A fresh Mexican experience

Potrillos Taqueria y Neveria expected to open in late July

Potrillos Taqueria y Neveria, a new business coming to Farragut, will be bringing a fresh experience in Mexican cuisine to Town.

The restaurant is expected to open in late July at 11151 Kingston Pike, Sergio Villasenor, co-owner and restaurant manager, said.

Villasenor has partnered with Farragut’s El Mezcal Mexican Restaurant owners, Arturo Leon, Gabino Ruvio and Eugenio Gomez, to open Potrillos Taqueria y Neveria. The owners had their sons, to whom they refer as “young colts,” in mind when they came up with the name of the business, Villasenor said.

Potrillos, in English, translates to “young horses” while taqueria translates to tacos and neveria translates to ice cream, he said.

“We started with the idea a couple months ago,” Villasenor said. “I brought this idea to them and they loved it.”

He had worked with his uncle, who owns a similar type of restaurant in Springfield. Villasenor said the partners and he chose Farragut because Kingston Pike is a good area for business.

“All the requirements the Town has given the community a better service, so we are pleased to be a part of the Farragut businesses,” Villasenor said.

While he and El Mezcal are partners in the new venture, Potrillos Taqueria y Neveria customers will not find the same dishes as El Mezcal or other restaurants.

“It’s like the food we eat at home,” Villasenor said. “Besides that, we will be serving ice cream and popsicles, Mexican style.

“This ice cream is totally natural ingredients. It is flavored with natural fruit and cream. We don’t use any preservatives, Monosodi-um glutamate or genetically modified organisms at all.”

Customers will find a lot of fruit on the menu, from fruit waters — aquas frescas — to such dishes as bionicos de fruita, a combination of fruits; cantaloupes, strawberries, bananas, apples, with granola, sour cream, vanilla and condensed and evaporated milks.

“It could be dessert, but it is healthy food,” Villasenor said. Customers also will find unique blends of fruits and chilies.

“We prepare a special sweet and sour sauce with chili and tamarindo [tamarind] that makes a spicy, sweet flavor to the fruit,” he said. “This is a new concept.”

The restaurant also will serve non-fruit dishes, such as maniacos, which means “crazy” in Spanish. Villasenor said the dish involves layers of Doritos chips, curios [pork skins cooked with vinegar], chopped cabbage, sour cream and chilies.

The restaurant also will serve tacos, but he said these are not “normal” tacos.

“These are tacos made in different ways. They are not normally found in Mexican restaurants,” Villasenor said.