Illustration:^ Ross^ MacDonaldAfter 20-odd
years in the
gordita business,
the Guerra family
is going strong.
FAMILY
STYLE
Text by Bryan Roof;
photos by Steve KliseON THE ROAD
At Saenz Gorditas in Las
Cruces, New Mexico, it’s a
family affair. Albert Guerra
(above left); his mother, Vir-
ginia Guerra (above center);
and his son, Austin Guerra
(above right) set a welcom-
ing tone. Their gorditas
are so popular that during
happy hour, drive-through
customers are limited to
just a few gorditas apiece.A
LBERT GUERRA MAKES the gordita dough in a giant stain-
less-steel bowl. He eyeballs a good pour of masa harina and follows
it up with generous amounts of salt and grated yellow cheddar.
Next, he props the bowl precariously on the edge of
the sink and adds warm tap water before he aggressively kneads
the mixture into a cohesive mass. People ask him for the recipe
all the time, but it’s all done by feel and sight. “I don’t know. I
just do it,” he says.
Albert and his family operate Saenz Gorditas, a restaurant lo-
cated in Las Cruces, New Mexico, housed in what used to be a
drive-up burger joint. Cars park out front under a corrugated
tin awning, and you half expect to see waitresses on roller skates
handing off burgers and shakes. A small building houses the
kitchen, and the seating is all outdoors. Customers place their
orders at one window and pick them up at the next a few minutes
later. I take a seat at one of the plastic picnic benches under the
awning; others choose to eat in their cars.
Owner Virginia Guerra learned to make gorditas from her mother and has been
making them herself for more than 40 years. She and her family used to cook at
local events and festivals around Las Cruces; eventually, customers and fans encour-
aged them to set up something more permanent. A space off North Solano Drive
had been vacant for about a year when Virginia inquired about it in 1996. A month
later, she was open for business. “I didn’t even remodel. I just
walked in and cleaned.”
The first menu was simple: gorditas and tacos. But 22 years
later, both the business and the menu have grown. Albert turns
the masa mixture onto a table, and Virginia pulls up a stool. It’s
a sizable mountain of dough, enough to make about 1,000 gordi-
tas, and it will take Virginia about 3 hours to get through.
Grabbing one handful at a time, she rolls the dough into a ball
between her wet hands and then presses the ball into a perfect
½-inch-thick puck using a small Pyrex pie plate (her tool of
choice). She’s attached to the plate but is still heartbroken since
her favorite dough press fell from the counter and broke.
Shaping gorditas takes Virginia to her happy place, and each
disk she forms is as perfect as the next. “I love it,” she says. “I sit here and just
relax... and think of everything I need to do tomorrow!” For more photos from
our trip to Las Cruces, go to CooksCountry.com/saenz19.