Stephanie Velasquez and Nick Vera were so excited to open the first restaurant of their own after working for some of Houston’s top chefs for more than a decade. But just two weeks after Papalo Taqueria opened in downtown Houston in March, a county-wide shutdown order was announced. Instead of giving up their dream during the pandemic, Stephanie and Nick turned their gourmet tortillas and beautiful pastries into a wholesale business called Papalo Mercado. Each tortilla uses heirloom corn from Mexico and is ground by using a stone mill, then hand-rolled and hand pressed. Papalo Mercado also sells fresh pan dulce and other pastries, horchata, and salsa. You can check out Papalo Mercado and see where you c...