'Authentically good': Taco Tontos celebrates 50 years in Kent

Some things seem like they've always existed, and we rarely give a thought to how they came about. If the Dec. 2 Star of the West mill fire in Kent taught us anything, it's that we shouldn't take history for granted. The physical reminders of what once was might not always be there.

Taco Tontos has been a Kent mainstay for 50 years, its existence once imperiled by fire. It survived, branching out into Lakewood in 2012. Taco Tontos is owned by two couples. Kevin and Emily Yohn own and operate the Kent location, and John and Jill Crino are the owner-operators in Lakewood.

The core menu hasn't changed much in the half-century that the restaurant has been operating, but new and different offerings have been added. A revolving door of daily specials now grace the menu. Burritos inspired by Indian cuisine have been featured, as have Korean barbecue creations and Vietnamese báhn mi burritos.

Most recently, the restaurant introduced the Bada Bingurito, inspired by "The Sopranos" and stuffed with Italian sausage, rice, mozzarella, provolone and house-made Sunday gravy with basil, garlic, pepperoni, gabagool, banana peppers and roasted red peppers.

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Since opening in 1972 at the former bar Water Street Saloon, Taco Tontos has taken up residence all over town. After being displaced by a fire in 1975, it moved through several locations including Ray's Place on Franklin, Walter's Café, Chubby's, and the Stone Jug — eventually taking up residence in the Loft's basement, where it stayed for roughly 15 years. Now, it's located up a set of stairs on Franklin Avenue, around the corner from the Zephyr.

The early days of Taco Tontos

The story begins in 1972 with a man named Mike "Tonto" Miller and the woman who would eventually become his first wife, Janice Miller (now Janice Solek-Tefft).

"It was named after me," Miller said, "but it was her business."

When the bar scene began developing along North Water Street, Miller found himself managing three establishments — The Kove, Pirate's Alley and the Water Street Saloon — owned by Bob Petry. Miller operated the food concession at the Kove.

"I hired people to roast chicken,; we did duck, we did all sorts of stuff out on the patio on charcoal — selling sandwiches," he said.

During the day, Miller attended classes at the University of Akron. By night, he worked the bars.

Solek-Tefft was hanging around the strip at the time. She'd graduated in 1970, the year that the National Guard shot and killed four students and wounded nine others at Kent State University during a demonstration against the Vietnam War.

During her time as a student in Kent, she became friends with a Latino man with whom she shared a love of Mexican food. He gave her all of his grandmother's recipes.

"So, I started making Mexican food because I just really liked it," Solek-Tefft said, "and would just have friends come over to the house all the time to eat, and Bob Petry — being one of those friends — would come over and eat Mexican food." Members of the 15-60-75 (The Numbers Band) and Joe Walsh were also among her guests back then.

When Petry opened the Saloon, Solek-Tefft said, Petry asked her for help.

"Bob said, 'I've got to have food in this establishment, or else I can't sell 3.2 (low-alcohol) beer,'" Solek-Tefft said. "So he said, 'Would you be willing to come down here and bring your Mexican food?'" She was unemployed at the time, in between earning her bachelor's degree and beginning to pursue a master's. She jumped at the job opportunity.

Miller was downtown all the time, but no one ever called him by his name; it was always Tonto. Solek-Tefft connected the dots, creating the now-iconic moniker.

"So I said, hey, Taco Tontos — that's a good name, let's do that. So, that's how it happened," she said. "The name just sounded good."

Solek-Tefft built a menu consisting of a variety burritos, tacos, tostados, and chalupas, selling them at the Saloon Wednesday through Saturday nights.

She did all of the cooking herself in the early days, sourcing her flour tortillas from a company in Detroit. They'd ship her order to the Greyhound bus station in Akron, where she would pick them up — but sometimes they didn't come in. Then, she'd spend hours making stacks of flour tortillas.

The rest of the ingredients — beef, beans, lettuce, tomatoes and cheese — she got from Kline's Market on the corner of South Water and Erie.

Miller and Solek-Teft both agree that the food was a hit.

Fire changes everything

On Dec. 3, 1975 a fire tore through the Kove and the Saloon, destroying both bars and displacing Taco Tontos. By then, Solek-Teft was ready for something new.

"I'd done this for three years, I wanted to get a master's degree in psychology, and then in 1975 I also had our daughter Nicole, and I decided that it was time for me to move on," she said.

She transferred ownership — complete with all the recipes — to Lynn Gleason, one of her employees. Miller's sister, Ann, helped run the place as well. Eventually, Gleason turned Taco Tontos over to Miller's second wife, Mary, and Ann stayed on to help.

In 1982, Maureen Gartland bought Taco Tontos for $300. The owners were looking to leave town, so they offered to sell it to her.

The first thing she did after buying the restaurant was take a trip to the library to learn how to legitimize the business — registering the name, getting a business license and so on.

'Exotic' cuisine moves into the mainstream

In September 1982, Gartland and her partner, Susan Boyles Jensen, were operating Taco Tontos out of Chubby's. At the time, Gartland said, burritos were considered exotic fare in the city.

"We didn't have any taco shops or burritos or anything, no one had ever heard of the food," she said. "It was sort of a special thing." In keeping with tradition, she made most everything from scratch.

Under her direction, Taco Tontos eventually landed in the Loft, where it stayed for 15 years.

The current owners, Kevin and Emily Yohn, both got to know Gartland while they were working at the pizza place that shared space with Taco Tontos in the Loft's basement. In 2003, the restaurant moved to its current location on Franklin Avenue, and Kevin and Emily moved along with it.

"I'll be honest with you, we loved it from the first bite," Kevin said. So much so that Kevin said he and Emily insisted Gartland give them first dibs on the restaurant when Gartland decided to retire. In 2012, their request was granted and they bought Taco Tontos.

Innovative menu evolves far beyond Mexican cuisine

Since then, they've shepherded an old Kent staple into a new era, much like each owner before them. Their innovative menu includes Korean barbecue burritos, and offerings inspired by Indian cooking. In the last two years, they also secured a liquor license.

They source what they can locally, but what they can get depends on cost and, as Emily points out, whether or not local farmers can keep up. The amount of food moving through Taco Tontos has increased significantly in the last decade, Kevin said.

"It's a miracle, really, if you think about it," Gartland said. "How many little businesses like this are around for 50 years?"

"We want to usher in 50 more years of [operation]," Kevin said. "It's almost unheard of anymore—a small place like this that's never owned its own building."

The restaurant means the world to the Yohn's.

"We both found something we really, really love doing," Emily said. Kevin agreed, saying that owning Taco Tontos has allowed them to raise a family off the fruits of a labor they enjoy.

Sometimes it can be frustrating, he said. People often make the mistake of thinking that Taco Tontos is "authentic" Mexican food, which, at this point, is far off the mark.

"We don't strive to be [authentic]," he said. "If you want authentic Mexican food, you go to La Loma."

"I just say its authentic food," Emily said.

"It's authentically good," said Kevin.

Contact reporter Derek Kreider at DKreider@Gannett.com

This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Kent cuisine mainstay Taco Tontos celebrates 50 year journey