When Abelardo Gonzalez and his wife took in a Cardinal’s game a few years ago, he ran into a common frustration: After the game, they wanted a bite to eat, but they couldn’t find anything open. Now, he’s opened a restaurant in answer to the late-night problem.
Abelardo’s Mexican Fresh (8307 Page) opened June 9 in a former Jack in the Box location in Vinita Park. Given the line around the building, the franchise’s founder and owner wasn’t the only one looking for a late-night snack. “We’ve been very, very, very busy,” he says with a laugh.
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It’s even busier, he suggests, than any of the 40 previous Abelardo’s locations (in Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma, and elsewhere in Missouri). The Page location is drive-through only and open from 7 a.m.–3 a.m. Although Gonzalez notes that the hours work in his favor, he also thinks the quality of food is a key ingredient.
He describes the genre as “Southern California Mexican”: breakfast burritos, burritos, and tacos. “We dice everything up—all of our veggies, salsas—we make it all from scratch. We are authentic Mexican food.”
Abelardo’s portions are generous, to say the least: The tacos are big, and the one-pound burritos (made using a 14-inch shell) are huge. The broad menu includes a long list of la carte items, plus 28 varieties of burritos (from the basics to cabeza, lengua, tripa, and the California, with diced steak, French fries, pico, and cheese). Since Abelardo’s opens at 7 a.m. the menu also includes a large selection of breakfast plates and burritos. If that’s not enough, order (as most guests do) one of 26 combination plates (see menu above).
The average ticket is around $14 per person, though those dollars stretch further with daily specials from Monday through Thursday. The restaurant’s biggest day is typically Taco Tuesday, when the restaurant offers five tacos for $5.99. “The beef fried tacos are the most popular,” Gonzalez says.
By the end of the year, Gonzalez expects to have 52 locations across the Midwest. And while the Page location is the first in St. Louis, it won’t be the last. He plans to open the next location in St. Peters in the near future.
