Doing it for Dad: El Mero Mero Market strives to be the best Mexican food in Greeley
The market side of El Mero Mero sells fresh meats, fish, produce, baked goods, groceries, sundries and has a vast selection of Mexican sweets. Photo by Emily Kemme.
By Emily Kemme
Calling someone “El mero mero” is a double entendre in Mexican slang. It can mean you recognize that person is the ‘head honcho’ or the ‘big boss’. It’s a term that’s jokingly applied to family members, often one’s parents or partners, implying that this person has the highest authority. There’s also a feminine version: El mera mera.
But the phrase can also be translated as being ‘the best’ at what you do. For Lupe Meza, one of four sisters and three brothers who own and operate El Mero Mero Market and Taqueria in Greeley, it means both. The name of their business has turned into a way to honor their father, Manuel, who started the market 15 years ago. He died from COVID-19 six months ago.
In 1995, Manuel Meza brought his family to the United States from Guanajuato, Mexico, a state located in the central part of the country. Situated between Mexico’s arid northern states and the lush rain forests of the south, Lupe describes her home state as one where the agave plants bloom. Most of the dishes served at the taquería revolve around Guanajuato and Chihuahuan cuisines.
When the family first immigrated, Lupe said as soon as they were old enough to work, Manuel found them jobs as onion toppers in the field.
It was a family dream to open a market, which first started as a little restaurant. But soon after opening, Meza shut it down because of the Swift ICE raids in 2006. At the time, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents swept up any workers at the Swift and Co. meatpacking plant in Greeley who could not produce documentation proving they were in the country legally. ICE agents picked out 261 workers, bound their hands in zip-ties, and ultimately sent them back to Mexico, according to a story in the Greeley Tribune. It was part of a raid called, “Operation Wagon Train,” in which nearly 1,300 Swift employees from six Swift plants across the country were rounded up.
The Mezas worked to formalize their documentation, but during that period, two siblings were deported to Mexico because they had traffic tickets dating back to when they were minors, Lupe said.
“For them, trying to get the documentation backfired. The rest of the family was able to remain in Greeley. But because we came so young, after 15 years of being here, those two siblings no longer had family in Guanajuato,” she said.
Lupe, who was 7 when she arrived in Colorado, was able to get a green card through the Deferred Action for Children Arrivals program. Her husband has secured his US citizenship and she is working to obtain hers.
Manuel Meza bought the market back from the second owners 10 years ago. Starting again with the little restaurant, the family added a meat department, and last week they opened a bakery in the space. The Meza kids’ mother used to work in the store, but these days she has health problems which prevent it.
Lupe said she and her siblings “want to make Dad proud and hope he knows we’re working hard and keeping what he started going.”
The meals at Taquería el Mero Mero are fresh and generously portioned. Menudo — a prized “caldo” (soup) prepared with beef tripe, hominy and a richly flavored broth made from beef stock and guajillo pepper sauce — is sold daily. This is a welcome find for menudo afficionados: In most Mexican restaurants where menudo is on the menu, it is typically offered only on weekends because of the lengthy simmering time necessary to create the rich stock.
Portions at El Mero Mero Taquería are generous. Shown is a smothered burrito. Photo by Emily Kemme.
In addition to Mexican standards like tacos, burritos (either smothered or handhelds), Mexican sandwiches called tortas, and a selection of combo plates, the huaraches caught my attention. It was a menu item I’ve never seen at a Mexican restaurant.
Like the phrase El mero mero, the word ‘huaraches’ also has two meanings. It can refer to woven leather sandals, but it can also be a food, so named because the masa dough, which forms the base of the entrée, is stretched into the shape of a sandal.
When I read ‘huaraches’ on the menu, one of my husband’s long-standing jokes about ordering foods in any language other than English popped into my head.
“I don’t know what I just ordered,” he’ll quip. “It’s probably a shoe with cheese on it.”
In the case of Mexican huaraches, that comes close: the masa dough is fried, but unlike a tortilla shell, has a thick, spongy texture. Traditionally, a spoonful of refried beans is inserted into the balls of dough before they’re rolled into their oblong shape. After frying until the huarache has blackened spots, it’s spread with more refried beans and topped with meat, queso fresco (crumbled cow’s milk cheese), lettuce, tomatoes, sliced avocado and crema, a tangy condiment with a thickness somewhere between sour cream and French crème fraîche. Add your choice of salsas from the restaurant’s salsa bar, and you’ll enjoy the best ‘shoe with cheese’ you’ve ever tasted.
At El Mero Mero, the huaraches are shaped by hand.
“It’s traditional to our state and very popular in Mexico City, except there it only has a few toppings, mostly beans and salsa, not much meat. Ours is very generous,” Lupe Meza said.
The lengthy road the Meza family has traveled to find success in their restaurant and market businesses doesn’t seem to have dimmed their spirits. Family members are welcoming and friendly, and the restaurant’s bright, orange-colored walls leave you with the sense that you’re eating inside a bottle of exploded Fanta orange soda. A meal from El Mero Mero will leave you humming happily.
If you’re aiming to be the best at what you do, success doesn’t get much better than that.
Visit El Mero Mero Market and Taquería
Where: 1002 25th Ave. in Greeley
Hours: Monday through Friday 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. | Saturday through Sunday 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Contact: 970-301-4718 | Find them on Facebook
Service options: Taquería offers dine-in, take-out, and delivery with GrubHub | the market has fresh meats, fish, produce, bakery, groceries, sundries, vast selection of Mexican sweets