North side location reopens following extensive renovations
By Olivia Lewis
After closing a year ago for renovations, the original Mantes Chow Cart — beloved for its signature burritos piled high with chiles — reopened for business across from the Taos County Courthouse Complex.
For Mante Chacon Jr., who co-owns the restaurant with his family, reopening Mantes Chow Cart is about carrying on a family tradition started by his father, the late Mante Chacon Sr.
“My motivation is to keep my dad’s legacy alive,” Chacon says. “He built so many relationships and was so important to the community.”
The Chacon family owns two Chow Cart locations on the north and south ends of town. The reopened restaurant is just north of Albright Street on Paseo del Pueblo Sur. Chacon says they closed the building because their parking lot became too congested after they lost parking space to the years-long NM 68–U.S. 64 road construction project.
In the interim, they ran a food cart similar to the bread delivery van Mante Chacon Sr. converted into a food cart in 1973. Mantes Chow Cart has been a staple of Taos, offering the likes of Susie burritos with a chile relleno and guacamole, stuffed sopapillas, cheeseburgers, chalupas and tamale pies. Over the years, the business grew into two restaurants, Comidas del Mante and the north-side Mantes Chow Cart.
When the north side Mantes Chow Cart opened, it added a drive thru and carhop service that operated through the 1990s. Comidas del Mante closed, and in 2006 the family opened La Cocina, which eventually became Mantes south-side location.
“Both of my parents really came from nothing, and I always told my dad that he built an empire,” Chacon Jr. says.
Chacon Sr. passed away due to COVID-19 complications at a Colorado Springs hospital in November 2020. Chacon Sr. father was an honorary firefighter who helped raise funds for local organizations like the Taos Volunteer Fire Department. Before his family brought him back to Taos after he died, Taos County Sheriff Steve Miera offered the family a police escort starting from the county line and into town. When the family arrived, Taos community members were waiting for them.
“There was a parade of cars,” Chacon says. “I think they estimated it to be around 400 cars, and people were just going in a line, and they followed the procession into town. My brother was waiting with my mom, and they joined the procession. My dad used to work at Hotel La Fonda, so we drove around the plaza. Then, we drove around here and ended up going all of the way to the other Mantes. We drove around the restaurant, and all along the way, people had signs. They were holding up signs and waving. It was such a touching thing, you know?”
He added, “We drove up to the other Mantes as well. It was during COVID, so you really couldn’t do anything. My mom sat in the car, and we parked. Everybody waited, went through the procession and gave their condolences through the drive thru.”
Today, Chacon Jr. runs the restaurant’s north-side location with his wife, Ernestine Chacon, and brother, Tim Chacon. His sister, Louella Conway and other brother, Tim Chacon, manage the south-side location near the Dollar General Store on Paseo del Pueblo Sur.
Inside the newly renovated restaurant hang framed photographs of the Chacon family, which a family friend named Manuel Aguilar offered to print and frame. In one, Chacon’s father smiles widely beside his wife, Gloria Chacon. In another, he picks and sorts through green hatch chiles from a farm out of Hatch, New Mexico.
Because many of their dishes are made from scratch, the family prepped red Chile pork tamales and other dishes prior to reopening. They also spent time familiarizing themselves and staff with the larger kitchen. Eleven of the staff had worked at Mantes prior to the renovation.
The north side Mantes Chow Cart is open Monday through Saturday, 6:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. The menu will remain the same, with the possibility of some future additions.
“It’s not all of the things that he accumulated,” Chacon says, citing the empire he says his father built. “He did well for himself, especially for not having anything, but it’s more about the relationships and the things that he was able to accomplish through them.”
Mantes Chow Cart, located just north of Albright Street on Paseo del Pueblo Sur, is open Monday through Saturday, 6:30 a.m.–9 p.m. For more information, visit manteschowcart.com or call 575-758-3632.