Goshen’s El Maza captivates with award-winning salsa
When Rafael Celis, co-owner of Takeria “El Maza” OMG! in Goshen, IN, told his family what he planned to call the restaurant, his daughter Stephanie told him he was crazy. No one will know that the OMG stands for “Original Mexican Grill,” she protested.
It was shortly after the 2008 financial collapse, and Rafael had lost his full-time factory job. His part-time restaurant work wasn’t going to keep the family afloat. “It was impossible to find another job,” Rafael says, “but I studied business administration for two years after high school, so [opening] a business made sense.”
He had his family to help him. Rafael’s wife, Janet, the restaurant’s co-owner, agreed to work the counter. Brian, their eldest son, helped them get the taqueria up and running before moving on to his own career. And although Stephanie questioned the name, she created El Maza’s logo in a graphic design class she was taking at the Elkhart Area Career Center.
The restaurant opened its doors at 214 Johnston St. in 2012 and has received praise, and even awards, ever since. Its menu is inspired by the regional foods of Mexico, including Rafael’s home city of Mazatlán and Janet’s birthplace in Michoacán. Its taco list includes the usuals—chicken, steak and chorizo— but also tacos de Alambre, a mixture of steak, cheese and onion, and tacos de Campechanos, a medley of steak and pork. Barbacoa and the increasingly popular al pastor are also available.
Rafael and Janet are especially proud that the restaurant has been the first place each of their children has worked.
This distinction has also allowed them to provide the highest quality tacos.
“The difference is the care [our family] takes of the customers and the food,” Rafael says.
There’s no secret to why the food is so good, he explains. He prepares everything when it’s ordered, unlike other taquerias, which may cut meat on a Tuesday that doesn’t get used until Saturday.
“Most places have a walk-in cooler. We have a cooler just big enough for what we’ll need in one week,” Rafael says.
If the Great Recession led the Celis family to open El Maza, it also, in a more roundabout way, led to the restaurant’s award-winning salsa. The economic downturn forced many Mexican restaurants in the area to search for new forms of revenue, including charging for what was once commonly provided for free: chips and salsa.
“I felt that if we were going to charge for the salsa, we’re gonna make it special for you,” says Rafael. That’s why he prepares all salsa to order. When a customer orders pico de gallo, they choose what goes in it. If they don’t want jalapeños, or they want extra jalapeños, Rafael will prep it on the spot.
The fresh preparation and focus on ingredients earned El Maza the People’s Choice Award at the Goshen Salsa Festival in September 2019. It also beat out a list of other local restaurants for best salsa by a business.
The awards have added to El Maza’s following online, where Rafael makes almost daily posts to Facebook with videos from inside the kitchen and messages enticing the taqueria’s loyal customers to lunch.
On any given visit to the restaurant, those loyal customers will be greeted cheerfully by Janet. They’ll hear Rafael singing along to banda music on the kitchen radio. And they might see one of the kids finishing a homework assignment at the front table. It’s a restaurant that feels like home, where tacos and family are inseparable. As Rafael says it, “If people come here, they’ll receive the same food cooked in the same way I’d make it for my family, because we love what we do.
Takeria “El Maza” OMG!
214 Johnston St.
Goshen, IN
574.533.3833
facebook.com/ElMazaomg
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