Meet Alexandra and Arturo Hernandez of El Elote in Sandy Springs

Today we’d like to introduce you to Alexandra and Arturo Hernandez.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Alexandra and Arturo. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
My husband, Arturo, and I have taken our passion for Mexican street corn and turned it into a business. We’re the proud parents of two children who work alongside us to help make El Elote a success.

It all started with a crazy idea to bring elotes to our small town of Sandy Springs. For years, visiting family in Mexico, our first stop was always the local elotero, and that passion needed to be shared. “We wanted to introduce something unexpected to our community that we knew they’d soon love.” The combination of mayonnaise, cojita cheese, and seasoning on a boiled ear of corn was foreign to most, but not to us. People from all over are driving miles to taste our amazing corn with its unique homemade seasonings and signature Mamacita sauce.

Besides our pop-up tent, we have become regulars at numerous events and festivals around town, including tailgating at Atlanta United soccer games, the Dia del los Muertos festival, artists markets, and block parties presented by the nonprofit Living Walls, an organization close to our hearts. We have big plans to expand our business and bring a passion for elote to more and more people across the South and beyond.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
We are true believers in not forcing things to happen. From the very beginning, things just fell into place. From finding the perfect location for our first pop-up four years ago to today, things have fallen into place for us.

Please tell us about El Elote.
It’s just corn! That’s our tagline and that’s what we do. We take a perfectly boiled ear of corn, slather it with mayonnaise, toss it in cojita cheese, and sprinkle one or all of our homemade seasonings on it. Our seasonings range from mild to spicy on the scoville scale. Chili lime is one of our most popular flavors and is considered a more mild seasoning. Then, we have Gringa, Smokey (made with chipotle peppers), and our spiciest Botox (made with chile de arbol). We also make a sauce called Mamacita. It’s a little sweet and little spicy, just like our moms… a little sweet and little spicy. We also make esquites. Esquites is corn off the cob served in a cup, AKA deconstructed Elote. The exception is we add a unique Mexican herb to it and cook it in chicken stock. We have to say that our esquites are our top seller.

We handpick every single ear of corn. I guess you can say we have become corn connoisseurs. The elotes have to be the perfect size. As far as the esquites, each ear of corn is cut off the cob and cooked to perfection. It’s important to make sure it has the right texture. We want people to bite into it and hear that crunch. We are seasonal because we refuse to use canned or frozen corn. That is definitely something that makes us stand out, our attention to detail when it comes to picking the right ear of corn.

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
That’s a great question… it’s important for us to bring the true elote experience to this area, which means introducing the authentic elote tricycle. So, we are excited and in the process of building and making the tricycle part of the experience.

Pricing:

• Elotes $4
• Esquites $4

Contact Info:

• Address: 6450 Roswell Road
  Sandy Springs, Georgia 30328
• Website: https://5e5490e5bb362.site123.me/
• Phone: 404-805-0278
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: @el.elote

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