Jose Guevara, whose family has run several of the most popular Mexican restaurants in the region, just opened a new restaurant at 425 Merchants Road in the North Winton neighborhood. But the owner-chef wants you to know that service may take a while.

“Good food takes time,” Guevara said. “And good food is slow food. I’m not just opening up a bag, just nuking stuff. I feel like a lot of people undervalue what real Mexican food is.”

Tavo’s Antojitos y Tequila, named for Guevara's late father Gustavo Guevara, opened quietly on Feb. 1 in the space that Italian joint Lucca Kitchen & Cocktails left last summer. In its first few weeks, Tavo’s has had steady business, mostly from word-of-mouth, which Guevara says is what the staff can currently handle.

There’s no website and barely a social media presence. There’s no sign on the door. Only a tell-tale sugar skull in a rainbow of neon lights can be seen in the front window.

Guevara is the sole chef on staff, though he gets some help cooking from his youngest brother, Miguel. Everything is made in-house from scratch, from the green mole to the blue corn tortillas and the pozole rojo, a warming, hearty guajillo chile broth with pork, hominy maize, and a bright combination of vegetables, herbs, and spices ($15).

The menu at Tavo’s has a variety of tacos, chalupas, enchiladas, burritos, and quesadillas. But it also features items you’re not going to find at other Mexican restaurants in Rochester. In addition to the two kinds of pozole, there’s the huarache, an appetizer of grilled corn masa topped with refried pinto beans, a choice of meat (pollo, carnitas, or barbacoa), greens, salsa, crema, cotija cheese, and cilantro ($12).

There’s also a mini menu of mariscos, different preparations of shrimp sautéed with peppers, vegetables, herbs, and different flavor accents — tequila and citrus, garlic butter, spicy tomato broth — served over chili-lime white rice ($18-$25).

“Not a lot of people think about Mexican food and seafood, but we're surrounded by two huge coasts,” Guevara said. “And especially in Puerto Vallarta, which is where my mom's family is from.”

Guevara knows what he likes, and what he likes is his mother’s food. The menu at Tavo’s is nearly identical to the menu from his mom’s restaurant, El Rincón Mexicano, which opened in Sodus in 1991 and became a catering-only business in the fall of 2022.

The Guevara family’s origins as regional restaurant royalty is deeply entwined with the growth of Mexican culture and community in Sodus. Guevara spent some of his childhood years out west and in Mexico, but relocated to the Rochester region when his father's electrical engineering job with Xerox brought the family here in the 1980s.

Lonely for other Mexicans, Guevara’s parents encountered a large migrant worker population that didn’t have access to many products for Mexican cuisine, so the Guevara family began buying products in New Jersey and cooking food at home to bring into the camps.

Guevara’s mother, Maria Peña Rodriguez, originally opened El Rincón Mexicano in the late ’80s as a store filled with imported food and goods that served migrant workers eager for a taste of home.

Guevara grew up working in El Rincón, and after stints studying biotech and pre-med, he graduated from New York City’s French Culinary Institute in 2000. Guevara opened his first restaurant, a second El Rincón Mexicano, in 2003 in Canandaigua, which became Rio Tomatlán when his brother Rafael took it over in 2007. Rafael also owns Forona in Canandaigua.

At Tavo’s you can get flan, tres leches, and chocolate tres leches. There are Jarritos sodas, Mexican Coke, and Mexican beers, and Guevara said a broad range of tequilas are coming soon.

Tavo’s Antojitos y Tequila is open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday. Call 585-312-6683 to reserve a table. Follow @tavosroc on Instagram for news.

Rebecca Rafferty is CITY's life editor. She can be reached at [email protected].