A family's love of corn drives popular street food business in Denver
Maize, or corn, is revered in Mexican culture. And for one Colorado family, corn prepared as "elote" is a passion they share with the community.
The popular treat consists of a sweet ear of roasted corn topped with mayo, cheese, chili powder and special sauces. For some Denver locals, the family's food cart has become a favorite stop.
CBS Colorado was treated to delicious elote during a visit to Moreno's Corn cart in Southwest Denver.
"We come over that hill like, 'Is there a tent? Yes! They're over there.' So we stop whenever they have their tent up," said a visitor who delights whenever the Moreno family has set up their business in a parking lot near the intersection of West Mississippi Avenue and Tejon Street.
That type of customer reaction is a dream come true for businessman Jose Moreno. He associates corn with joy.
"My family and me, we love the corn," said Moreno. "Since you are a child, when you try the corn, you love it."
His family's committed to making every order a special treat for customers. He added, "We try to do the best of us. Offer to the public our recipe, our flavors, everything so the people enjoy it."
Moreno's love for this food is contagious. It makes a late summer or early fall night extra special with a stop on West Mississippi, to taste Moreno's elote or the version served in a cup, esquite, made exceptional with special sauces.
"It's just a unique taste, you're just like 'Wow, this all makes sense together, '" said Moreno's daughter, Melissa Moreno.
"Usually, I come almost every day. It's good, it's really good," said a regular customer.
Customer Malik Rashid said, "So they use this homemade hot sauce that they make, and that's really what makes it good as well. And they're just wonderful people, they're really good people, so we like supporting them."
The Moreno family rallied to support their dad's dream of connecting with the community through time honored recipes.
"We try to be a family with everyone coming here," said Jose Moreno.
"Elote mejicano, asado, hervido!" a server announces on the microphone to lure more customers to try the signature Mexican corn. And they are grateful to see customers love their food.
"It's very heartwarming that they choose to come to us and to buy something that they want to treat themselves with," said Melissa Moreno.
"Come try it, gotta try it," concluded the daily visitor.
You can follow Moreno's Corn. on Facebook.
