Guatemalan-Mexican fusion restaurant brings ‘beautiful, delicious gastronomy’ to SLO County
For years, Carolina Fuentes dreamed of owning a restaurant where she could give the Central Coast a taste of Central America.
Fuentes, who was born and raised in Guatemala, moved to Atascadero 20 years ago. Over the years, she’s looked for a way to make her dream of serving authentic Guatemalan food in San Luis Obispo County a reality.
In 2021, that dream came true: Fuentes and her husband Gabriel Zenteno, who was raised in Chiapas, Mexico, finally found a space to rent and got to work on their very own market.
Now, Fuentes, her husband and two daughters own and operate Azteca Market at 7367 El Camino Real in Atascadero.
The restaurant is a fusion of two cultures — Fuentes’ Guatemalan culture and Zenteno’s Mexican culture.
The fusion of cultures at Azteca Market is evident in the name and logo. The name “Azteca” is Mexican, but the market’s logo is of a quetzal — Guatemala’s national bird.
“Guatemala has a beautiful and delicious gastronomy that has been with my people for hundreds and hundreds of years,” Fuentes told The Tribune. “I felt a need to bring my food and my culture here. This is why it has always been a dream of mine.”
Fuentes said the Central Coast has many options for people to enjoy Mexican food, but representation for other Central American cuisine is lacking.
In addition to traditional Mexican food, Azteca Market also offers a full menu with many Guatemalan dishes.
Customers can order dishes like a hilachas plate, a type of Guatemalan stew; a pollo en crema plate, which is a Guatemalan stew with chicken in a cream sauce; or fried plantains served with a choice of sweet or sour cream.
Fuentes cooks the majority of food at the restaurant and Zenteno grills the meat for a lot of the Mexican dishes offered on the menu.
Fuentes and Zenteno run the entire operation with Fuentes’ two daughters, Amanda and Hilary Morales.
Amanda, Fuentes said, is the face of the company and serves as the cashier who explains everything to customers. Hilary helps her parents in the kitchen, often cutting the onions, cilantro and everything needed to make the dishes.
The four of them work together for long hours every day, often clocking 12 hours.
“We are a typical family, you know,” Amanda Morales said. “Sometimes we won’t talk to each other for an hour because we’re mad or exhausted, but then someone makes a joke or starts being silly and we all enjoy each other again.”
“It has been a great experience because I think we all have the same end goal,” she added. “It’s to make my mom’s dream come true.”
Morales said her mom has done so much for all of them and she “deserves to have her dreams come true.”
Morales added she is happy to get to see people eat the food that has been in their family for generations.
“She is a Guatemalan mom — happy to feed a bunch of people,” Morales said. “It’s really nice because it kind of feels like some people that we’re meeting are slowly turning into our family. It’s really great.”
This story was originally published December 4, 2023 at 5:00 AM.
