Seeking a more lucrative life in the United States, Mr. Cossio came to Queens in 1992 as a young man. He left behind his wife and a son, Omar, but spoke with them often and supported them. Three months ago, Omar Cossio, now 23, left his grandfather’s store to join his father in Queens.

“While it’s strange for me to see him and strange for him to see me, it’s nice to talk to him, to learn about what it’s been like for him here and to tell him what it was like in Mexico,” Mr. Cossio said in Spanish, sharing a meal with his father from nearby Tacos Al Suadero. It was delivered to the store — by a customer.

Mr. Cossio arrived in New York in September, in the middle of a birthday celebration held for his father at the shop. Mariachi musicians played on the sidewalk, and hundreds of people from the neighborhood attended, the older Mr. Cossio estimated.

“I brag about him,” the son said shyly. “I know what he suffered to have this business.”

For the first three years in New York, Mr. Cossio worked in a kitchen before filling in for a bicycle mechanic at a shop owned by a Colombian woman. She constantly screamed at him, he said, but he made good money.

But when she failed to pay her rent, her shop closed, Mr. Cossio said. Unwilling to return to restaurant work, he struck out on his own with a backpack full of tools. He eventually found space for his own shop, which moved into its current spot in 2008. This past year, he expanded the store.