A name that many longtime Montrose residents remember from years past is making a comeback.
Brian Beltran has revived Menudos, the burrito and tamale operation he first opened in 2011, now serving food out of the Mexican American Development Association (MADA) kitchen in Montrose at 17. N 6th St.
Beltran said the new venture is only a few weeks old, but many customers already recognize the name.
“This is our fourth weekend,” Beltran said this past Saturday. “A whole lot of happy people about that.”
The original Menudo’s operated for several years in the space now occupied by Alpenglow Confections at 110 N. Townsend Ave. Beltran said the restaurant built a loyal following before health problems forced him to close the business.
“We opened in 2011,” he said. “I had some health problems, so things went south and we had to let it go.”
After leaving the restaurant business, Beltran worked at Culver’s for about five years before being laid off last October. That moment, he said, pushed him to start cooking again.
“I was like, OK, now it’s time to change,” Beltran said. “I got to do something new now.”
For Beltran, the decision also came from something he said he missed deeply — the reaction from customers when they tried his food.
“One of the biggest enjoyments about doing this is just the reaction of people when they eat our food,” he said. “The happiness — they’re just like, ‘Wow, this is…’ It’s an awesome feeling to see that and give that to people.”
Beltran said former customers often told him they wanted his food to return.
“People kept telling me, ‘Hey man, we need you back. We need your burritos back,’” he said. “You got burritos all over town, but your burritos aren’t like anybody else’s in town.”
That desire to stand out is something Beltran said he still focuses on.
“That’s where we like to be — stand out,” he said. “We don’t want to be like everybody else. We want to be different.”
The menu currently includes burritos with bacon, steak, sausage or chorizo, as well as egg and cheese options. Customers can also order Beltran’s homemade tamales.
The business’ slogan, “Make Mine a Fatty,” comes from Beltran’s earlier years cooking in Denver.
Beltran said he learned the trade working for Gomez Burritos, a chain with several locations.
“When I worked for Gomez, people would come in and say, ‘Hey, hook it up. Make it a fatty,’” Beltran said. “Everybody would say, ‘Make it a fatty burrito. We’re hungry.’ So we ran with it.”
The phrase stuck and now appears as a motto for the business’ oversized burritos (they come in regular and fatty style).
Beltran is currently operating on a small scale — open limited hours and producing smaller batches of food to avoid waste.
“We’re only open six hours and we’re only open two days,” he said. “I’m not trying to keep a whole lot of stock in house because I’ll be throwing a lot of food away.”
Despite the limited hours, Beltran said demand has already been strong. Many customers from the original restaurant have returned, along with new diners who discovered the stand through social media.
“A lot of people from back in the day,” he said. “And a lot of new people. They see us on Facebook.”
Beltran is also exploring ways to expand. He said he plans to launch a tamale cart that could serve multiple varieties, including sweet options like pineapple.
He is also working to package and label burritos for wholesale distribution. Beltran said Blair’s Truck Stop has already expressed interest in selling them.
“They want two or three dozen burritos over there as soon as I get the labels to put on them,” he said.
For now, Beltran said the focus is simple: cooking good food and reconnecting with the community.
Dennis Martin, who works with Beltran and previously worked alongside him at Culver’s, said the operation has quickly found a following.
Customers have also stepped in to help. Montrose resident Monique Olson said she recently volunteered to assist Beltran with food preparation.
“I started talking to them,” Olson said. “I was lending a hand to help them mix up tamales last night and he’s been paying me with food, which makes me happy.”
Beltran said those kinds of connections are part of what makes the work worthwhile.
When new customers take their first bite, he said, he still looks for the same reaction he did years ago.
“Don’t stare at them,” he said, recalling advice he once gave kitchen staff. “Just glance over when they take that first bite of their food.”
“That’s when you see it.”
Justin Tubbs is the Montrose Business Times editor. He can be reached by email at justin@montrosebusinesstimes.com or by phone at 970-765-0915 or mobile at 254-246-2260.
