a dog. A big challenge, but, as she says, “when a baby comes, it brings good things up its sleeve,” and so it has been.
“It was a long journey, but, when I see my husband become the 'Phantom' in the restaurant, I know we set up something significant, that has a real connection for us and conveys happiness,” Diana says. “I see that this alter ego gives Arturo extra security than he already has, and he becomes more passionate and intense. I know that he is fulfilling that illusion he always wanted and, then, I think: it was all worth it.”
Don't miss a thing! Subscribe to el Restaurante's digital publications for free by clicking here.