As snow blankets the ground around his vibrant green taco truck in rural eastern Oregon, Amado Juarez adds the finishing touches to an order. At 53, Juarez is deeply invested in the food he and his wife serve.
“We prepare everything ourselves,” Juarez shared in a recent Zoom interview with CNN. “We add our own special seasoning.”
Years ago, finding carne asada, enchiladas, and tacos in Morrow County, Oregon, would have been unexpected. Yet, Juarez’s food truck, Tacos Hometown, has been a staple in this remote area, 1,100 miles from the US-Mexico border, for over a decade. They offer “genuinely authentic Mexican food” to a predominantly American clientele.
A recent Pew Research Center report identifies Morrow County as one of the areas with the highest concentration of Mexican restaurants in the US. Data from SafeGraph reveals that over a third of the county’s eateries serve Mexican cuisine, a notable finding since most of the other counties in this ranking are in border states.
This trend reflects how Mexican food has become widespread across the United States. Pew’s analysis of SafeGraph and Yelp data shows that approximately 10% of US restaurants serve Mexican food, found in nearly every county.
“Mexican food is present exactly where you would expect, and pretty much anywhere else in the US with a substantial population,” says Aaron Smith, director of data labs research at Pew. “It’s intriguing to see a moderately sized community in Oregon where over a third of the restaurants feature Mexican food.”
Today, 99% of Americans live within reach of a Mexican restaurant—a far cry from earlier times when such establishments were rare outside the Southwest. Food historian Jeffrey Pilcher notes that Mexican restaurants were scarce in the mid-20th century outside of the southwestern US.
Pilcher attributes the rise in Mexican eateries to a “renaissance” of family-run Mexican restaurants across the country, spurred by an influx of Latin American migrant workers starting in the 1980s. Pew’s analysis underscores that Mexican cuisine has become nearly ubiquitous in the US.
Historian Natalia Molina highlights that while food data is telling, it also prompts deeper questions. “Understanding immigration, Latino culture, and neighborhood changes involves looking beyond the numbers. Food and restaurants are central to these issues,” she says.
Molina notes that while American food enthusiasts eagerly seek out the latest taco trends, broader issues like immigration reform and border crises persist. “Can we appreciate Mexican cuisine without also addressing our attitudes toward Mexicans?” she asks.
Molina, a professor of American Studies and Ethnicity at the University of Southern California, connects this issue to her own family history. Her grandmother ran a cherished Mexican restaurant in Los Angeles, documented in Molina’s book “A Place at the Nayarit: How a Mexican Restaurant Nourished a Community.” Her mother sold the restaurant lease, and it eventually closed in 2001, becoming a nightclub.
With 37 million people in the US claiming Mexican ancestry, according to Pew, and Mexicans being the largest immigrant group, Molina emphasizes that while Mexican restaurants are numerous, the story behind them is complex.
Among US counties, 10 have more than a third of their restaurants serving Mexican food. Most are in border states, except Morrow County, Oregon, where 37% of restaurants offer Mexican fare.
Molina also points out the impact of gentrification on neighborhoods that once thrived with working-class Latino communities, leading to the closure of beloved local restaurants.
As for Amado and Elia Juarez, when they started their taco truck in 2013, they chose a name, Tacos Hometown, to resonate with both immigrant workers and the wider community. They painted their truck green in tribute to Amado’s late father and maintained traditional recipes without American adaptations.
Their business has flourished, partly due to their dedication to authentic flavors. Despite the challenges of sourcing ingredients—often traveling long distances—the Juarez family remains committed to their craft.
Juarez finds joy in the positive reception from American customers, including generous tips and local school visits. “I see them as my future customers,” he says with a smile. As these young patrons grow up, they’ll have plenty of options to enjoy the Mexican cuisine they discovered in their rural Oregon hometown.