Seafood Tacos Will Be the Star at a New Dallas Restaurant

Tacos Mariachi is making a comeback (kind of). The popular Tijuana seafood–focused taqueria in West Dallas and its second outpost on Greenville both closed during the pandemic. Now comes word from Eater Dallas and the Dallas Morning News that owner Jesus Carmona has a new concept: Milagro. The restaurant, whose name means “miracle,” is slated to open later this month near the original home of Tacos Mariachi, in the Trinity Groves mixed-use development. I think it should be called Sorpresa (surprise), because the business’s establishment was a surprise announcement. Carmona has been busy: last November, he opened an Argentine bistro, Chimichurri. Menu details for his latest venture remain few. Seafood tacos, such as mahi birria and pulpo (octopus), will be served, along with new items like the mammoth Campeona Burger, whose jalapeño-glazed patty is piled with sautéed shrimp, cheese, and crumbled chicharron. Our fingers are crossed for the return of Tacos Mariachi’s smoked salmon wrapped in a crispy cheese costra, with squiggles of fruit-forward mango-habanero salsa.

Dallas Observer restaurant critic Brian Reinhart reviewed the relocated Taquero. The mid- to upmarket Mexican restaurant recently moved from a West Dallas patio location with an ambitious and uneven menu to a Lowest Greenville brick-and-mortar. The new location suffers the same ailments as the original outpost, with a few bright spots. As Reinhart writes, “At its best, in ceviches, appetizers and some tacos, the new Taquero is better than the original location ever was. The only weak point in the business is an ambition, even in a bigger space, to serve too many menus. Moles, cheeseburgers, Tex-Mex combos, cake and even a kale salad all come from a small open kitchen staffed by only one or two cooks.”

Tacodeli co-owners Roberto Espinosa and Eric Wilkerson are in the early stages of opening a new concept. This distinct “cousin restaurant” will open this summer or fall in the former Fabi + Rosi space. A Tacodeli trailer sits on the property, which is currently being used as a research and development space as well as for staff training. Espinosa told Texas Monthly that the team plans to open its next Tacodeli location, which will be in South Austin, before finalizing anything on the new project.

Valentina’s Tex Mex BBQ, among the best barbecue taco purveyors in the state, is swapping its South Austin food trailer for a brick-and-mortar location in Buda. The new location will be in the suburb’s Buda Mill and Grain Co. development.

In Texpat news, New York City’s Tex-Mex breakfast taco peddler King David Tacos, owned by Austin native Liz Solomon Dwyer, will open a restaurant in Brooklyn’s Prospect Heights neighborhood. Dwyer imports her flour tortillas from Fiesta Tortillas in Austin for three King David Tacos carts (South Street Seaport, Madison Square Park, and the Grand Army Plaza entrance to Prospect Park), retail coffee shop partners, and what industry magazine QSR describes as “taco drops: direct-to-consumer, contactless delivery of cold, ready-to-heat tacos . . . The Taco Drops stemmed from consumer needs at home amid the pandemic.”

Filipino tacos continue to find more fans. New York City–based Flip Sigi taqueria is expanding to Jersey City, New Jersey. It was already hosting Saturday night pop-ups in Hoboken. The brick-and-mortar Jersey City outpost will open in mid-June.

Taco Literacy professor Steven Alvarez goes full scholar on Delish on why birria originally called for goat before getting to the meat of the matter: birria with a side of consommé is a “hangover miracle.”

On the subject of birria, Columbus Monthly recommends where to find the good stuff in Central Ohio.

Not to be confused with the groundbreaking book of the same name, Planet Taco in New York City is planting a flag in the Big Apple’s taco scene by serving creative tacos named for astronomical bodies. Among them is the Mars taco: a red tortilla cradling vegetarian chorizo and a mix of red quinoa, grilled cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts finished with pineapple and cilantro. The Saturn taco is an assemblage of nopales, portobello mushrooms, and watermelon, capped by crisped onions and cilantro. The base is a yellow corn tortilla. Tacos go for $4 to $6.

The Texas Legislature passed a massively popular bill legalizing alcohol to go, and Governor Greg Abbott signed it. “The new legislation keeps the same safety measures in place,” specifies Eater Austin, “such as that alcoholic beverages must be purchased with food and must be in a tamper-proof container.”

The Austin Taco & Margarita Festival is scheduled for Saturday, July 24, at ACL Live. Tickets cost between $15 and $49, and there is no list of vendors. The event website notes that masks must be worn by attendees while not consuming food or drink.

The spate of violent robberies targeting Austin taco trucks might have ended with the arrest of a suspect. FOX 7 reports that Austin Police Department officials charged Joshua Terrell Moore, 29, with four counts of aggravated robbery and one count of a stolen firearm. Police continue to investigate three of the remaining seven reported taco truck attacks.

No one rains on our paleta parade. Okay, maybe they do, but a torrential downpour isn’t going to stop us from enjoying our fruity frozen popsicles.

Rapidly expanding Velvet Taco’s latest San Antonio outpost in the old Taco Land rock club space was gussied up with a mosaic by two Taco Land regulars, artist Mig Kokinda and assistant Matt Simpson. Visible on an exterior wall, the piece honors late owner Ram Ayala, who was fatally shot during a 2005 robbery at Taco Land.

Comedian Whitney Cummings loves San Antonio so much that she risked falling into the San Antonio River to save a turtle from a pile of trash. She goes on to act like my finicky neighbor who insists on picking up the minutest piece of garbage that has blown into his yard or gutter. This is not a joke. It’s awesome, though.

San Antonio–style puffy tacos haven’t gained much traction outside South Texas, perhaps due in part to the tacos’s difficult preparation from raw masa. However, D.C.’s newest Tex-Mex spot, Mijita’s, will be serving its own puffy tacos as specials soon enough. The tortillas will be a mix of corn and flour.

Corpus Christi–based Taco Gear has new lids for Pride Month.

The owners of the Taco Shop in El Paso are going on a statewide taco tour with their staff. This “retreat” precedes the opening of Taco Shop’s second location on the city’s west side on May 22.

Arizona congressman Ruben Gallego took to Twitter to crowdsource a catchy name for a taco-focused community vaccination effort he’s organizing. We put in for Immunizations and Al Pastor, Tacos de Vacunas, Vacunas al Pastor, Dose & Dos Con Todo, and Jabs Con Todo. Gallego polled his followers to help him choose between finalists Nachocovid or Pfizer al Pastor. The latter nailed the winning shot.

Meanwhile, folks who showed up to receive a COVID-19 vaccine at Grace Memorial Health Center in Cornelius, Oregon, last weekend were treated to free tacos. Organizers are planning more jab-and-a-taco campaigns in the future.

The Taco Trucks at Every Mosque campaign is bridging the Islamic and Latino communities of Southern California. Founder Rida Hamida, executive director of the Latino Muslim Unity Coalition, is using the movement as an incentive for COVID-19 vaccinations. At the latest event, recipients of the vaccine received halal tacos.

If it hasn’t been made clear that tacos make for great community outreach, the Salt Lake City location of Sweet Rolled Tacos wants to “taco ’bout mental health.” During Mental Health Awareness Month in May, the dessert taco shop has been creating kid-friendly tacos meant to “reinforce mental health awareness skills for local youngsters,” as well as hosting story times and family-friendly events.

Country music star Miranda Lambert has two goats on her Tennessee farm. Their names? Taco and Tuesday, of course.

Cleve Mash, owner of the PapiChulo Taco Bar in Jupiter, Florida, and Royal Palm Beach, Florida, is campaigning for a cessation of federal unemployment benefits. The taqueria owner, and other restaurateurs, claim the benefits have caused a worker shortage. In what we assume he believes is an olive branch, Mash is throwing in a $500 signing bonus. Florida governor Ron DeSantis has not announced whether he intends to put a halt to the benefits.

In the land of doner kebab, al pastor is sufficiently distinct to attract a crowd. Check out this taco line in Berlin.

After coming in third at a local taco-eating contest, LA Taco’s Memo Torres has tips to get you through the gluttonous endeavor. They include: “Think about starving yourself to prepare, but then just eat normally until the big day.”

In case you’re in Dubai and have a hankering for guacamole: TimeOut put together a list of its favorites.

Would you consume your infant’s placenta in the form of a taco? One reality star and his wife did. “I felt very much in my body and alive while preparing this meal to return nourishment to her body,” said Montana-based Abram Boise, who appeared on MTV’s The Challenge.

Another Taco Bell menu item is being sent to the executioner’s block. The Quesalupa debuted at the chain in 2016, was subsequently cut, and then came back this spring as a limited-time offer. To commemorate the event, Taco Bell released a video tribute to the cheesy snack. It includes the following line: “It smells like perfection.”

Source: https://www.texasmonthly.com/food/seafood-tacos-new-dallas-restaurant/