{"id":773589,"date":"2026-05-04T23:07:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T23:07:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/773589\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T23:07:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T23:07:17","slug":"phoenix-restaurateurs-to-build-new-tortilleria-restaurant-in-tucson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/773589\/","title":{"rendered":"Phoenix restaurateurs to build new tortilleria, restaurant in Tucson"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t<img width=\"1240\" height=\"827\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/newtimes-chiwas-024-jtd23321.webp.jpeg\" class=\"article-thumbnail-image wp-post-image\" alt=\"Cocina Chiwas owners Nadia Holguin and Armando Hernandez.\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"  \/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tRestaurant owners Nadia Holguin and Armando Hernandez are expanding out of metro Phoenix for the first time. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>Jacob Tyler Dunn<\/p>\n<p>Culinary power couple Armando Hernandez and Nadia Holguin are obsessed with finding ways to take every element of their restaurants up a notch. Often, that means finding a way for their team to make items from scratch. By taking over a vacant Tucson tortilleria, the owners behind Tacos Chiwas, Cocina Chiwas and other popular Valley restaurants are one step closer.<\/p>\n<p>At <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/tortillaschiwas\/\">Tortillas Chiwas<\/a>, the team will produce freshly-made organic flour and heirloom corn tortillas for all their restaurants. But this won\u2019t be just a production facility. Hernandez and Holguin\u2019s team will also open an intimate 30-seat restaurant. Hernandez does not currently have a timeline for starting production or opening the restaurant, as they await final county approvals.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The James Beard Award-nominated chefs and restaurateurs currently operate a metro Phoenix tortilleria that produces tortillas for their taquerias and other eateries, including Espiritu and Bacanora, which they run with chefs Roberto Centeno and Rene Andrade. Adding the Tucson tortilleria will allow them to quadruple the number of tortillas they make, Hernandez estimates.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of beauty where you make food in general, especially Mexican food,\u201d Hernandez says. \u201cOur taqueria is where we always want to have a better product.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sign up for the Food Alerts newsletter to get the latest stories delivered to your inbox<\/p>\n<p>THANK YOU!<\/p>\n<p>You&#8217;re all set.<\/p>\n<p>CLOSE\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>The building, located on Grand Avenue and Delaware Street in Tucson\u2019s Barrio Hollywood, was home to the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/tucson.com\/business\/grande-tortilla-factory-closes-doors-after-six-decades\/article_b04f64d4-402d-57ea-8750-76064aa7b23f.html\">Grande Tortilla Factory<\/a> for more than 60 years. The factory closed in 2009, and La Tortilla took over the space. Hernandez estimates La Tortilla closed late last year. Now, he\u2019s excited to revive the space and restart the presses.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI love buildings that have a legacy behind them and trying to continue that,\u201d Hernandez says.<\/p>\n<p>The building is also outfitted with equipment to handle the nixtamalization process, which turns whole corn into masa. Currently, the restaurateurs use heirloom masa. Now, they\u2019ll buy yellow and blue heirloom corn directly from farmers and make their own masa on site.<\/p>\n<p>With more capacity, they\u2019ll be able to sell tortillas, too, Hernandez says. That\u2019s something customers and chefs alike have requested for years, but they haven\u2019t had the ability to offer. <\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" height=\"1024\" width=\"962\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/IMG_5099.jpg\" alt=\"The exterior of a historic tortilla factory in Tucson.\" class=\"wp-image-40664704\"  \/>The owners of Tacos Chiwas will open a restaurant and tortilla factory in Tucson.<\/p>\n<p><strong>More than a tortilla factory<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The restaurant will be an all-day affair, with a menu showcasing items made in the tortilla factory.<strong> <\/strong>The Tortillas Chiwas menu will feature gorditas, quesadillas and burritos for fast-casual daytime service. During dinner, customers can expect a small, seasonal, chef-driven menu, Hernandez says, with items such as tostadas and ceviches.<\/p>\n<p>The kitchen, bar and dining room are only about 800 square feet, Hernandez estimates.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a very intimate space,\u201d he says. \u201cYou\u2019ll be able to see us cooking right in front of everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hernandez says their aim with Tortillas Chiwas is to create a \u201cfun destination for people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While much is still in development, Hernandez says it\u2019s \u201cfucking scary\u201d but exciting to expand their footprint outside the Valley for the first time. Entering an Arizona city known for its rich culinary history, Tortilla Chiwas will open just across the street from the James Beard-nominated Barista del Barrio.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe lead with our hearts and the story that comes with this building already,\u201d Hernandez says. \u201cThe goal is to be in service of the community and hopefully add to what\u2019s already here, because there\u2019s amazing food already. We just want to be part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Tortillas Chiwas<\/p>\n<p><strong>914 N. Grande Ave., Tucson<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Restaurant owners Nadia Holguin and Armando Hernandez are expanding out of metro Phoenix for the first time. Jacob&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":428401,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5131],"tags":[5229,5643,1587,27144,97044,1589,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-773589","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-phoenix","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-arizona","10":"tag-az","11":"tag-chefs","12":"tag-openings-closings","13":"tag-phoenix","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-united-states-of-america","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","18":"tag-us","19":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116518824335019380","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/773589","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=773589"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/773589\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/428401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=773589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=773589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=773589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}