Emily O’Connor brings a taste of Mexico to Fairfield

FAIRFIELD — A little taco shop on Fairfield’s North Second Street has taken off after less than two years in business.

Emily O’Connor opened “Taco Dreams” in the building now known as the Fairfield Food Collective, which houses her taco shop and other businesses such as Breadtopia. Since O’Connor opened Taco Dreams in November 2020, the Fairfield Food Collective has added seating both indoors and outdoors on a newly built patio.

O’Connor has undergone an expansion of her own. In addition to selling tacos five days a week for lunch, she also producers her own lines of salsa and flour tortillas, available at Everybody’s Whole Foods and soon, she hopes, at Hy-Vee.

In the few months after she opened the business, O’Connor had one employee, and she has since increased that to three. She cooks in one of the building’s six kitchens, and plans to move closer to the front of the building where the seating is in the near future.

O’Connor’s staple offerings are tacos, burritos and tamales, and lately she’s added burrito bowls and homemade drinks such as aguas frescas (fresh fruit water), and horchata with golden milk.

O’Connor said she’s thrilled to make her dream a reality of opening her own business, but she doesn’t want to rest on her accomplishments.

“I feel like I have room to grow,” she said. “I’d like to learn and refine my skills as a chef. From a business perspective, I’m happy that I’m making a profit and able to support my family. I have other concepts I would like to bring to life.”

O’Connor has worked in the restaurant industry for two decades. She grew up in Olympia, Washington, and has lived all over the country, including Maui, Los Angeles and New York City. She and her husband, Sean, moved to Fairfield in 2018, and shortly thereafter O’Connor helped to open the restaurant Big Schwilly’s Chicken Dillys in August of 2019.

The couple moved to Fairfield because Sean had attended Maharishi International University, and was already familiar with the town. They saw that the cost of living was lower than on the West Coast where they had been living, so decided to give this “eclectic” town a try.

After the COVID-19 pandemic put her out of a job in the spring of 2020, O’Connor began making taco kits at home and delivering them to people. She chose tacos because that’s the food she knows and likes best, especially since she’s had so much exposure to Mexico’s food culture. She’s been visiting the country regularly since she was a little girl, including a six-month stint in college.

O’Connor prepared taco kits once a week, on Friday nights, and was surprised at how many orders were coming in. Before long, she was maxing out the electricity in her house, and realized she needed a commercial kitchen. That’s when she got in touch with Galen and Liza Saturley of the Fairfield Food Collective.

O’Connor said she hopes the meals she prepares are nutritious, and that her customers feel good after eating them. That’s why she tries to use as many organic ingredients as possible.

“I want my food to be clean and energizing,” she said.

Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com