In the kitchen of Xaboo Mephaa Mexican Restaurant, co-owner Jorge Galvez prepares a picadita on a hot griddle, allowing the bottom and sides of the popular street food made of masa to become fragrant and crisp.
"We're going to make it like a little pizza," Galvez explains as he slathers a layer of black refried beans on top of the circular handmade cake. "This is very common where I come from, especially with the weather like this."
Xaboo Mephaa is a family-run business in Lee's Summit, Missouri, that began as a food truck in 2021 and now has a brick-and-mortar location at 1196 NE Douglas St. The restaurant specializes in homestyle cooking from the Mexican state of Guerrero, where Galvez is originally from.
Galvez says he and his wife, Michele Galvez, had always talked about opening a restaurant, but it wasn't until his brother approached them in late 2019 with business plans that the idea really took shape.
While familiar Tex-Mex favorites like ground beef tacos can be ordered off the menu, Xaboo Mephaa is known for its popular southern Mexican snacks like picaditas and gorditas, which pre-date Spanish colonization of the Americas. Their street style tacos are also a bestseller.
The Galvezes are originally from the small mountainous village of Iliatenco, Guerrero. Most of the elders in Iliatenco only speak Tlapanec, or Me'phaa, an indigenous Mexican language spoken by the Me'phaa people of Guerrero. Xaboo Mephaa translates to "people who speak Tlapanec."
Galvez says Xaboo Mephaa is about showcasing his family's culinary origins through homemade dishes and warm hospitality.
"They (customers) eat the food that we normally will cook at home and we share with the family," says Galvez. "They will feel very, very welcome, like they're in our house."
Hours for the restaurant and food truck vary depending on day, and are updated frequently on Facebook. This is also where specials like the Chicken Pozole, Tamales Oaxaqueños and Taco Tuesday are advertised.
Galvez hopes the family will open a second food truck, or perhaps a Xaboo Mephaa #2, one day.
- Jorge Galvez, co-owner of Xaboo Mephaa Mexican Restaurant
