CASSELTON, N.D. — If not for the vigilance of a night-owl restaurant owner who was willing to answer a call after 10 p.m. from an unknown number, El Valle Taco Shop might have never found a home in Casselton.
Elana Iverson just happened to be driving by the city’s Governors’ Inn right off the interstate when she noticed a sign that said the adjoining restaurant was available for lease.
On a whim, she called the number on the sign.
It was 10:26 p.m., so she expected her call to go to voicemail.
Instead, a man answered. He was the owner, who had run the space as a Country Kitchen before COVID and staffing shortages prompted him to shut down.
“We got to talking and we worked out a deal, and here we are,” she says.
Maria Vazquez slices jalapeños for a California Burrito cooked “Maria’s Way” on Monday, Nov. 17, 2025, at El Valle Taco Shop in Casselton.
Chris Flynn / The Forum
Since April 1, Iverson and her aunt/business partner, Maria Vazquez, have built up their fast-casual restaurant by offering Mexican favorites with a California twist.
She describes Cali-Mex as a lighter, fresher take on the Tex-Mex-style more common to this area. Cali-Mex folds in more fresh vegetables and seafood.
“Everything’s fresh,” she says. “If you walk into our pantry, the only stuff in there is raw ingredients or bagged tomatoes, because it would take too many tomatoes to make our salsa thicker.”
El Valle’s meat is sliced in house, the pico de gallo and salsa are made from scratch and the lettuce is chopped fresh for each order.
Sauces are added with a lighter touch. “We use sour cream but it’s not like everything is covered in sour cream,” Iverson says.
Two cooks from a non-cooking family
The menu was influenced by the Cali-Mex Iverson ate while growing up in San Diego, although Vazquez, who grew up in Mexico, introduced some of her authentic favorites too.
The irony is that their mothers didn’t like to cook. “Me and Maria just have a knack for it,” Iverson says.
Iverson learned her way around the kitchen by trial-and-error. “I just started throwing stuff in a pot and it just started happening,” she says.
She also learned how to analyze a dish to see what ingredients were used and whether it needed more of a certain spice.
Both women did catering out of their homes and Iverson worked in a couple of restaurants, where her discerning palate came in handy. “One of my old bosses would ask what’s missing, and he would give me a spoonful of, say, red sauce, and I’d be like, ’Oh, oregano.’”
Her California upbringing also exposed her to the best in that region’s take on Mexican cuisine. She recalls sneaking out of class in high school to run across the street to the taco shop for her usual burrito and carne asada fries, a Cali-Mex staple topped with carne asada (grilled, sliced beef), cheese, guacamole, sour cream and salsa.
Three popular items from Valle Taco Shop in Casselton, N.D., include (from left): a California Burrito, done “Maria’s Way,” a Maxima Fajita Platter and Asada Fries.
Chris Flynn / The Forum
But her dream of opening a restaurant didn’t really jell until she moved to North Dakota. Now a married mom of two living in Lidgerwood, N.D., she and Vazquez initially teamed up with business partners to open their first restaurant in Valley City. They named it “El Valle,” in honor of that city’s terrain.
They were warmly received by the community in their six months of operation. “Unfortunately, things didn’t work out in Valley City with the building. So then we were gonna shut down. And I just wanted to see what the market rate for rent was all around. So I happened to call this billboard up front here,” she recalls.
That sparked the conversation that helped the women find a new building in a new “El Valle,” except this time it was the Red River Valley.
Which is good, because Iverson recognizes the importance of name recognition and consistent branding. “It would be really hard to change the name by now,” she says.
When they opened in Suite B of 2050 Governor’s Drive on April 1, Mother Nature sprang her own April Fool’s joke on them with a snowstorm.
El Valle Taco Shop, pictured on Monday, Nov. 17, 2025, is located in the adjoining Governors’ Event Center of the Governors’ Inn in Casselton.
Chris Flynn / The Forum
It didn’t matter.
“I think Casselton did step up right away,” she says. “It was a blizzard and they still poured in.”
Customers traveling from Fargo
The partners not only operate the 80-seat restaurant, but the attached 80-seat bar as well. The latter stays open until 10 p.m., the same closing-time as the restaurant.
As Casselton is largely a city of Fargo commuters, she says they get plenty of people who stop for takeout or to eat in while returning from work. They also get a fair share of interstate travelers.
“We do because of our Google ratings. We’ve been working on those for a little while,” Iverson says. “And people say, ‘Oh your food looks really good.’ And some people just don’t want to deal with Fargo traffic, so it’s convenient for them too.”
Russell Sagvold and his father, Randy Sagvold, dine in at El Valle Taco Shop on Monday, Nov. 17, 2025, in Casselton on their way to Fort Ransom.
Chris Flynn / The Forum
Several businesses in town, including Titan Machinery, have helped them out by ordering lunch meals for working meetings. They also cater for parties and special events.
And diners have started to travel to El Valle from Fargo, even though North Dakota’s largest city is
home to over two dozen Mexican restaurants, taco shops and food trucks.
Iverson guesses the positive reviews and different entrees have been the draw. Her beloved Asada Fries have made it on the menu. The Cali-Mex-by-way-of-Casselton version is topped with cheese, sour cream, guacamole, salsa and choice of steak, chicken, shredded pork or shrimp.
Another favorite is the California burrito, which is packed with steak, French fries or diced potatoes, cheese and guacamole. Folks can opt to order it “Maria’s way,” which means queso sauce and pickled jalapenos are also added, Iverson says.
An El Valle Taco Shop California Burrito made “Maria’s Way” by cook Maria Vazquez on Monday, Nov. 17, 2025, in Casselton.
Chris Flynn / The Forum
Those seeking lighter fare seem to prefer the Governor’s Tacos, which are filled with shrimp, bell peppers, onions and cheese, then served with lettuce and a special sauce.
For serious carnivores, Maria’s husband, Manuel, has contributed to the menu with the Maxima, which gives customers the option to amp up their protein intake with a medley of six different meats: steak, chicken, bacon, ham, chorizo and pork.
Iverson knows that some North Dakotans want their food blandinavian-style, so she’s made sure their food isn’t too spicy. But for those who prefer a five-alarm meal, there’s a salsa bar with hot sauces representing all levels of the Scoville scale.
Iverson hopes they will continue to grow their customer base with their food as well as their family atmosphere.
“We really like to be friendly. We really like to interact with our customers and get to know everybody,” she says.
Most items fall in the $11.50 to $15.50 price range while most kids’ dinners cost $8.95.
Restaurant hours are 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday-Thursday and 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
Contact El Valle Taco Shop on Facebook or by calling 701-490-3460.
Dining and Cooking