Tucked away on Columbia Road is the Fresco Cafe, an authentic Mexican restaurant and bakery.
The restaurant has been open for about a year and serves up tamales, quesadillas, sweet treats and more. The restaurant is the product of a partnership between Ralph Armstead and Miguel Cruz.
The two met in Atlanta, where Armstead was working in the film industry and Cruz worked in the ice cream truck business.
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“We became friends, and I started talking about the restaurant idea. I mentioned it to him and I never thought he would be interested,” Cruz said. “I have a business partner in ice cream trucks, and Ralph saw how hard I worked with that business. That’s what started it.”
Cruz said the nearest Mexican bakery is about an hour from Augusta, so it fills a need for this area.
On the topic of filling needs, Cruz began serving the community long ago. He used to help deliver free ice cream to low-income areas with the ice cream truck business, and that service has continued with Fresco Cafe.
The food truck side of Fresco visits sites where homeless people gather and feeds them for free.
“We actually started serving the homeless before we opened the doors on the restaurant,” Armstead said. “We go to the 13th and 15th street bridges to serve. Miguel and I both had a mind to take care of those who are less fortunate.”
Cruz said his staff will be visiting Garden City Rescue Mission on Christmas Eve.
The food truck aspect has been a boon during the time of COVID-19, as several sites in Augusta have supported the business in that way.
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“We do a ton of business with the base, Fort Gordon,” Cruz said.
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Armstead said they visit the new Amazon facility in Appling as well.
The cafe also held events like drive-in movie night throughout the year, but have paused that for now as the pandemic has worsened as of late.
Armstead and Cruz said it was hard starting the business in the midst of the pandemic, but the staff took as many precautions as possible to try to stay healthy.
“We took all of our employees to get the shot,” Cruz said. “We made sure we were all vaccinated and use our face masks.”
For new visitors, Cruz said tamales are the hot item right now with street tacos not far behind. Every item in the cafe is made from scratch.
“Even the taco shells and tortilla, we make here,” Cruz said. “People ask where we buy the shells. We don’t. We make the shells ourselves.”
Cruz said the bakery products like Danishes and croissants are also all made from scratch.
“We have the type of products you find in a real Mexican bakery,” Cruz said. “If you come try, you will see immediately what the difference is.”
Tyler Strong is the Business Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach him at tyler@theaugustapress.com
