New eats: Zaratez Mexicatessen
It’s not everyday you can get authentic burritos from a tour bus-turned-lunch wagon in downtown Honolulu.
Or at least you couldn’t until this summer, when former KTUH deejay Paul “Mano Lopez” Zarate, along with two cousins, converted a Roberts Hawai‘i tour bus — bought off Craigslist and took “a few dollars and a whole lot of elbow grease” — into Zaratez Mexicatessen.
At first, the unmarked bus set up shop at various locations in town, from a parking lot in Chinatown to the John A. Burns School of Medicine in Kaka‘ako. Some days you had to check Zaratez’s Twitter or Facebook accounts. It was word-of-salivating-mouth.
Not anymore.
After a theft to the wagon that put Zarate, 37, out of business for awhile, Zaratez got a new — and permanent — location on Mokihana Street, right off Kapahulu Avenue. So fans of his authentic homestyle burritos and tacos don’t have to wonder where they’ll get their next Mexican fix anymore.
“Had those events not happened,” he said, “it may have taken longer for me to see this come to fruition.”
Zaratez
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By Catherine Toth
Nonstop
Former radio deejay Paul Zarate converted a Roberts Hawaii tour bus he bought off Craigslist into a mobile taco truck. It can be found on Mokihana Street behind Genki Sushi on Kapahulu Avenue. And folks are finding it, including local chefs who come regularly, craving Zaratez’s authentic — and simple — fare.
Zaratez Mexicatessen, 3121 Mokihana St. off Kapahulu Ave. Hours: 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Phone: 808-227-1422. Facebook: www.facebook.com/zaratez. E-mail: zaratemexicatessen@gmail.com. Twitter: @zaratez.
