Her family's crisp chicken and guacamole tacos were said by Sunset magazine to be favorites with low-riders and movie stars alike. And her restaurant's sopaipillas were billed as the lightest and puffiest in Santa Fe County by Family Circle magazine in 1976.

For nearly 50 years, Frances Atencio's deft melding of Mexican and New Mexican flavors drew rave reviews from locals and visitors to Northern New Mexico.

Atencio, who founded El Paragua in Espanola with her husband, Luis, in 1964, died Thursday at age 83.

She was a hard-working woman who even last week was overseeing the preparation of preserves and salad dressings for the restaurant. And she won numerous ribbons for her flowers at the 2007 Expo New Mexico State Fair.

"She had a wonderful outlook on life and was very grateful," said her son, Pedro Atencio, the second oldest of her nine living children.

Frances Torres Atencio, originally from Miami, Ariz., worked in the naval shipyards in Long Beach, Calif., during World War II. She moved to Espanola in 1946 when she married Luis, whose family had been in the area since the 1600s.

While working for the state Motor Vehicle Division in the mid-1950s, Frances Atencio brought tacos made with white corn tortillas for her lunch. Her co-workers began asking for them, and Atencio started selling them to other employees. After leaving the state job, she worked for the Maytag shop and a car dealership in Espanola.

In 1958, the Atencios began selling beef tacos and red pork tamales under a patio umbrella on the main street in Espa & ntilde;ola, drawing on recipes from Zacatecas, Mexico, passed on by her mother, Lydia Venegas Torres. Pedro Atencio, who was 9 years old at the time, helped out with his siblings. A taco cost 15 cents and a tamale 10 cents. The family felt lucky when they earned $20 a day.

In 1962, Luis Atencio, a plumber, converted a recreational trailer into the Taco Wagon. Family members expanded their menu to include hamburgers, tostadas, burritos and homemade desserts. Their reputation grew, and in 1964, they turned the tack room at their Santo Ni & ntilde;o compound into a sit-down restaurant called El Paragua. The restaurant has been expanded from time to time and now seats 180 people. All the children in the family, and now grandchildren, have been associated with the business.

In 1989, the Atencios opened El Parasol, a carryout operation in a 10-by-10-foot food booth next to the restaurant. The takeout business expanded to Santa Fe in 1999, to Los Alamos in 2004 and to Pojoaque in 2006.

In addition to her business responsibilities, Frances Atencio raised a big family, seeing to it that all her children earned higher education degrees. All nine surviving children still live in Northern New Mexico.

Atencio helped prepare meals for cousins who lived next door in addition to cooking for her family. She retired from the restaurant at age 76 but continued to taste all the food. She liked watching television chef Emeril Lagasse, Pedro Atencio said, and was creative in the kitchen, he added, citing her preparation of filet mignon stuffed with seafood.

In the last two years, Pedro Atencio said, the family had been documenting their mother's recipes and putting them in digital form. Recently, the community of Espanola held a senior citizen day in her honor.

Contact Anne Constable at 986-3022 or aconstable@sfnewmexican.com.