Phoenix taco shop owner hopes to ‘come back stronger’ after devastating fire

When Felipe Guzman got a phone call around 4 a.m. on Sept. 27 from a number he didn’t know, he did what most of us would do – he didn’t answer. He also looked up the phone number. When he saw it was the Phoenix Fire Department, he quickly called back.

The fire crew didn’t mince words with the owner of La Santisima Gourmet Taco Shop: “There’s a fire at the restaurant, and it’s very significant and you need to come,” Guzman recalled.

He woke up his son Joshua and they drove to the Phoenix restaurant. When they got close, Guzman had to pull over as the fire department had shut down 16th Street. He could see the restaurant’s large wooden door was damaged, possibly from the responders working to quickly get into the building to put out the blaze. 

When firefighters took Guzman through the back door to survey the damage, he saw the kitchen had been reduced to rubble and ash.

“It was completely burned, everything,” Guzman said.

Guzman and his wife Cristina Meillon de Guzman founded La Santisima in 2010, originally opening on 16th Street off of Palm Lane. The taqueria is renowned for its street tacos, which have even caught the attention of Guy Fieri. The celebrity chef’s popular road-tripping Food Network Show, “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives,” made a stop to check out the restaurant’s Chile en Nogada and Oaxacan black mole tacos, along with its expansive salsa bar (airing in Episode 8 of Season 22).

Over the years, La Santisima grew to three locations, including one in Flagstaff. By late 2022, that location and a Glendale outpost had closed. La Santisima opened at its current Phoenix location on the northeast corner of 16th Street and Indian School Road in the same year.

Fieri got a second helping of the Guzmans’ cooking for an episode of “Triple D Nation” that aired in August, trying a deep-fried quesadilla with pink mole and tamarindo mahi mahi tacos.

That kind of exposure is something restaurants usually get to revel in. After the fire, the Guzmans have spent the last few days trying to process what’s happened while figuring out how to rebuild and take care of their 18 employees.

The fire was reported just after 2 a.m., and nobody was injured. Investigators are still looking into the cause of the blaze, but Guzman said the firefighters on the scene believed a prep refrigerator may have been the source. Guzman is awaiting more information about the full extent of the damage to the building.

“The kitchen is just completely gone, all the equipment and everything. It’s really bad,” he said.

How to help La Santisima

Guzman has set up a GoFundMe campaign, asking people to help support the family’s efforts to bring La Santisima back.

“I’m not giving up. I’m rising from the ashes. I have to do it, I have to come back,” he said, adding he feels odd not being in the restaurant. “It was my home there. Also, my employees, you know, I worry for them.”

So far, the fundraising campaign has raised just over $1,100. Valley chefs, including Silvana Salcido Esparza and Chris Bianco, have shared the campaign online. Support from those in the industry, as well as customers and neighbors, gave Guzman “the faith to move forward,” he said.

“That keeps me moving to say, ‘I’m not giving up,” he added. “I have to do it. I will come back and will come back stronger.”

La Santisima Gourmet Taco Shop

4117 N. 16th St.