Sonia Vaca and her son Edwin Espinoza pose in front of an Anaconda Burrito sign at Taqueria Yarelis’ store at 6929 N. Willow Ave. in Fresno in 2019. Photo by Edward Smith
published on March 12, 2026 – 3:19 PM
Written by Frank Lopez
Fresno’s Taqueria Yarelis, which achieved viral fame for its giant Anaconda burrito, announced plans Thursday to open a third location at The Centrum shopping Center near River Park.
“We are thrilled and ready to serve our community in more parts of our beautiful Fresno,” they posted pm their Instagram page.
The family business is run by owner Edwin Espinoza and his father, mother and sister.
Taqueria Yarelis went viral in 2016 after uploading a video of their popular three-foot long Anaconda Burrito.
Espinoza said the new location at the northwest corner of Herndon and Nees avenues is scheduled to open on April 1.
The former Ramen Brothers restaurant space was an opportunity presented to the family about two years ago, Espinoza said. After negotiations with the shopping center owner, they decided to move forward.
“It’s not every day that a restaurant opens up in River Park. We see it as a good opportunity for us and the taqueria expansion,” Espinoza said.
He expects to have about 15 workers at the new location when it opens.
Since the space was a former restaurant, not much renovation was necessary, Espinoza said. The biggest investment was kitchen equipment, including flat grills, fryers and fridges.
Espinoza said the community is excited about the announcement of the upcoming location.
“It’s more than I expected to receive. There is so much love going around. We are grateful for a community that supports us and hopefully we keep doing our job right so they keep supporting us,” he said.
Concurrent with the opening of the new taqueria, Espinoza said they are also opening an adjacent coffee shop in the same shopping center called Santo Café.
Santo Café will offer Mexican-style coffees including a horchata latte, a vanilla cold foam coffee as well as European tastes including espresso shots.
They will also have a variety of pastries such as pan dulce, or Mexican sweet breads, and freshly baked cinnamon rolls, topped with quality strawberry jams.
Espinoza originally started selling food from a cart under the Highway 180 overpass, and after about six years of selling on the street, they moved into their first brick-and-mortar location.
Their first restaurant located at 429 N. Fresno St. opened in 2015, and in 2019 they opened their second location at 6929 N. Willow Ave., Suite 106.
Between the two restaurants, Taqueria Yarelis goes through more than 3,000 pounds of meat each week.
Along with the viral video, Taqueria Yarelis also garnered acclaim from public figures including Jimmy Fallon and websites such as Buzzfeed.
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