Armando Hernandez and Nadia Holguin, the Phoenix chef-owners behind Tacos Chiwas and several other Valley restaurants, are taking their tortilla operation south and giving it a name: Tortillas Chiwas. The new venture will combine a working tortilleria with an intimate 30-seat restaurant in Tucson’s Barrio Hollywood. Inside, a compact production mill will turn out organic flour and heirloom-corn tortillas alongside a small kitchen, bar and dining room set up for fast-casual daytime service and a tight, seasonal dinner menu. It is the couple’s first expansion outside metro Phoenix and is designed to restart tortilla production at a long-standing Grand Avenue spot.
As reported by Phoenix New Times, the team is taking over the building at Grand Avenue and Delaware Street that previously housed the Grande Tortilla Factory and later La Tortilla. Hernandez estimates the Tucson mill will quadruple their current tortilla output, which means they can both supply their own taquerias and sell fresh tortillas directly to customers and fellow chefs. For now, the owners say they are still waiting on final county approvals, so there is no set production or opening date.
Old-School Tortilla Corner Gears Up For Round Two
The Grand Avenue corner has deep barrio history. City directories preserved by the Arizona Memory Project list the Grande Tortilla Factory at 914 N. Grande Ave., and commercial records show the property has long held a retail role in Barrio Hollywood. Firing up tortilla presses in that space again would tie the block back to a decades-old neighborhood trade while plugging into a corridor that has been steadily building a food scene.
Mill, Masa And A Tight Little Menu
Hernandez told Phoenix New Times the Tucson facility is set up for full nixtamalization, so the team can turn whole corn into masa on site. They plan to buy yellow and blue heirloom corn directly from farmers. “There’s a lot of beauty where you make food in general, especially Mexican food,” he said, adding that pushing beyond the Valley is “fucking scary” but also exciting. The plan is to serve gorditas and quesadillas during the day, with a small, seasonal dinner lineup at night. With roughly 800 square feet for the kitchen, bar and dining room, the space is built to keep the experience close-up and hands-on.
Why Tucson?
Tucson’s Grand Avenue corridor already pulls in food projects and serious cooks. Just across the street is Barista del Barrio, a James Beard-recognized neighborhood coffee and breakfast spot, a neighbor that helps explain the choice of location, according to Tucson.com. Established tortillerias such as La Mesa and other small producers already prove there is steady demand for fresh masa and tortillas in the city, a market the Chiwas team hopes to serve and help grow.
For now, the owners are keeping their pace measured. County approvals are still pending and there is no firm opening date. Once the lights are on and the mill is running, Tortillas Chiwas is slated to supply the couple’s Valley restaurants and put freshly made Tucson masa into the hands of local cooks and diners.
