Birria tacos put Doña Leti’s on the map in Houston.
Giant crowds stuffed with hungry newcomers and regulars alike have helped gasoline Doña Leti’s exponential development. Any time you stroll into certainly one of its two Houston places, you’re certain to be met with a wait, however from the meals to the get together vibes, it’s all the time value it.
For an outsider wanting in, the restaurant may appear to be it was an in a single day success, however behind all of it are a long time of exhausting work from Ana Leticia Hernandez, higher generally known as Doña Leti. Hernandez moved her three children from El Salvador to america within the late ’90s, after they misplaced their father in a automotive accident. As soon as on American soil, she all the time labored three to 4 jobs at a time to present her household extra alternatives and a greater life. However she nonetheless wanted extra revenue. Utilizing expertise she realized from a kitchen job at a lodge, she began promoting fruit round her condo complicated in Southwest Houston.
For those who ask any of her children, they’ll say that is actually when the enterprise began. Her operation’s recognition grew steadily from there: She started to promote the fruit out of the again of a pickup truck, then round 2010, she expanded with a trailer. Named Frutas Doña Leti, it nonetheless centered on fruits, however Hernandez seen a lunchtime crowd had began coming by. So, she determined to slowly introduce dishes like tacos.
“The extra folks had been responding to [the food] and reacting to it, the extra we had been ready so as to add to the menu,” says her son Julio Lozano, who now co-owns the eating places alongside his spouse, Kalli, and siblings. “My mother’s cooking was wonderful.”
The Doña Leti household receiving particular recognition from the mayor’s workplace, introduced by Perdita Chavis (middle).
In 2019, after Julio and Kalli got here dwelling from school, they joined Hernandez and Julio’s sister, Marcela, who had been serving to her mother with the truck. The couple determined it was time to take the enterprise even additional with an Instagram account, to construct on the already loyal buyer base. The “Frutas” was dropped from the identify. Doña Leti began promoting birria tacos as a restricted menu merchandise on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. At some point, Julio posted a video of him dipping a taco into the consommé—it went immediately viral.
“It simply completely blew as much as the purpose the place we had been on like three [to] four-hour waits,” Kalli says. At the moment, Doña Leti’s has greater than 230,000 followers on Instagram.
The demand left them with no alternative however to make a transition to a brick-and-mortar. To remain true to the household’s roots, they determined in 2020 to open the restaurant not removed from the place the meals truck sat on S Put up Oak Street. In fact, the primary 12 months coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic. With social distancing in place, Doña Leti’s may solely open at 50-percent capability, however Julio describes it as a blessing in disguise.
“There was a whole lot of rising pains, and issues that we needed to study in order that [social distancing], I might say, helped us navigate the place we had been going earlier than we had been at 100-percent capability,” Julio says.
The expertise was all trial and error. Kalli and Julio each recollect it being tough initially and infrequently needed to endure 20-hour workdays. They are saying all of it paid off, although, as a result of loyal clients saved coming in to assist the restaurant.
The menu at Doña Leti’s has a loaded fries part with surf and turf fries, birria fries, fajita fries, and extra.
The household wasn’t capable of take pleasure in this success collectively for very lengthy: Tragedy hit once more when Hernandez unexpectedly handed away. Her funeral was held on the day of the restaurant’s one-year anniversary.
“After she handed, we took about two weeks, and we form of simply had to have a look at one another and actually push and provides one another power, and simply say ‘hey, that is what mother needed. This was her dream,’” Julio says.
Throughout these two weeks when the restaurant was closed, they misplaced all their staff—folks couldn’t go with out pay. The siblings saved trudging alongside and shortly rebuilt the restaurant. At the moment, it’s one thing their mother can be happy with. Julio focuses on the day-to-day kitchen operations and greater image issues; Marcela helps with the recipes and prepping; Kalli works on staffing, payroll, hiring; and Carlos, who left his job as a police officer to assist out in 2020, offers with stock and orders. They’ve additionally since introduced on Kalli’s sister, Ashlyn King, to assist out with advertising.
The sprawling Doña Leti’s location on S Put up Oak is decked out in Houston-inspired murals.
In 2022, the household expanded the restaurant to Washington Avenue, and this previous March, they opened a more recent spot within the Meyerland space to exchange the unique location, which Kalli says that they had outgrown. Folks from throughout have come to like the restaurant for its birria tacos and distinctive menu gadgets, which will be credited to Marcela’s cooking.
“His sister actually carried on that present from their mother,” Kalli says. “She simply has a really distinctive knack for attempting issues. Even when we go to a restaurant, she’ll strive a sauce and he or she’ll be like, ‘That is good, however I believe I could make one thing higher.’ She’s actually good at pulling inspiration or simply considering of cray issues and placing them collectively.”
It’s because of Marcela that the restaurant launched certainly one of its hottest dishes: the surf and turf egg rolls, that are halved then full of carne asada steak, jumbo grilled shrimp, cheese, and rice, with a facet of ranch, queso, and guacamole. Initially, it was solely provided on the Washington Avenue location, however Kalli says they realized diners needed to have entry to the identical menu at each eating places.
Be warned: The surf and turf egg rolls are jumbo.
Julio and Kalli hope Doña Leti’s turns into recognized for what they name “H-Mex.” Though the restaurant is rooted in Latin American delicacies, inspiration for the menu partly comes from Houston’s tradition—and the town’s love for shrimp, cheese, and Flamin’ Sizzling Cheetos. Which is why they added the Texas burrito to the menu: shredded cheese, queso, steak, shrimp, rooster, lettuce, tomato, rice, beans, Sizzling Cheetos, and french fries. And to capitalize on the birria craze that helped put Doña Leti’s on the map, the household has created birria ramen, birria grilled cheese, and birria egg rolls.
The menu’s improvements hold clients coming again for extra and assist herald new folks every day. With the rising demand, the household hopes to broaden Doña Leti’s once more quickly, probably to Pearland. Via all of it, Kalli says the reminiscence of her mother-in-law retains the household going, they usually can’t wait to proceed to share her legacy with extra of Houston.
“That is how they hold their mother alive,” she says.
