Since El Nopalito graduated from its food cart to a much-awaited brick-and-mortar restaurant in July, crowds of customers linger after closing. Reluctant to leave the warm atmosphere of the new Mexican restaurant on Willamette Street, some stay for 45 minutes to an hour after the 9 pm closing time.
What may be a frustration for some restaurant owners is a delight to Marco and Eduardo Ariano. “Everyone’s having a good time,” Marco says. “It brings us joy.”
After many weekends where Marco would sell out early in their food truck to the disappointment of customers who would come from Florence or Salem to try their food, he’s grateful to have a place that can serve everyone. He was already familiar with the kitchen at their new location, too. The last time Marco was working at that storefront on Willamette, he was at Claim 52 as a line cook.
The Ariano family, including parents Victoria Gonzalez and Antonio Ariano, has deep roots in Eugene’s restaurant scene. Marco was the first of the brothers to be introduced to the restaurant world. Around age 10, he remembers following his dad to work at El Vaquero, a restaurant formerly housed in Fifth Street Public Market. Cutting limes and picking cilantro, he helped with small tasks “with the permission of the owner, obviously,” he says.
The brothers’ professional journeys read like a tour of Eugene’s restaurant scene. Starting as a dishwasher at Belly Taqueria at 17, Marco worked his way up through the ranks there and at Tacovore under Chef Gabriel Gil. He then spent four to five years at different notable restaurants in Eugene, including Novo Latin Table and Sabai.
At Novo, Marco remembers being challenged to master tortilla-making — eight hours a day for three months until he got it right. Early experiences at Novo taught him to care about the little details, a kind of care that carried over into his own restaurant.
When Novo closed during the pandemic and the restaurant industry was struggling, the family reached a collective realization: They were “tired of working for someone else,” Marco says.
The brothers and their mom, Victoria Gonzalez, began their food cart venture from practicality, with it being lower risk than opening a restaurant. But from the beginning, Marco and his mother had a clear vision that set them apart. Initially, they kept it a secret that they were operating the cart, but it didn’t take long for word to spread. Before long, the cart became a gathering place for local restaurateurs and chefs on Sundays.
“We didn’t want people to go to the food cart because they knew us, but because of the food, our concept,” Marco explains. Their menu deliberately avoided the standard offerings found at most Mexican food carts. No burritos, no rice and beans, no flour tortillas. Instead, they focused on authentic Mexico City street food: pambazos, huaraches and quesadillas made with corn tortillas, just like in their hometown.
Every detail mattered. They served food on real plates instead of paper, imported Oaxaca cheese directly from Mexico and made everything from scratch. They’ve kept their commitment to quality at their brick-and-mortar eatery.
“We try to go a step above with everything, like the margarita flavoring, like a lot of people use, a pre-made puree. No, we grab fresh fruit. We cut it up, blend it and the pulp of the fruit makes a huge difference,” Eduardo says.
When the brothers learned that Claim 52 was leaving the Willamette Street building, the opportunity felt too good to pass up. Despite competing against three or four other businesses, they were chosen not just for their business plan, but as the building owners told them, “because of the food that you guys are bringing to Eugene.” For Marco, it felt like coming full circle. He’d be returning to work at the same storefront where he’d once been hired as a line cook.
Looking ahead, the brothers have a clear vision for the space: “I kind of want this space to feel like the cart did at one point, to make it feel like it’s small,” Eduardo says. He wants the restaurant to feel so popular that they need more space. They’re working to “bring that Mexican culture, Mexican feel, to everyone,” planning events like lotería on Thursday evenings and considering live music.
Today, the brothers work 15-hour days, six days a week, but as Marco puts it, they’re “happily tired.” Their parents still work in the kitchen, and they’ve hired former regular customers in the kitchen who already knew the menu by heart.
Their ultimate goal remains bringing authentic Mexican food to Eugene, not “Americanized” versions. They want El Nopalito to remain a gathering place that honors their Mexico City roots while creating new memories in Eugene.
“All the marinades, the sauces, we make everything from scratch, and we try to make them as close as possible as to what we remember how they tasted in Mexico,” Marco says. They want to be as close as possible, but know that the original in Mexico City will always take the cake.
“You know, if you compare the food in Mexico City to our food,” he says, “the food in Mexico City is always going to win, but we try to make it as close as possible.”
El Nopalito, 1203 Willamette Suite #140, is open 11 am to 8 pm Monday through Thursday, 11 am to 9 pm Friday, 10 am to 9 pm Saturday and 10 am to 3 pm Sunday. 541-357-1016. Find on Instagram.