El Palote Panaderia, a Dallas vegan taqueria and bakery, is delighting diners and staying safe by using a makeshift robot for contactless service.

Mia’s Tex-Mex Restaurant, a legendary eatery and birthplace of the Dallas brisket taco, is moving a whopping 171 feet.

Revolver Taco Lounge is adapting to COVID-19 by redesigning part of its existing space to create a new concept, La Resistencia.

 

Elemi in El Paso has partially reopened its kitchen, offering takeout only.

Los Molcajetes, a Mexico City–inspired restaurant in Dallas that got a much-needed boost thanks to a viral tweet, has reopened at the mandated 25 percent capacity. Staff wear gloves and masks.

Maskaras Mexican Grill, also in Dallas, reopened at 25 percent capacity and with a limited menu. (Thankfully, the tacos ahogados are still available.) The ordering counter is now outfitted with a plexiglass sheet separating the cashier and the customer, and staff wear masks.

Sylvia’s Cafe in Brownsville is open for full service at 25 percent capacity. According to owner Norma Almanza, state-mandated suspension of dine-in service resulted in a 90 percent drop in revenue.

El Remedio in San Antonio has done away with its long lines, moved to preorder pickup only, and extended its schedule of operations. Daily orders go fast, so make sure to keep an eye on the taco truck’s Instagram page.

SA Flavor has raised nearly $7,000 for the San Antonio Food Bank—that’s the equivalent of 48,300 meals—via sales of its “San Antonio: The Tacos Are Better Here” T-shirts.

Hugo’s, a Houston institution, will open for dine-in service on Thursday.

Cuantos Tacos announced on Instagram that they’ll be taking a two-week hiatus beginning May 18.

Food writer and Texas Monthly contributor Priya Krishna has a suggestion for those of us suffering from cooking fatigue: try turning roti into a quesadilla.

Contrary to both popular belief and Google, Chico’s Tacos remains closed during the pandemic. The historic El Paso landmark hasn’t reopened yet, writes Veronica Gonzalez for KLAQ.

Vinyl Taco employees walked out of the Fargo, South Dakota, taqueria in protest of what they consider unsafe working conditions. Vinyl Taco’s owner shared his thoughts on the topic.

The National Restaurant Association wants to you know all about elotes.

Bon Appetit’s editor in chief, Adam Rapoport, has carnitas on the brain.

Food & Wine released its Best New Chefs 2020 list. We’re glad that the list includes two Texas chefs—Dallas’s Donny Sirisavath and Austin’s Tavel Bristol-Joseph—but it’s disappointing that there is no Mexican American or Latino representation.

La Panaderia in San Antonio made Food & Wine’s list of the 100 Best Bakeries in America. Several other Latino-owned bakeries nationwide, including across the Southwest, made the list.

The James Beard Award finalist nominations did not include any Mexican nominees in the Best Chef: Texas category. However, Latino representation was seen elsewhere, including in the Outstanding Pastry Chef; Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic; Best Chef: Mountain; and Best Chef: Southwest. Netflix’s Taco Chronicles also received a nod for its moving tacos de canastas episode. The full list of finalists is here.

Legendary actor, second cousin to Robert Rodriguez, and taco magnate Danny Trejo is the subject of an upcoming documentary, Inmate #1: The Rise of Danny Trejo. Here’s the first trailer. Trejo also has a new cookbook.

Suerte co-owner Sam Hellman-Mass is offering more than curbside pickup of the restaurant’s signature suadero tacos. He’s also working to bring low-cost mental health counseling to food and beverage industry workers via the Mike & Sherry Project.

Americans have Taco Tuesday, or as Texas Monthly likes to think of it, Taco Every Day. Sweden has Taco Friday.