As the front door of Olmo Market opens, a bell rings.
“What is this?” asks a man entering the store.
Armando Puente stands behind a blue counter with a smile, and says: “This is Olmo. We are a locally sourced grocery store that my wife and I started.”
Puente’s wife, Cindy Pedraza, started dreaming about the groceraunt years ago. She imagined a shop that sold supplemental groceries, home goods and grab-and-go meal options with a small food menu to boot, right in the heart of Elmwood.
Pedraza has had visions of opening a business before: In 2009, she started talking about opening a chocolate shop in Oak Cliff. Puente says that at the time, he just knew “what Oak Cliff used to be,” and he told Pedraza “good luck with that.”
That chocolate shop turned out to be CocoAndré Chocolatier, which is regarded as one of the best chocolate shops in North Texas 14 years later.
“Now I just go with whatever she says,” Puente says.
And that is how Puente became the front man of Olmo Market, managing the day-to-day operations and welcoming customers into the store.
Olmo stocks items you would see in a regular store — cheeses, cured meats, dish soap — but seating at the front of the store invites customers to stick around for a meal in addition to their shopping experience.
Executive chef Paul Hernandez is responsible for Olmo’s ever-changing menu. He calls himself a self-taught chef who “learned to cook out of necessity.”
“It’s just always been one of those things, if you knew me you knew I know how to cook,” Hernandez says.
Hernandez used to work in the music industry, but during the pandemic he traveled between Austin, San Antonio, Fort Worth and Dallas hosting street taco pop ups. Street tacos — a staple of the Olmo menu — are Hernandez’s flagship dish.
Fresh salsas, queso fresco, chili sauces and guacamole make the dishes on Olmo’s menu sing. Hernandez makes it all from scratch, assessing what is needed for the day each morning.
Hernandez’s dishes reflect traditional Mexican flavors and foundations, but what Hernandez has become known for is his plant-based options. He has bounced between vegan and vegetarian status for years, and Olmo’s menu is packed with plant-based proteins.
Seitan asada — a gluten-based protein that Hernandez makes from scratch over a two-day process — and soy-based chicken tinga are the backbone of the tacos, burritos, tostadas and smothered fries sold at Olmo.
“I’m trying to create something new, and plant-based just happens to be where I landed with it,” Hernandez says.
“For the most part,” the menu stays plant-based, but some dishes are vegetarian and utilize eggs or cheese.
Ironically, when asked about the early days of his cooking career, Hernandez says he was “raised in a barbecue restaurant.”
Hernandez reevaluates the menu at Olmo on a weekly basis, depending on what produce and special ingredients he is able to get his hands on. When a vendor dropped off 400 pounds of Brussels sprouts several weeks ago, Hernandez turned them into tacos.
“I get weird with my stuff, too. It’s not always straightforward street tacos,” Hernandez says.
Hernandez was introduced to Pedraza through a mutual friend. That friend had listened to Hernandez’s dream of opening a small menu shop and had also listened to Pedraza’s goal of finding a chef to fill out her space.
When the two finally got together, they realized their idea for a community-driven, fresh-ingredient-based food concept was nearly identical.
Additionally, Hernandez’s cooking directly mirrored the flavors and concepts Pedraza had initially been inspired by when she had begun thinking about what the store would be.
“I just really loved the way that he was cooking. It reminded me a lot of Mexico City,” Pedraza says.
While Olmo has only been open for a few months, Pedraza says she has quickly figured out “what works and what doesn’t.”
Highlighting goods from local- or women-owned businesses is a priority, she says.
“It took me seven or eight years to get (my chocolate) into Whole Foods or Central Market, so to be able to give somebody that feeling of them dropping off the order and seeing the order on the shelves, I think it’s a great feeling,” Pedraza says.
Pedraza says she hopes Olmo will become a “shared space” for the community and that the wide range of products and food mean there is something for everyone.
“If you see the sign on the door, it says ‘We belong together,’” Pedraza says. “For me, that’s just what this space is supposed to be.”
