A Norman resident is opening a Mexican restaurant on Campus Corner amid financial loss and her husband’s detainment by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Brianna Yowell, a mother of four, is the owner and founder of Mickey’z Corner, a Mexican restaurant set to open April 20 on Campus Corner.
Yowell is from Liberal, Kansas, where she first started selling Mexican food out of her home in 2019, quickly gaining popularity among locals.
“I started selling birria tacos out of my house, and then it just went wild. And all of my friends, the whole (city of) Liberal, was buying tacos from me every day,” Yowell said.
Yowell and her family moved to Norman in 2021 and started a food truck in 2023. The crowds became so large that they would sell out by the end of the night, Yowell said.
Yowell said she and her husband, Daniel Rios, have been together since she was 12. Rios encouraged her to open her own restaurant because of her success with the food truck.
“My husband was like, ‘You need a restaurant.’ So we started looking, and we found this one on Campus Corner. And he’s like ‘This is just you, you know,’” Yowell said.
Yowell said she wants Mickey’z Corner to be open for the late night Campus Corner crowd.
“We want to be open after the bar. We want to be open after those 2 a.m. munchies. We want everyone to come from two to four, …” Yowell said. “It will help with Ubers, with driving (and) safety, because (people) can walk right here after the bar and have food. They don’t have to drive somewhere all the way across town.”
Yowell hopes the restaurant will provide job opportunities and give back to Norman while feeding the community.
“My big time goal is one day I want to be able to give. I’m a giver,” Yowell said. “I want this restaurant to be so successful, make so much money, so I could start giving. I want to help with the homeless. I want to give food. I want to help with jobs for the college kids, … for moms to have jobs, because I’m a mom.”
Opening the restaurant has taken a year and a half, according to Yowell. Yowell said while she was excited to start the business, the process did not come without struggles. During the remodeling process, Yowell said Rios was detained by ICE.
“We were in the process of starting our marriage license because we were scared, he’s not from here, …” Yowell said. “We wanted our restaurant to get going, to have the money, to then file correctly, do all the steps right.”
Rios is from Mexico and moved to the U.S. when he was a baby but did not have a visa or work permit. Yowell said he was detained by ICE on March 6 and his next court date is May 12.
“I know he’s an amazing person,” Yowell said. “He’s not a bad person. He’s a good dad, a good husband. My kids are beyond spoiled with him.”
Yowell said her husband was the family’s sole financial provider and without him, the family is struggling.
“We’re hoping that he can get out on an ankle monitor or something and start the process of getting his paperwork going so he can come back home because it is a huge financial burden without him,” Yowell said.
Yowell said she is grateful for the support from her family and the Norman community, who she said has helped with familial and financial needs.
“I am lucky to have an amazing family that has stepped in, stepped up, to help us. The community has helped me a lot, too. Donations, diapers, groceries,” Yowell said.
Yowell also said her first contractor, who claimed he would do all of the remodeling, stole $10,000 dollars from her and her husband.
“Stole the $10,000, we have never heard from him again,” Yowell said. “We can’t find him, we haven’t seen him, we don’t know what happened with the guy, just full on disappeared.”
Yowell said she and her husband did not have the money to make up for what was stolen, which slowed the development of the project.
“We didn’t have business loans, …” Yowell said. “We did it all out of pocket. We had our food truck money. So when he did that, it slowed us down tremendously.”
Yowell found her new contractor, Steve Vanarsdel with Vanarsdel’s Investments, who helped with the physical and financial aspects of the remodel. Vanarsdel is the father of Yowell’s home landlord, who helped connect the two.
Yowell said she is most excited for the restaurant to provide financial support for her family.
“I am ready for my kids not to have a financial burden,” Yowell said. “I want them to be like, ‘Mom, I’m going to college’ and not worry about who’s paying for their college because they know mom’s paying for their college. Generational wealth is my big thing. I want to open up 10 more Mickey’z Corners.”
Yowell set up a GoFundMe to help pay for her family’s necessities, which has generated over $700 so far.
This story was edited by Natalie Armour and Audrey McClour. Kennedy Johnson and Sophie Hemker copy edited this story.
