HOWLAND — Mark Canzonetta can look out the window of his next restaurant and see where his career as a restaurateur started.

Canzonetta, 56, was in his mid-20s when he opened Pesto’s in Howland Plaza in 1990 and ran the business until it closed in 1998.

Since then, he’s worked for celebrity chef and Food Network host Guy Fieri, created the concept for Aqua Pazzo Restaurant in Boardman, and he continues to operate Bistro 1907 in downtown Youngstown, which he opened in 2018.

Wahaka Taco, which opens Tuesday at 132 Niles-Cortland Road NE, couldn’t be more different from those restaurants. While Aqua Pazzo and Bistro 1907 are large, dine-in spaces that would be included on any list of the Valley’s best fine dining restaurants, Wahaka is designed as a fast casual restaurant where the majority of the orders will be for takeout.

“I made my bones in the Mahoning Valley,” the Warren Western Reserve High School graduate said. “It was time to come home. I wanted to do something here in Howland, and finally an opportunity came up.”

The concept is inspired by nearly 40 years of traveling to Mexico and studying and enjoying its cuisine. He’s using authentic Mexican ingredients and even all the soft drinks are from south of the border. The slushies are made with different flavors of Jarritos, a popular Mexican soda pop, and Canzonetta has applied for a liquor license with plans to sell adult slushies and margaritas.

“I wanted to bring what I feel is more of an authentic taste of Mexico,” Canzonetta said. “I feel what we have around here, and this is nothing against (other area businesses), is Americanized gringo Mexican. I want you to taste the real flavors, the real marinades that are on achiote chicken or carne asada. I want you to taste the herbs and spices and love that goes into all those things. I want this to taste like your abuela, your grandmother, is in the back cooking the food.”

However, if not for the COVID-19 pandemic, both the restaurant’s concept and its location would have been different. Canzonetta originally planned to open Wahaka Taco in downtown Youngstown’s Gallagher building on North Hazel Street, former home of Cedars Lounge.

“It would have been a big Mark Canzonetta restaurant — 200 seats, huge outdoor patio and bar,” he said. “The business plan was together and everything was on. Then COVID hit.”

During the pandemic, when Canzonetta heard that the Sunrise Inn Express that previously occupied the Howland building was closing, he inquired on its availability and signed a lease.

He streamlined his original menu plan to focus on dishes that he thought would work best in a carry-out setting. The building was gutted with the idea of making it look like a roadside Mexican truck stop. Unexpected problems with the building turned what was envisioned as a three-month renovation into one that took nine-and-a-half months.

There is countertop seating inside for those who want to eat there, and Canzonetta added an outdoor patio that he expects will be a popular destination during warmer months for diners or an after-school hangout for students at nearby Howland High School.

Canzonetta even had Howland’s mascot, a tiger, incorporated into the one of the murals that adorns the walls.

In retrospect, he’s glad the coronavirus interrupted his original plan when it did. While being part of the Doubletree Hotel helps Bistro 1907, he doesn’t believe there are enough people working in downtown Youngstown to support that business plan today, and staffing a restaurant that size would be difficult.

Bistro 1907 was created with 80 to 90 employees in mind. Staffing issues continue in the service industry, and Canzonetta is operating that restaurant with about 60 employees.

Wahaka only requires a 30-person staff, and customers will be able to place orders online, using a touch screen inside the restaurant or by placing an order face to face.

Twenty-five years after Pesto’s closed, Canzonetta said people still ask him to make Cajun chicken alfredo, tortellini with tomato-basil cream sauce or one of its other signature dishes.

When asked what advice 2023 Canzonetta would have given his younger self, he said, “Dumb a-, pay attention to the books. I wasn’t a businessman when I opened up Pesto’s. I was the farthest thing from that. The Culinary Institute of America taught me to be arrogant, egotistical, the best chef you can be at all costs, and that’s what I tried to do … I didn’t know the first thing about being a businessman. That young chef learned the hard way and it took me a long time to pay off my sins, my mistakes at Pesto’s.

“But it was valued knowledge. If I did it again, I would have tacked on two years of business school before I became a chef. You can’t just be a chef today. You have to be a businessman. It’s all dollars and cents, and every penny counts. All of us are fighting for the same guests. Everyone’s fighting for the same dollar, so you have to protect every dollar you invest. Nothing gets wasted.”

Thinking like a businessman has Canzonetta already thinking of ways to expand the Wahaka brand. That includes trademarking its motto, “Eat more tacos.” He’s also started scouting locations in Poland and Canfield for a second restaurant.

“I wanted to create a brand I could put in multiple cities. This was built from day one to be a franchise, from the legal team to the accounting team to the design team to the PR team. Everything we’ve done is to prepare for a second, third and hopefully more locations after that.

“Of course, we have to get this one up and running first, but I’m very confident that this is going to be a fantastic brand for everyone to enjoy … This is what I want to be my legacy. I want to have a hundred of these.”