KC’s Yoli Tortilleria brings home the very first James Beard Award for Outstanding Bakery. What comes next?

Marissa Gencarelli accepts the first ever James Beard Award for outstanding bakery. // Photo courtesy of Jeff Schear

Kansas City’s special spot for tortillas isn’t a secret anymore. The national spotlight is shining on Yoli Tortilleria after it recently took the first-ever outstanding bakery award from the James Beard Foundation. The foundation just introduced the category this year.

[Editor’s note: As we’ve been including Yoli in our Best Of round-up each year since it opened, we couldn’t be more thrilled to see them representing us on the national stage.]

All the judging and voting is secret, and co-owner Marissa Gencarelli doesn’t even know who nominated them in the first place. When she attended the awards ceremony as a finalist, she definitely did not expect to win.

While waiting through the long ceremony, she had loosened her fancy shoes, and her husband—and Yoli Tortilleria co-owner—Mark Gencarelli had been loosening up his tie. Then, they heard Yoli’s name being called.

“We looked at each other, and we were just like, ‘Did we hear it right?’ … Everybody around us were yelling and screaming and clapping, and saying, ‘Get up, get up!’ I’m like, ‘Let me put my shoes on.’ We were honestly in shock,” Marissa says. “We were sitting way up high. I was worried—is it going to be like the Oscars, and they start playing the music?”

Now that the initial shock has worn off, Marissa says that the award truly means a lot in terms of respect for what they do at Yoli.

“A tortilla is something that is just seen as an everyday, mundane thing. And I know that’s the same thing for bread, but somehow in our culture, bread has always been more elevated,” she says. “… Being an immigrant food, sometimes it’s seen as something that should not cost anything. People don’t take the time to appreciate it. We talk about what’s in the taco but not what it’s wrapped in.”

She’s heard from many other tortillerias that have sent congratulations on their win.

“It’s a signal to chefs of the perception of a tortilla. For all of them, it was just a big, huge pat on the back,” she says.

Marissa credits a lot of the quality of Yoli’s tortillas to sourcing good, local ingredients and combining that with traditional Mexican methods. 

She says that many people think the only way to make an authentic tortilla is to use Mexican corn, but in Marissa’s view, that’s a mistake. By shipping it in from so far away, the corn can lose its flavor.

“We’re working with farmers here to get the best corn possible just around us. For me, that’s the   true meaning of a sustainable tortilla. I think you can taste that,” she says. “We don’t cut any corners. It is time-consuming to do all this work. We don’t put in any preservatives. It’s a pain in the buns to have this product out there, because we have to make sure it is as fresh as possible, … but I think it’s worth it.”

It’s all a long way away from where she started. About 10 years ago, she, Mark and their son were visiting family back in Mexico after a long time away, and after returning to Kansas City, Marissa really missed the tastes of home. To help, an aunt gave her a binder full of family recipes.

“That would be my challenge after a really long day at work, corporate, behind a desk. That would be my escape. I had never cooked before in my life, other than your typical ramen noodles,” she says.

Along the way, she noticed she couldn’t find a good tortilla like the ones she had back in Mexico. She started experimenting, and that turned into selling tortillas at a farmer’s market stall. Almost immediately, a local chef hired them to provide tortillas seven days a week.

She’s still trying new recipes, and each time she mixes in a new variety of corn, she has to tweak the formula a little.

Mark and Marissa Gencarelli walk up to the stage at the James Beard Awards to receive their prize. // Photo courtesy of Jeff Schear

“When you’re handling these different varieties, your ratios change. And literally, you will only learn that once you’re actually mixing,” she says.

Marissa estimates they get through 15,000 pounds of corn every week. Some varieties are starchier or have different fat contents. 

They’ve been partnering with the University of Missouri’s College of Agriculture to find new varieties that can work for Yoli’s products. At Yoli, they’ll test different varieties of corn from Mexico that the university sends them but also make suggestions on varieties that the university can grow on its test farm and see if it’s adaptable to this area.

If all this has your mouth watering for tortillas, you can pick some up at Yoli’s retail location, 1668 Jefferson St., visit them at the Overland Park Farmers’ Market or sample some at local restaurants such as Chicken N Pickle or Tiki Taco.