Two restaurant partners named their Redding taquería Los Dos Amigos for good reason.
Miguel Rizo and Jesus “Chuy” Reynoso have been friends for more than 25 years, ever since they were kindergarten classmates in the small Mexican town of San Jose de Gracia, about 300 miles northwest of Mexico City.
Lucky for lovers of Mexican food, they also brought their flavorful family recipes with them when they opened in 2022.
“That’s something that comes with tradition, love and (it’s) generational too,” Reynoso said.
You’ll often find Rizo and Reynoso working side by side in their busy kitchen several doors down from the FoodMaxx supermarket off Churn Creek Road.
“We went to kindergarten together and we went to first, second and third grade together. And then we ended up going to different schools within the same hometown. We were still bumping into each other,” Reynoso said.
Rizo, 31, and Reynoso, 30, were born about six months apart in the state of Jalisco and through coincidence, later reunited in the East Bay city of Concord where they also became classmates again in high school.
They’ve both been in the restaurant industry for about 10 years, save for Reynoso’s stint in banking and Rizo’s job at the San Francisco airport.
Reynoso said many of his relatives have been in the restaurant business for a while in his hometown, so that’s one of his influences.
As for Rizo, he came to the U.S. in 2009 and started as a dishwasher in Half Moon Bay before moving to food prep, becoming a cook and then working a register at the front counter.
“I already knew a little bit of everything so I might as well do my own business,” he said.
Rizo said he tried to get his friend to join him in starting a restaurant in Concord but Reynoso said he wasn’t ready and moved to Sacramento instead.
Rizo said he ran a Mexican food restaurant in Concord but when the lease ran out, he opened another one in 2013 called Los Portales Taquería .
A Facebook post last fall by Visit Concord shows Rizo holding two golden taco trophies for being named the Taco Trail fan favorite both in 2020 and 2024 for his Clayton Road taquería .
“Owner Miguel’s journey from Jalisco to taquería champion is truly inspiring,” the post reads. “From the moment you step into Los Portales, it’s clear why it’s a local favorite. Miguel’s recipes, inspired by his grandmother, infuse every bite with the authentic heart and flavor of his heritage.”
Meanwhile, Reynoso got a life-altering call that led him to Redding.
“(Rizo) called me one day and just randomly asked me, ‘You ready?’ He just picked me up one day and drove me to Redding,” Reynoso said.
They found their shopping center location toward the end of 2020 but weren’t sure if there’d be enough foot traffic although there was plenty of parking. They decided to jump in after being impressed that Redding could support two In-N-Outs.
Drawing on family recipes
What makes Dos Amigos stand out, the pair says, is described in their slogan, “innovated authentic Mexican food.”
“Some recipes are definitely from our grandmothers, grandfathers,” Rizo said.
“You can Google how to make Spanish fries or this and that, right? But it’s very different to pull up a recipe from Google rather than (Rizo’s) grandma telling him how to do it,” Reynoso said.
They’ve learned that serving food made from scratch, not including tortillas, is a huge hit with diners. So, they buy their produce fresh, along with products they use in their kitchen, they said.
“The number one thing that makes us unique is just the freshness and homemade stuff – everything from scratch. From point A to point B, everything’s made in the store,” Reynoso said. “There’s not a single salsa, a single meat that is premade. Not at all.”
Cooking food in limited amounts also is essential.
“We don’t prep three or four days in advance,” Reynoso said. “We just make small batches of everything so everything’s always fresh.”
One online review called Dos Amigos’ birria tacos the best in town.
The shredded beef in those tacos simmers for six hours for a tender filling. Dos Amigos serves the tacos with a side of dipping sauce that comes from the cooked broth.
Other sought-after dishes are the tacos al pastor (barbecue pork) and quesadillas.
“The adobo sauce is what we use to marinate the al pastor and the barbecue chicken. A lot of people get misled thinking it’s barbecue sauce, but I always explain that it’s not barbecue. We just call it barbecue because it’s marinated in our homemade sauce,” Reynoso said.
Rizo also emphasizes an important rule for the restaurant.
“And we try to use quality meat,” Rizo said.
Culinary adventures at Dos Amigos
The dinner plate with bistek ranchero is similar to beef fajitas but is spicier. Instead of using bell peppers, they use jalapeños.
Their hearty beef soup, caldo de res, is very popular when it’s cold outside.
“We make that only seasonal, just during wintertime,” Rizo said.
Another soup, pozole, is another top seller along with their flautas and rolled taquitos.
For diners interested in more of a carnivore plate without rice, Dos Amigos serves parrillada, which is two steaks wrapped in bacon with sides of home-made chorizo, beans and a small cheese quesadilla with lettuce, pico de gallo and tortillas.
A substantial seafood menu gives customers more choices. The 3 Mares soup, for example, comes with shrimp, octopus and fish with vegetables along with sides of rice, lime, onions and cilantro.
While Dos Amigos is more than a taco shop, it has a Taco Tuesday special with soft tacos going for $2.75 each, with seven meat choices – three types of chicken and four types of pork. The Tuesday special is in-store only, so it’s not available through Door Dash nor Uber Eats.
Don’t skip salsa bar
After ordering, customers should make a beeline for Dos Amigos’ complimentary salsa bar. Get a bowl of house-made chips and fill a container with pico de gallo or five other flavors from mild to hot – pineapple, tomatillo, avocado, salsa roja or the spicy habanero. There’s also radishes, limes and oranges.
“We don’t limit you to how many trips you make to the salsa bar,” Reynoso said.
Grilled peppers and grilled onions are two other items that customers can choose to top off their tacos. “People love that stuff,” Reynoso said.
“We’ve found in comments that (customers say) ‘I love your food but on top of that, I’m only here because you guys have free chips and salsa,’” he said.
Drinks served fresh
Freshness also describes their non-alcoholic drink menu, which include the traditional horchata – a rice, cinnamon and vanilla mix – and their fresh-fruit water drinks such as a watermelon agua fresca.
“We don’t use any syrup. We don’t use any powder flavor-wise,” Reynoso said. “We have six different flavors now and they’re all made from fresh fruit.”
Dos Amigos’ bar offers Pacifico, Blue Moon and Modelo, including Modelo Negra, on tap. Bottled beer is available and for the adventurous, customers can order a 3-liter beer tower for $25.99 plus tax.
A michelada, with clamato tomato juice and beer, makes for a spicy cocktail.
“That’s another key item; we make our own (michelada) mix. It obviously has the tomato juice and we add other spices and other stuff that I just can’t tell you what it is,” Reynoso said. “We add other stuff like lime juice and other ingredients that blends in with the beer perfectly.”
Their serve-yourself pot of coffee comes with a hint of cinnamon (“Just like my grandma used to make,” Rizo said.)
A lunchtime and family favorite
While Dos Amigos typically serves a lunch rush of blue-collar clientele, there’s more of a family atmosphere nights and weekends.
“Dinnertime, it’s really popular to see families. Weekends it’s like guaranteed,” Reynoso said.
The taquería expanded last summer into an adjoining suite because they only had six tables and were getting lines out the door. They went from a capacity of 36 people to 79.
On a recent weekday, the TVs were showing a soccer game and a rodeo from Austin, Texas, as Mexican music filled the air.
They’ll accommodate customers by changing sports channels, such as recently switching to the March Madness college basketball games.
“We usually broadcast soccer because we’re both soccer fanatics. We love soccer. We play soccer. Not as good as 10 years ago,” Reynoso joked.
Their hometown of San Jose de Gracia, with a population of about 8,000 people, figures prominently for the taquería’s decor as a huge mural of the town’s church plaza takes up much of one wall.
Rizo says he returns to his motherland three times a year when he gets to check on his field of agave. He hopes to have tequila bottled from his crop, although the barrels that are underway have two years to go in the distillery process.
Coming from the same hometown and being close to the same age, Rizo and Reynoso remain friends.
“We share a lot in common too,” Reynoso said. “We merged together to be on the same page.”
If you go: Los Dos Amigos Taquería in Redding
This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: Childhood friends at Redding taquería wow diners with recipes inspired by grandmas
Reporting by Mike Chapman / Redding Record Searchlight
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
