Tortilleria López Rolls Into Fair Haven

Xuxa, Wilmaro and Geiby López on Chapel Street. Julieta Diaz Photos.

It was midday on a Tuesday, and Wilmaro and Xuxa López were getting ready to make the day’s second round of tortillas. In front of them, a machine hummed to life, tuning out flat, rounded discs that were gently browned on the top. As Wilmaro fed the dough, he talked about the need for fresh tortillas in New Haven, and how he and his wife were rising to meet it.

Welcome to Tortilleria López, owned by husband-wife duo Wilmaro and Xuxa López. A loving couple originally from Guatemala, the two opened their tortilla truck at 196 Chapel St. earlier this year. As one of the first tortillerias in the city, the two are dedicated to bringing fresh tortillas to New Haveners. 

“It’s not that hard,” Wilmaro said. “All we need is flour, water, and time.”

The truck has been years in the making. Thirteen years ago, Wilmaro arrived in Meriden from Las Tablas, Guatemala. When he arrived, he met Xuxa, who was born in Meriden and spent part of her childhood in Mexico, from which her dad hails, before returning to Connecticut’s Silver City. After two years in Meriden, the two moved to New Haven, where Wilmaro works as a roofing mechanic and is part of a Christian music group called Cristo es mi refugio.

In New Haven, they built a family including their 9-year-old son, Jayden, and their 4-year-old daughter, Roselyn. For years, the two dreamed of owning their own business. They saved up while Wilmaro worked in roofing and Xuxa worked in a department store. Last year, they knew they were ready to make their dream come true.

The couple spent a year budgeting and being financially strict with themselves to be able to have a foundation. Still, they had no idea what type of business they wanted.

They thought of everything from investing in houses to selling cars to opening a food store.

Tortillas in the making. 

Then they thought about the lack of an established tortilleria in the city. It would be something different to offer to the community, they thought. With the money they had been saving up, they started looking for a tortilla machine. Their search ultimately led them to a machine made in and sent straight from Chihuahua, Mexico.

The tortilleria machine is where the magic happens. As Wilmaro got the machine started on Tuesday, his niece, Geiby López, mixed flour and water until the dough felt just right. Once it was ready, she handed two full handfuls of dough to Wilmaro. He placed it in the machine, ready for a transformation to take place.

“Geiby, I think It’s too soft,” he said last Tuesday, as the two worked methodically in the small truck. Sometimes the dough doesn’t come out as needed the first time, and they work as a team to get the perfect tortillas at the end.

"I strive every day to make the tortillas better, and we strive to give the best to people,” Geiby said.

For her, the tortilleria has marked a warm welcome to New Haven. Three months ago, she arrived in New Haven from Las Tablas, Guatemala. It has been really hard for her being away from her family and getting used to living in a new place, she said. She’s never been away from home for so long.

At home in Las Tablas, her dad is still taking care of her younger siblings, who are very attached to him. Originally, he had planned to come, but decided to stay behind for the health and safety of his family and other children. “Plus, I know I’m young, I have the energy, and he already had the opportunity to come once,” Geiby said.

Not long after she arrived, she started working at the tortilleria. She is grateful to have been there since the beginning, she said. It feels much more comfortable working with Wilmaro and Xuxa because they are family.

Throughout the week people arrive, often wearing work clothes from painting and construction companies, asking for two or three pounds of tortillas. “So many Hispanics that eat tortillas, it makes their life easier after a long day at work, they can just stop and get tortillas,” Xuxa said.

By far, she added, weekends are the busiest. They often fulfill large and continuous orders by phone (people call orders in, old school), as well as orders from people that just stop by. To keep their clients refreshed during the hot summer days, they also offer aguas frescas, fresh fruit drinks, and a cool horchata that Xuxa called a crowd favorite. They update people on their daily offerings on Facebook.

Paola Jimenez, a client that has bought tortillas from the very beginning, said that the business has made her weeks easier, because it is one less thing that she has to do while working and caring for a family. She always makes sure to buy during the weekends so the tortillas last her for two to three days. When she’s unable to make it, she sends her daughter.

“So then, I don’t have to worry about cooking tortillas throughout the week,” said Jimenez.

Xuxa added that she loves the community it creates. Tuesday, for instance, a family came for five aguas frescas. Elder, the second youngest, asked for a Horchata, and burst into a smile as Xuxa passed it through the open window. “We came, because we saw it on Facebook,” said Geydy, the oldest daughter. Most likely, they'd be back. 

This article comes from the 2024 Cohort of the Youth Arts Journalism Initiative. Julieta Diaz is a rising sophomore at Metropolitan Business Academy.