Estela's Fresh Mex — Iowa City

The family name behind a made-to-order lunch

Estela's began with Elsa de la Paz's catering work in 2001; the first restaurant followed in 2017. The name honours her mother, Estela. At the Iowa City address, 184 East Burlington Street, that family background meets a fast-casual format: choose the tortilla, filling, salsa and vegetables rather than ordering a fixed combination.

Tacos come three to an order. Homemade flour, soft corn and hard corn shells offer different textures before the filling even enters the picture. The kitchen makes its marinades and salsas and grills meat and vegetable choices to order. This is a good fit for diners who want to control the composition of lunch without turning it into a full table-service meal.

Breakfast and meals to share

The breakfast burritos extend beyond a standard eggs-and-cheese wrap. The Spicy adds chorizo and jalapeño; the Iowan combines chorizo, bacon, carnitas, potatoes and vegetables. The Buff includes pancake and maple syrup alongside eggs and bacon, a deliberately different sweet-and-savoury direction. For a group, the Hawk Box supplies twelve tacos with rice, beans, chips, dip, salsas and toppings. Mexican potatoes with pico and queso are a substantial side, not simply a garnish.

Two nearby addresses

• Iowa City: 184 East Burlington Street; 319-354-6264. Tuesday–Sunday, 9 a.m.–9 p.m.; closed Monday.
• Coralville: 3254 Crosspark Road, Suite 101; 319-626-2246. Published hours are 9 a.m.–8 p.m., closing at 4 p.m. Sunday.

Use the restaurant's ordering service to select the branch and the available fulfilment method. The Toast page reviewed for Iowa City was labelled pickup only; these general branch phones are not separately advertised delivery-dispatch numbers.

Choose a branch and place an order.