Vaqueros Texas Bar-B-Q owner Trey Sanchez’s Pembroke Welsh corgi, Taco, is the cover pupster for the latest issue of Southlake Style. Thursdays are taco night at the Grapevine-based Tejano barbecue trailer. Each week offers a few surprise taco specials. Maybe the family pet, whose name is bit on the nose (heh), will be making the rounds for scraps. Taco also has his own Instagram.
The birria de res trend is taking off in Austin, as Trey Gutierrez writes in Eater Austin. His story features two of my favorites in the Capital City: La Tunita 512 and Sabor Tapatio.
Austin’s Vaquero Taquero also jumped on the birria bandwagon with the ultimate question:
View this post on Instagram
Lee’s El Taco Garage, a beloved San Antonio taqueria in a renovated auto shop, has closed after fifteen years. Although its decor is reminiscent of the building’s past life, the element I found most striking was the elderly lady making tortillas in a glass booth. It was more theater than a spotlight on tradition.
Top Chico, the sparkling-water company based in Monterrey, Mexico, is expanding its portfolio. This week, the favorite Texas beverage is adding its a new flavor, Twist of Tangerine, to its lineup. It will be the third flavor added in the company’s 126 years. The first two, grapefruit and lime, were introduced in 2017. The tangerine-flavored Topo Chico will be available at Sprouts Farmers Markets beginning this week. Throughout the spring, the product will roll out across Whole Foods Markets.
The Taco Stand, a drive-through taqueria, is now open in the Houston Heights. The menu includes breakfast tacos, classics such as barbacoa, and vegetarian options. Aguas fresca and margaritas are available too. The Taco Stand opens at 6 a.m. daily and closes at midnight on Friday and Saturday.
Aurelio “Nuno” Arias Jr. started his vegan Mexican food operation as a Dallas Farmers Market stand. (He also cofounded El Palote Panaderia with his dad.) Now, he and his family operate a brick-and-mortar taqueria in North Dallas, Nuno’s Tacos and VegMex Grill. VegNews says it’s “the restaurant that’s turning Dallas vegan one taco at a time.”
For Valentine’s Day on Sunday, might we recommend ordering tacos in a heart-shaped box from northern Mexican–style taqueria Mario Bros. Tacos? The restaurant has locations in Dallas and Plano.
The Dallas Observer profiled Luna’s Tortillas in honor of the company’s ninety-seventh birthday this month. It opened in 1924 and remains family-owned, churning out six hundred tortillas per hour.
Regino Rojas, owner of Revolver Taco Lounge in Dallas, made his expansion to Fort Worth official in a Facebook post on his personal page. It begins: “They asked me to do a press release. But I see no reason to that … I will do this my way.” The Fort Worth Star-Telegram was one of many outlets to share the news, which we first announced in this space last month. We are salivating for this project.
Taco-window operation Deep Ellum Tacos El Habanero imports Oaxacan ingredients for regional specialties such as tlayudas—large crispy tortillas topped with beans, quesillo cheese, and more. You can even sample the chapulines (roasted grasshopper).
The Original Mexican Restaurant (established 1926) is Fort Worth’s oldest Tex-Mex joint. After ninety-five years and the acquisition of another Cowtown stalwart, El Rancho Grande, the Original is opening a second location—sort of. The new restaurant will take over the El Rancho Grande space as the Original Del Norte, fusing the menus of both legendary eating establishments.
Derek Allan’s Texas BBQ has added two new breakfast tacos to its menu, both featuring the same surprise ingredient:
View this post on Instagram
Los Tacos in Lubbock started the month with bad news: a man driving a stolen truck crashed into the restaurant. No one was injured, and the incident occurred in the middle of the night. Owner Juan Luna and his family quickly made repairs and reopened three days later.
La Toxica in San Angelo is one of the state’s newest Mexican restaurants. Opened by mother-daughter owners Lydia and Yazmin Ramirez, the eatery has garnered early praise from residents for its “addictive” food, the English translation for the slang “toxica.” The restaurant’s grand opening is set for February 28.
Gabe Erales, formerly of Comedor, in Austin, will be a contestant on the eighteenth season of Bravo’s Top Chef.
The Guinness World Record for the largest fry bread taco has been broken. Weighing in at 350 pounds and with a diameter of eight feet, the behemoth was created for the grand opening of the Cedar Lakes Casino-Hotel in Cass Lake, Minnesota.
Serious Eats contributor Adriana Velez has a rundown of the thirteen important burrito styles, which she correctly also calls tacos.
Prescott, Arizona, is home to the world’s oldest rodeo. It’s also now home to La Planchada, a modern taqueria where tacos such as buttermilk fried chicken, hibiscus lamb, and mezcal and chile-braised brisket are served in metal holders.
The San Fernando, California–based Carrillo’s Tortilleria & Mexican Delicatessen has persevered for nearly eighty years. The secret to its success, according to LA Taco? Great flour tortillas.
¡Salud Tacos! is one of the best taquerias in San Diego. It’s also in the city’s historically Chicano enclave of Barrio Logan, where I start every morning when I’m visiting the Southern California burg. Founder Ernie Becerra was recently interviewed on the Happy Half Hour podcast of San Diego Magazine. During the chat, he talks about his family’s immigration to the city in 1900 and recounts how he grew his business from a taco cart to a nationally recognized eatery.
New York’s favorite birria de res taco truck, Birria-Landia, is opening a third location. Next up: the Bronx.
Move over, birria ramen. It’s time for barbacoa ramen.
Masienda, one of the earliest purveyors of heirloom native Mexican corn to taquerias and restaurants, shows us how to make tortilla chips at home.
Vegan taqueria Tacotarian is opening its third Las Vegas location.
And in your biweekly Big Taco news: strong sales at Taco Bell have helped parent company Yum Brands exceed expectations. According to QSRweb, a 1 percent sales increase across the chain’s seven thousand locations helped Yum make a “15 percent gain over the previous year’s quarter.”
