By Ruth Ann Ruiz
The Post Newspaper Features Editor
Mariachi musicians belted out their tunes in the small sidewalk space on the Seawall while the sun was setting. Mr. Taco on Seawall Blvd was celebrating a grand opening for their business expansion.
“We’ve been working on the expansion for a little more than a year and are very excited about our future,” said Raymundo Fuentes, owner of Mr. Taco. His business on the Seawall has been serving taqueria style food with recipes from his grandmother in Vera Cruz along with other recipes from various places in Mexico for about five years.
The expansion allows Mr. Taco to offer a larger dining room for in-house diners which will include an expanded menu and a full-service bar. In the short time since completion of the expansion, they have hosted one wedding in their larger event space.
Their grand opening celebration included a ribbon cutting. The red ribbon was sliced in two by Paco Vargas, owner of Galveston’s Rudy and Paco and there was a speech given by Dennis Byrd, owner of The Spot.
Fuentes worked at The Spot starting as a busboy and moving up to a supervisor position until his boss (Byrd) advised him to go learn more about running a restaurant from Paco Vargas. He worked as a busboy for one year at Rudy and Pacos while he was busy opening his own restaurant.
“After a year, Paco told me I needed to go learn more and he fired me and told me to go work for Landry’s, so I did,” said Fuentes. While working at Landry’s, Fuentes was able to grow in his understanding of keeping the costs down in restaurant operations.
Guests at the grand opening celebration were treated to their favorite beverage, appetizers, a dinner plate with empanadas made of tinga, tostadas de pastor and ceviche. While guests enjoyed their meal, the mariachis continued their entertainment.
Claudia Rivas, who was a big hit with the audience, jumped in to sing some favorites from south of the border such as “Volver Volver.”
But the question is, was the celebration really about the expansion or was it an engagement party?
Along with authentic food recipes, Mr. Taco also serves up refreshing beverages such as agua de pina or agua de jicama. Some customers come in just for pineapple and jicama drinks. In the case of one customer, her love of aqua de jicama led to something more.
Ina Rabacu came in for agua de jicama. Fuentes had his eye on her, but he wasn’t inclined to flirt with a customer. That is until a close friend nudged him to ask her out on a date. “We had been friends on social media for years but never really met, so I just sent her a message and asked her out,”
Her first response was a negative. “I already had plans for the time that he wanted to go out,” said Ina. Three hours later her plans were canceled, and she agreed to meet up with him.
Their first date was at Hugo’s in Houston, where they had tacos with the main ingredient being crickets (yes that is correct the bug, insect the little annoying ones that chirp). That’s what they enjoyed together on their first date.
His little girl, who was only three at the time, was included along with his entire family on their second date. The date was held at his parent’s home with carne asada as the main course. Ina and his daughter bonded instantly, and Raymundo knew he had found the one.
Galveston can say good-bye to one of its most eligible bachelorettes, Ina Rabucu. Also farewell to single dad, Raymundo Fuentes. After dating for 13 months, Raymundo asked Ina to be his bride and she said yes.
When is the wedding?
If you ask the future Mrs. Fuentes when the wedding will happen, she will respond with, “We are busy with so many events we haven’t had a chance to plan our wedding.”
But Mr. Fuentes is less worried about other events and is in the process of planning for possibly three weddings.
“Next month we will have a small wedding here in Galveston. Then we will have a big wedding in both Mexico and Moldova,” exclaimed Ray.
Ina is from Moldova and first came to Galveston while still in college. She fell in love with both the United States and Galveston. With her love of Galveston and the American lifestyle, she pursued applying for residency status in the US.
Raymundo first came to Galveston with his family on vacation. When he was 19, his family and he came to live in the US and chose Galveston as their home.
Though the two have lived in Galveston since arriving in the US, and have been friends on social media, they never ran into each other out in the community. It took her love of agua de jicama and his friend’s encouraging nudge to bring them together.
