Transcripts

SPEAKER: A Northeast Minneapolis restaurant is shaking up the way Minnesotans see and taste corn tortillas. It's called Nixta and that's short for nixtamalization, which is the process used to transform corn into tender, flowerful tortillas. Unlike most corn tortillas served in restaurants and stores, the ones made at Nixta come in a rainbow of colors. And chef and owner Guzman Romero, heirloom corn is what makes his tortillas special. Vicki Adame has more.

VICKI ADAME: It's production day at Nixta. The sound of the corn grinder fills the kitchen. The corn has been soaking overnight. And now, it's time to turn the rainbow of kernels into masa. Antonio Cervantes Morales pours the blue corn kernels into the top of the machine. Guiding the corn into the grinder, she watches as it turns to masa. Nixta chef and owner, Gustavo Romero, calls her the tortilla maestra.

GUZMAN ROMERO: She's the one that, like, tells me when I'm not cooking the corn right. And then-- like, we learn a lot together.

ANTONIO CERVANTES MORALES: [SPEAKING SPANISH]

VICKI ADAME: And she stands amid the sounds of the busy kitchen. Cervantes Morales says, she has been making tortillas since she was about nine years old. She says, her family made tortillas morning, noon, and evening. There were always fresh corn tortillas in the house.

ANTONIO CERVANTES MORALES: [SPEAKING SPANISH]

VICKI ADAME: Now, it's Lupita's turn to start making tortillas. She can make about 700 in one hour. A slight squeak showing her progress. Lupita is the machine Romero had specially made in Mexico. He says, he's not really sure why they named her Lupita. Romero says, he saw the necessity to bring a better tortilla to Minneapolis and the state. And he's doing that one tortilla at a time using heirloom corn. The corn is healthier and makes a more flavorful tortilla. It grows in a rainbow of colors. But in Mexico, heirloom corn was not always appreciated, and in fact, often looked down upon.

GUZMAN ROMERO: A lot of people saw corn as a class issue where if you eat colored tortilla, you were from the pueblo and then you were kind of a low class citizen. And then the people that ate the white and yellow tortillas, they were like, more in the cities.

VICKI ADAME: Talk to him about the [SPANISH] he serves, and you soon realize the conversation always comes back to corn and there's good reason.

GUZMAN ROMERO: The beginning of the Mexican food is based in corn. And a lot of beliefs by ancient people say we even come from the corn. [SPANISH].

[BACKGROUND CHATTER]

[SHARPENING KNIFE]

VICKI ADAME: As Romero sharpens his knife, the tattoos on his arms stand out. They offer a glimpse into his world. An ear of heirloom corn tattooed on his right forearm. He got the tattoo seven years ago, long before Nixta. His left arm features the Atlantis of Tula, a tribute to Hidalgo, his birthplace. The heirloom corn tattoo stands as a reminder of the corn he grew up with, and the way corn is supposed to look like, he says. Through Nixta, Romero wants to bring the Mexican food he grew up with to the area. And he's doing this by going back to his Mexican roots.

GUZMAN ROMERO: What I want is to represent my country properly. What I want is that when people come to here and they take an idea of what they will get when they go to Mexico.

VICKI ADAME: On a recent Friday afternoon, Jaime Guzman Moreno is sitting on a bench outside Nixta, waiting for his tacos y birria and dozen tortillas. He says, he found Nixta after googling a place to buy tortillas. It turns out, both he and Romero are from Hidalgo. Guzman Moreno has become a repeat customer and proof that Romero achieved the goal he set out to accomplish.

JAMIE GUZMAN MORENO: It reminds me of my family's food. It tastes like-- the tortillas taste like how my grandma makes them.

VICKI ADAME: Vicki Adame, MPR News, Minneapolis.