I made a rare trip into what an old local here called "Smogopolis" - (a term coined way back in the early 20th century I think).... and I ended up going through the Zantigo drivethrough.
I said I had a "Fistful of Dollars" but the young (teenage) African-american male worker didn't register that reference joke to Clint Eastwood westerns.
So then I see a young Asian-american male "manager" counting my pennies. I'm enjoying the irony of a white male paying with pennies at a Mexican fast-food drive through claiming to be "authentic" Mexican food - while his African-american worker admires the literal DOLLAR coin that apparently neither of them had seen before!!
It was a classic U.S. experience.
Old Minneapolis - A Zapata in 1972! Thanks to Old... | Facebook
Aug 1, 2019 — Lake Street & Girard in Uptown! Zapata changed its name in 1976 to Zantigo. In 1986 the chain was acquired by the parent of Taco Bell and the ...
Maybe this was "authentic" Mexican originally? That's the neighborhood I grew up in so someone told me about remembering Zantigo back in the day! But I don't remember it.
But
The Zantigo name evokes memories of 1970s-era Mexican food consumed late at night in your car. But while most were shuttered in the 1980s or became Taco Bells, there are still five locations across the Twin Cities serving up its signature menu item: the simple but apparently habit-forming chilito.
And then it re-opened ....by the same Minnesota white businessmen who created "Chi Chis" - another infamous Minnesota restaurant chain that I used to joke about with my Mexican coworkers. I used to ask them if the Chimichanga was a real "authentic" Mexican meal or not? haha. I'm still not sure - need to search that.
OK so ...
Zantigo began as Zapata in the late 1960s and was shuffled among various ownership groups as it grew. There were dozens of locations across the Midwest when it was sold to PepsiCo—which already owned Taco Bell—in 1986. Zantigos were converted or closed. Kaelble worked for the original chain from 1975 to 1987.
In the 1990s, the Kaelbles opened a few Zapata restaurants and later discovered that the Zantigo brand was no longer under PepsiCo’s control. When the Fridley spot opened in 2000, they revived the Zantigo name.
“The best compliment is when they say ‘This tastes just like it did when I was kid,’ ” says Kaelble.
OK so it was a good meal - tasted pretty fresh but as soon as I pulled out of the drive through I saw a local restaurant that had in big letters AUTHENTIC Mexican restaurant - and that one definitely WAS an authentic Mexican restaurant. haha. I didn't go in but you could just tell.
https://www.wcpo.com/news/insider/remember-this-those-cheese-chilitos-at-zantigo-were-to-die-for-
most of the 82 restaurants in the Minneapolis-based Zantigo chain were converted to Taco Bell eateries by 1987 after Zantigo went out of business.
Kaelble brought cases full of Zantigo products to Gambill's home and cooked up a feast for him and his family and friends.
"It tasted every bit as great as I remembered," said Gambill.
That's hilarious that the current OWNER actually did a PR stunt or "visited" a local writer to cook up a home-cooked Zantigo Chilito!
I did not eat a Chilito as I didn't realize that was their "signature" meal.
Anyway the Asian-american young manager informed me I was 20 cents short - and so I handed over another fistful of dollars (or pennies this time) and said,
"Keep the change!"
They actually seemed delighted to get all that change as apparently there's a RUN on real coins these days as people have been hoarding their coins.
Marno McDermott, not to be confused with Dermott Mulroney or Dylan McDermott opened the first Zapata restaurant in Minneapolis in 1969.
OK this must be a Taco Bell "restaurant" now - I did some full lotus "sessions" in there. Nope - that one is off 3rd Ave - about 15 blocks to the east.
His operation was purchased by Hueublein, then parent company of KFC, in 1974. Hublein changed the name of Zapata’s restaurants to Zantigo, and changed the name of Zapata’s grocery products to Ortega, a brand which still exists today. Heublein was acquired by the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company in 1982, which merged with Nabisco in 1985, after which the restaurant division, including KFC and Zantigo were sold off to PepsiCo, who already owned Taco Bell. As a result, the 80 or so remaining Zantigos were either closed or converted to Taco Bells by 1988. Meanwhile, Marno McDermott had moved on to his next venture, again selling a Midwestern version of Mexican food, co-founding Chi Chi's in 1975, after which, he co-starred in My Best Friend's Wedding with Julia Roberts.
Marno McDermott (his wife's nickname was "Chi Chi")
Somehow I don't think Marno McDermott was Mexican-American. haha.
Marno McDermott was a successful Minneapolis restaurateur, opening a chain of Mexican restaurantshttps://edinamag.com/rojo-mexican-grill-south-border-cuisine-evolves-edina
The Twin Cities has its own trajectory within the nuevo latino story arc. Our earliest Mexican success scenario belongs to Marno McDermott, of Irish-Scandinavian descent, who opened the wildly popular Chi Chi’s in 1975 in Richfield. Chi Chi’s grew to a chain of more than 250 locations and continues to churn out tacos in Europe, the Middle East and Indonesia. McDermott’s son Michael stepped into his footsteps in the restaurant business; he recently opened his second Rojo Mexican Grill in the Southdale shopping center. “No question about it, my dad is my hero,” McDermott says. “I still talk to him all the time about everything I do. I’m very lucky—he’s a great mentor and a great dad.”
The restaurant scene, particularly ethnic restaurants, was very different when Chi Chi’s hit the scene. “Dad started Chi Chi’s in the ’70s; everyone dressed up as mariachi [musicians] and decorated with festive piñatas,” McDermott says.
Wow times have changed.
Yep. A two-story Taco Bell. Several lanes are dedicated to people who have already ordered using the app. Then there's a lane for regular traffic and a proprietary vertical lift, invented by New Hope-based PD Instore, to deliver the food from above.
First in the World!! (invented in Minnesota - youtube video)
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