Felipe's Tacos bids farewell in December

Nov. 22—The soft-shell tacos you see everywhere now — thank Felipe Martinez for bringing them to Santa Fe.

Martinez opened Felipe's Tacos in 1993 in the St. Michael's Village shopping center. He has remained in the same location ever since. So has the plastic letter board menu that has that quaint, weathered look of a time long gone by.

Martinez will be long gone, too, as of Dec. 15. He says the time is right to retire — he turns 65 in January, when he signs up for Medicare. And he's reduced Felipe's Tacos hours, closing at 3 p.m. since he signed up for Social Security in July.

"It's time to take the fruits of my labor and rediscover Felipe's spirit," Martinez said. "I want that little boy's spirit again, being free on the railroad tracks, watching the trains go by."

Felipe's Tacos will be gone, but the kitchen equipment and other things will remain. Martinez sold the equipment and furnishings to Rodrigo Rodriguez, who was his cook for 10 years in the 2000s. Rodriguez now has the Tacos El Charrito food truck that he will transition to brick-and-mortar in the Felipe's Tacos space.

Martinez brought soft-shell tacos with him from East Los Angeles. The concept was foreign in Santa Fe at that time.

The New Mexican in a 1993 restaurant review wrote: "Mostly the Santa Fe taco is a sorry concoction featuring a factory fried shell, a lot of hamburger and the barest excuse for condiments. Fortunately, however, there's at least one real taco stand in the city. That's Felipe's Tacos."

The Compound owner and chef Mark Kiffin confirmed the absence of soft-shell tacos in Santa Fe 30 years ago.

"They weren't," Kiffin said in a text. "He led the way."

Martinez opened with his mother's recipes, and 29 years later, his mother's recipes still make up half the menu. His mother grew up in Salinas, Calif., but her mother and the recipes stem from Zacatecas in central Mexico — a different world and cuisine than New Mexico.

"I had to educate New Mexicans for years," Martinez acknowledged.

To this day, he serves tacos Mexican style with onions and cilantro and American style with lettuce, tomato and cheese.

Martinez has remained faithful to his cuisine, but he has survived for 29 years in business because he has also paid attention to his customers.

"My universe has been open to me because I have been open to the universe," he said.

In the first year, vegetarians flocked to his store. He quickly started serving no-carne tacos, burritos and tostadas.

"It's as popular as carne," he said. "We sell as many of those as meat. There was a big following of vegetarians. It didn't take me long to say you need to put this on the menu."

Fish tacos were added in 2010.

On the flip side, years ago he had a condiment bar with three salsas, pico de gallo, radishes, lime, onion and cilantro for customers to customize the tacos that are fairly mild as served. The condiment bar went away with the 2008 economic fallout, from which Martinez needed five years to recover.

"People were loading up with condiments and then throwing them away," Martinez recalled. "I gave them out in 2-ounce cups instead. I was using four tubs of salsa a day. After I got rid of the condiment bar, it was one tub a day."

He calls the best-selling tacos and burritos "The Trinity" as there are three top sellers of each: the no-carne burrito, the burrito grande and the original burrito; and the carne asada, al pastor and barbacoa tacos.

Martinez has stuck with the $1.90 taco even as the $2 taco has disappeared in the pandemic era, with single tacos more often priced closer to $4 or $5. His taco price has only gone up from $1.25 in 29 years.

He could maintain low prices by inducing volume of sales. Twenty years ago, he had 300 customers a day.

"These are not very comfortable seats," Martinez said. "I want the turnover. I want them in and out. Keep them coming back."

Martinez grew up in East Lost Angeles and worked for 20 years as a cabinet maker. He had taken culinary classes in junior high, high school and at Mount San Antonio College in Southern California, but it took 20 years for the training to come to fruition with Felipe's Tacos.

Martinez's first wife died at age 33 in November 1991. Two months later, he and his daughter, Jacqueline, moved to Santa Fe.

His brother, Enrique, had moved to Santa Fe in 1985, and Felipe visited often. Single fatherhood instantly convinced him to leave L.A.

"You have this feeling," Martinez said. "I just knew I had to raise my daughter here."

Father and daughter went to a grief therapist who, he discovered, lived just three houses away.

"Things were falling into place," he said.

Martinez did cabinet making for a year and a half after moving to Santa Fe. His parents moved to Santa Fe from Pleasanton, Calif., to help raise Jacqueline — and help Felipe finance a restaurant.

"My mom and dad helped me put this together," Martinez said. "The bank wouldn't lend to me."

Martinez is fascinated with the Aztec and Mayan calendars. He wants to teach. He's thinking of approaching the public schools. His boiled down message: "We are in a universal journey."

But the journey for Felipe's Tacos is ending.

"Life is too short," Martinez said. "Each day's experience, take it all in. I want to see where the winds will take me."