Anastacia Quiñones-Pittman, the executive chef at José in Dallas, is now selling custom-made Mexican and taco culture stickers in a new Etsy shop called Cielo Designs.
Houston hip-hop icon Bun B partnered with Missouri City taqueria Trill Taco to create a T-shirt. The taco couture is available to buy at the restaurant, with an online purchase option coming soon.
Taquero, a West Dallas spot that served upmarket versions of traditional tacos before closing in December 2019, will reopen this fall in the former Pints & Quarts space at the intersection of Ross and Greenville avenues.
“Phenomonal” is how Dallas Observer food editor Taylor Adams describes La Resistencia’s reservation-required seafood brunch.
The Bearded Lady craft beer pub in Fort Worth is serving a beef birria grilled cheese. The sandwich has been christened the “birria lady.”
D Magazine jumped on the birria bandwagon with a glowing review of Frida’s Tacos, which took over the former Taquero space.
Black-owned Vegan Food House in Dallas’s Bishop Arts District announced plans to open a vegan taco joint, Casa del Vegano. The taqueria is in the hiring process ahead of opening at 333 Jefferson Boulevard in Jefferson Tower. Follow developments on Instagram.
NBC 5’s Tony Green on the Scene took viewers to his three favorite Fort Worth taco spots, including Salsa Limón.
Dude, Sweet Chocolate is shifting to a pickup model for the latest event in its tea party series. This edition’s theme honors the two chocolatiers who produce more than 90 percent of the Dallas shop’s confections with a Mexican Independence Day theme on September 13. There will be conchas, tamales, pozole, and, of course, chocolate. Reserve your order. No word on chiles en nogada.
Houston-based chef and author Adán Medrano has just completed a new culinary documentary, Truly Texas Mexican. The film traces the history of indigenous food and how it has evolved from differently from Tex-Mex. No air date has been announced, but you can follow the film’s website for updates.
Let’s take a moment to mourn the August 29 closing of Taco Stop, whose picadillo was named one of the best tacos in Texas in 2015 by this magazine. Owner Emilia Flores is also known for her kindness and charity.
The San Antonio Current published a slideshow of the River City’s top 25 Mexican restaurants, according to Yelp. It includes Carnitas Don Raúl, Pollos Asados Los Norteños, and newcomer Casa Frida.
San Antonio Express-News restaurant critic Mike Sutter wrote about how the birria scene in town has exploded since 2017.
If you thought Taco Cabana was done with its summer specials, think again. Along with MargaritaPalooza and QuesoMania, TC is now slinging a mango-habanero pulled pork torta.
Tacos A Go Go is working with other Houston-area restaurants to create limited-edition tacos for charity. Sales benefit the women’s health and mentoring nonprofit I’ll Have What She’s Having.
Torchy’s Tacos opened its eightieth location in Abilene this month.
The thirtieth Austin Chronicle Hot Sauce Festival took place online last month. The newspaper got nostalgic with an oral history.
In New Braunfels, Mi Frijoles is expanding from a cart to a brick-and-mortar location. It’s set to open in October.
Chicago Tribune food writer Nick Kindelsperger went on the hunt for quesabirria (the most popular of the beef birria tacos right now) and found it at surprising places, “including a Guatemalan bakery in Portage Park and a seafood-focused spot in Archer Heights.” The reporter notes that birria was already a staple of the Windy City, which has a sizable immigrant population with roots in the Mexican state of Michoacan, but until recently, it was mostly goat and lamb. During the pandemic, enterprising taqueros added cheese birria to their menus, and it was a hit.
Meanwhile, Eater San Francisco asks the tough questions. Will the quesadilla-pizza hybrid “pizza mula” overtake beef birria as the trendiest Mexican dish this fall?
Maybe not yet. Eater Miami reports that red-hued beef birria tacos have made a splash in the south Florida city’s downtown, courtesy El Primo Red Tacos. Miami New Times has a guide on where to find birria tacos locally.
“Everything is bad but tacos aren’t,” writes San Diego Magazine food scribe Troy Johnson in a story highlighting his favorite local taco spots. While researching my book, I spent a lot time in Southern California (even timed one visit with Comic-Con), and can affirm that any Texan who visits San Diego post-COVID should check out one of those spots. For a taste of old-school fried Cal-Mex, make sure Las Cuatro Milpas, in the city’s Barrio Logan neighborhood, is your first stop.
Denverites have differing opinions about what should happen to tacky Mexican restaurant and kitschy landmark Casa Bonita, made famous by South Park. In response to a Westword article about whether the 52,000-square-foot restaurant will reopen, readers had a lot to say. “I got pulled out of the crowd to perform in a Black Bart cliff-diving skit as a kid,” one recalled. “But seriously, if you ate the tacos and survived, you have a lifetime immunity to everything.” Another reader wrote, “Worst food + worst entertainment = best restaurant in Denver.”
More and more barbecue joints are getting into the taco game. The latest example is in Michigan, where the owners of Saddleback BBQ are opening a ghost kitchen called Tacos, Burritos & Bowls in both Lansing and Okemos.
Cosmopolitan Philippines shares its top Manila taco picks.
Vatos Urban Tacos, a Mexican-Korean restaurant in Seoul, is limping through another surge of COVID-19 cases in that city.
In Prince George, British Columbia, a cafe owned by members of the Lheidli T’enneh First Nation has a new hit item: doughnuts made with fry bread, or bannock, which is also the base for Navajo tacos. Selections include glazed sprinkle, cherry, and maple walnut.
Ode Magazine has a new taco holder’s buyer’s guide for taco nights at home. I have a few in my taco paraphernalia collection.
An Instagram photo of children of migrant farmworkers using Taco Bell Wi-Fi to do their homework went viral, prompting a GoFundMe campaign that raised more than $115,000 for the family. “Kevin de León, president pro tempore of the California Senate, also shared the photo on his own social media, noting 40 percent of Latinos don’t have internet access,” NBC reported. This more than makes up for Taco Bell’s recent removal of the only good thing on the menu: Mexican pizza.
Taco Bell is also one of the many restaurant chains that are making design changes in response to the pandemic. In addition to adding more drive-through lanes and shelves for order pickup, the company will also station employees with tablets in the parking lot to take orders. COO Mike Grams calls the changes “fun.”
