Founder of legendary taco shop dies. The tacos are among ‘best’ dishes in California

Benito Arenas, who founded the legendary Fresno restaurant La Elegante nearly four decades ago, died Sunday at age 88.

Arenas had been part of Fresno’s food scene since the 1980s, when he and his family began serving asada and adobada tacos first from a taco truck and then at a brick-and-mortar location in the heart of Fresno’s Chinatown.

“Clients called him Don Benito all the time, and many people remember him because he always wore his white button-down shirt with rolled-up sleeves,” Abel Arenas, Benito Arenas’ second-oldest son, said in Spanish. “He is always remembered for that.”

Born in Barranca de Santa Clara in the Mexican state of Jalisco, Arenas was proudly Mexican.

“All the time, he told us we were Barranqueños so we wouldn’t forget where our blood and culture came from,” Abel Arenas said.

Before Arenas founded La Elegante, he worked as a farmworker picking limes in Mexico and then spent about 30 years as a furniture painter in Los Angeles. But he lost his job when the furniture company changed ownership.

A family member living in Fresno reached out and invited the Arenas family to move to the Central Valley. So Arenas, his wife, Celia, and their seven children — Alejandra, Abelardo, Adolfo, Adriana, Analia, Aide and Andreina — moved to Fresno in 1984.

“We really did not know what we were going to do before (opening La Elegante),” Abel Arenas said. “But the curious thing was we bought a set of knives without knowing.”

They soon opened the first La Elegante food truck near the Pick-A-Part, located southeast of downtown Fresno.

People loved the Arenas’ tacos.

“In a year, I believe he (Benito Arenas) earned more than everything he had made there (Los Angeles and Tijuana) in all his 30 years working,” Abel Arenas said.

Nearly a decade later, in 1993, La Elegante’s popularity propelled Arenas to expand his business from a food truck to his first location in downtown Fresno.

Arenas’ children got involved with La Elegante and the business has been entirely family-run ever since then. Beyond the seven siblings, two sisters-in-law also help Celia Arenas run the family’s lonchera, or small, usually family-run Mexican restaurant.

La Elegante — like other loncheras and taquerías, or businesses that sell tacos — became a community staple, a place to grab family meals, friendly gatherings or a fresh batch of local chisme. Its fame also spread beyond Fresno: The Food Network listed La Elegante’s adobada (chile-braised pork) taco as one of the best things to eat in California in 2016.

The restaurant’s success underscored how far Benito Arenas had come since he picked limes in Mexico.

Abel Arenas recalled that his father, while working on his immigration paperwork decades ago, wrote on his application that he sold tacos as a profession. Benito Arenas thought it looked better than saying he was a farmworker, Abel Arenas said.

“Fijate, lo chistoso y la ironía de la vida,” Abel Arenas said. Look how funny and ironic life is.

“He ended up selling tacos for over thirty years,” Abel Arenas added.

Yet even in the best of times, hardships have a way of filtering through. About nine years ago Benito Arenas suffered a stroke and his health deteriorated since then, Abel Arenas said. He slowly started to walk less and spend more time in bed. It was sickness that degenerated him.

“Poco a poco, se fue acabando,” Abel Arenas said. Slowly his life was ending.

On Tuesday, just a few days after his father’s death, Abel Arenas remembered Benito Arenas emotionally.

“He loved mariachi, he loved mariachi a lot and Jorge Negrete’s music,” Abel Arenas said.

La Elegante will continue doing what they do best and remembering Don Benito, Abel Arenas said. He said he and his family are extremely thankful for their family and friends, loyal customers and Fresno’s community.

Benito Arenas is survived by his wife, Celia, their seven children and fourteen grandchildren.