Los Elotes Carlos Gastelo at the upper arcade in San Manuel. Photo by Nathaniel Lopez
Carlos Gastelo is the owner of Los Elotes, one of the newer businesses to appear in the Tri-Community. Los Elotes is a food stand that has been serving the area for a little over a year. Gastelo serves up multiple types of Elote (street corn) cups, Sonoran hotdogs, nachos and watermelon cups.
“I kind of did some self research, a lot of Google, a lot of time on the phone calling different people to see the proper steps to take,” said Gastelo.
Gastelo is originally from Phoenix, and has been in the Tri-Community for three years. His decision to make Los Elotes came from the Eloterros (street corn vendors) and Paleterros (ice cream vendors) of his youth.
“It’s something that I grew up with, personally, like the eloterro or paleterro coming through, ringing the bells or honking the horns, whatever they had. All the kids just coming out into the neighborhood like ‘hey dad can I get a dollar’, everybody meeting up, a good time in the neighborhood for the people. I moved out here and I didn’t really see any of that, so I thought dang, why not try to keep that alive,” he said.
Los Elotes is predominantly serving the Tri-Community, and occasionally going further into the Copper Corridor. His main focus is feeding the community, before branching out further. He will occasionally set up across from the Circle K in Oracle. Lately he has been doing Saturdays in San Manuel at the upper arcade. Eventually, Carlos would like to grow Los Elotes into a food truck. You can keep up to date with where Los Elotes is popping up by following them on Facebook. Be sure to stop by when you see him, and try out a Sonoran dog, or an elote cup.
“It’s not just street corn. It’s Los Elotes, built on flavor, tradition, and the love of street food.”