In 1957, Detroit didn’t know tacos. It didn’t know enchiladas. And it certainly didn’t know the flavor of cumin and garlic drifting from a small Mexican storefront on Bagley Street.
But one ambitious young woman was about to change that.
“I was very anxious to start my own restaurant, my own ideas, and to see it prosper,” recalls Concha Azofeifa, the founder of Detroit’s oldest Mexican restaurant, Mexican Village. Her parents had migrated from Monterrey, Mexico, opening La Michoacana, Detroit’s first tortilla factory. Concha took that foundation of hard work and family recipes and poured it into her dream: a 70-seat restaurant that would one day grow to span nearly an entire block and serve hundreds each night.
The beginning was humble. Tortillas and tamales were made by hand. Customers came curious—and walked away hooked. “At that time, Mexican food wasn’t popular,” Concha explains. “A lot of people didn’t even know what it was. No one had ever heard of a fajita. But they got to sample it, and they enjoyed it.”
As the years went on, Mexican Village became part of Detroit’s fabric. Police officers dropped in for coffee. Mayor Coleman Young dined there. Tigers and Pistons players came through. Couples returned decades later to sit at the same table where they once got engaged. “The reason we’ve been successful is because we’ve remained consistent with our product and authentic with our flavors,” Concha says.
Today, metro Detroit has dozens of Mexican restaurants, but the Azofeifa family still hears from longtime patrons who say their very first taco, even their very first taste of salsa, was at Mexican Village.
Ask Concha to name one dish that defines Mexican Village, and she smiles: the Village Combination Plate. Corn and flour tacos, an enchilada, a tostada, and flautas—the sampler that taught Detroit to love Mexican food. And the aromas? They still stop people in their tracks. “When they’re cooking the beef, you can smell the cumin, the onion, the garlic—even from the parking lot,” she says.
At nearly 91, Concha looks back with gratitude. “I will never forget my small beginnings, and how God blessed us with very good employees—" (she makes a point to mention Severo, who’s been with Mexican Village for more than fifty years) "—and great customers that keep coming after so many years.”
What fills her with the most pride? The answer is simple. “To see a full restaurant. And the people going out happy.”
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By 1980, Concha was dreaming bigger. A second Mexican Village opened in Utica (today Shelby Township), and with it came a new chapter of family leadership.
That’s when her daughter Nancy began her reluctant leap into management. She was studying sociology and psychology when her mother told her she’d be running the Shelby restaurant. “I said, ‘What? I have no clue what I’m doing.’ But my mom said, ‘You can do it.’”
Nancy knew the basics from working at the restaurant as a teenager; the rest she learned through trial and error, with guidance from longtime managers and a trusted CPA. “I did feel obligated, because I knew how important the business was to my mom,” she admits. “But over the years, I began to love it: the employees, the customers, the families.”
Today, Nancy runs the Shelby Township restaurant with her nephew, son, and other family members, alongside a loyal staff—some with thirty years of service. “Whoever comes in the door, whether a dishwasher or a cook, becomes part of our family,” Nancy says. “We’ve gone to weddings, funerals, so many other events…we’ve really become a family at this location.”
And just like the food, the traditions have endured. “Customers tell me, ‘I used to come here as a little kid with my parents, and now I bring my children,’ she recounts. “To me, that’s what it’s all about: we’re serving generations of families.”
The Shelby menu reflects that mix of heritage and adaptation. Nancy hears customers rave about their handmade margaritas (“They’re made with love—that’s why they’re so good,” she says). Also unique to the Shelby location: carne asada tacos with sautéed jalapeños and guacamole, seafood enchiladas, the burrazo—tender chunks of beef and refried beans in rich brown gravy, topped with melted cheese—and monthly specials, like sopas, or steak and chorizo tacos. “Detroit is very traditional. Here, we’ve adapted,” Nancy explains. “We listen to our customers. That’s how we’ve endured for 45 years: we make changes where we need to, but we stay true to who we are.”
At home, Nancy insists on family dinners with no devices, just conversation. It’s the spirit she wishes she saw more often in the restaurant. “It’s almost like a lost art, families sitting down without phones,” she laments. “We still do family dinners, no devices, just talking and sharing ideas. That’s what I miss most in the restaurant: seeing people connect.”
For Nancy, the heart of the work is clear. “My mom’s goal was to have this second location so it would be a blessing not just to us, but to our children,” she reflects. Now, she hopes her son Christian and nephew Miguel will carry the name into the future, and that the next generation will inherit not just recipes, but a philosophy of food as family. “If they carry that forward,” she says, “the Village will always endure.”
And when I ask Nancy what she’s most proud of, she doesn’t hesitate. “For me, it stopped being about just running a business,” she says. “It became about being part of people’s lives: our employees, our customers, our families.”
Macomb County’s Mexican Village (mexicanvillageutica.com) is at 47350 Van Dyke in Shelby Township
“At the time, Mexican food wasn’t popular…a lot of people didn’t even know what it was."