In 1996, a woman in Burnaby got tired of driving to the United States for tortillas and bought a small machine to make her own.
Elsa Núñez called the business El Comal, after the clay griddle the Aztecs cooked tortillas on, and ran it out of a deli.
Thirty years later, her tortillas have a stall in a Richmond mall food court.
El Comal Express officially opened August 21 inside Aberdeen Centre, at 4151 Hazelbridge Way, in the unit LUCA vacated earlier this summer.
We reported the changeover in early August, when the stall had already started serving and the LUCA team told us they were hunting for a new location.
The grand opening makes it official, and it makes this the company’s third address and its first food court stall of any kind.
That last part is the interesting one.
El Comal spent its first decade as a producer, not a restaurant. The tortillas and chips came off a line at Winston Street in Burnaby’s industrial east end, and went out to grocers and restaurants around the region.
The eat-in counter at the plant came later, in early 2010, tacked onto a factory and a grocery aisle in a part of Burnaby nobody drives to by accident.
Downtown followed on Hornby Street. Richmond is the version built for a lunch rush.
The stall runs tacos and quesabirria, the griddled taco you dip in consommé, alongside tortas, rice bowl combos, ceviches, churros, and soups that arrive with white rice.
The soup board is the giveaway that this is not a taco window. Beef tripe soup and a seafood soup both hold numbered spots on the menu, next to three ceviches.
Drinks are Jarritos in four flavours, Mexican Coke, horchata, and lemon iced tea.
Aberdeen’s food court has turned over hard this season.
The team says the goal was to bring “the authentic flavors of Mexico to one of Richmond’s favorite shopping destinations,” which is a fair description of what is now on that wall.
El Comal Express joins other recently opened Richmond spots including Teabydo, Dimsum Caddy, and Dbb Cake.
For more new and upcoming food spots in Metro Vancouver, take a peek at our tracker here, and subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.
Address: Aberdeen Centre food court, 4151 Hazelbridge Way, Richmond, BC
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