New Hope’s Arizona Taco Co. Expands To Include Mexican-Style Pizzas
Over the last six years, Arizona Taco Co. in New Hope has developed quite the following.
You can count Jaxon Howard among that group.
“It doesn’t really matter who you are, and whoever you are that walks through that door, they’re gonna treat you like family,” said Howard, the former Cooper High School football star.
Saturday, Howard chose the restaurant to host his homecoming celebration. Delicious carne asada fries can have that effect on a person.
“I would say probably two or three days a week, I would come up during open lunch and grab me my side of fries,” Howard said. “It was just meat, cheese, and the fries. And I would crack those down with some of my guys, literally like three times a week.”
Gophers’ football player Jaxon Howard speaks to fans at Arizona Taco Company in New Hope.
Howard will play for the Gophers this coming season after spending last year at LSU.
“They say the best way to somebody’s heart is through their belly, and this is a place that he’s found that’s part of his belly,” said Willie Howard, Jaxon’s dad and the head coach of Cooper’s football team. “So for us to be able to get people to come here, see what he loves and he enjoys — the people here are amazing, the food here is amazing. So, just to be able to give back to the people that give to my son is amazing for us.”
Acquiring the former Chanticlear Pizza space
Yet this is a slightly different version of Arizona Taco Co. than Howard knew when he was in high school.
The restaurant now serves pizza.
“We’re going to do our carne asada pizza, al pastor pizzas, so it’s just something different that we’re bringing from back home in Arizona out here to Minnesota,” said Marcos Ayala, the owner of Arizona Taco Co.
Earlier this year, Ayala acquired the space next door that was formerly home to Chanticlear Pizza. He also bought their equipment.
The move helped the restaurant expand its kitchen, seating capacity and menu.
“We went out back to Arizona, we saw what they were doing with their Mexican pizzas and how it was going,” Ayala said. “Came back and said ‘yeah, we’re going to go ahead and pull the trigger and we’re going to make it happen.'”
Most people wouldn’t think of New Hope as a culinary hot spot, but Howard is doing his part to help change that narrative.
“I believe that they do everything at an elite level,” Howard said.
Arizona Taco Co. is located at 9428 36th Ave N in New Hope. The restaurant will also have a presence at the Taste of Minnesota July 6 and 7.
The carne asada fries are a fan favorite at Arizona Taco Company.
Related: Takeout Tuesday: New Hope’s Arizona Taco Company
