You, Me, Some Tacos

With a sister behind the counter and a husband in the back kitchen, Jennifer Reyes knows that it takes a strong support system to start a new venture.

Martin and Jennifer Reyes opened Donde Los Tacos near the Bishop Arts District in April. It took more than nine months from signing the lease to put all the finishing touches on the space,  and they continue to make updates as needed. Business fluctuates as they are new to the neighborhood. Some Taco Tuesdays are filled to the brim with other days just bringing in some consistent regulars.

Neon lights with the Spanish phrases “Provecho!!!” and “Tu, Yo Unos Tacos” (“Advantage!!!” and “You, Me, Some Tacos” respectively) welcome you into the indoor seating area. The main gallery piece is an array of black and white photos with phrases heard in the restaurants of Mexico written in the primary colors.

The couple often visited taco shops in East Dallas for date nights and when their go-to El Taco Loco on East Grand Avenue vanished, the idea started to circulate to finally create their own shop.

“My daughter actually loved that place. She’s very specific with her food, and she loved that place. They shut down for one thing or another, I’m not sure why,” she says. “So we couldn’t find a taco place at all. And my husband was like, ‘Well, what if we just open a taco restaurant?’ It was always just in the back of our head.”

One day the right place finally came at the right time. A former law office and crystal shop at the corner of North Tyler and West Davis, the irregularly pentagon-shaped building with faded ruby bricks, was up for grabs. Right across from Abruzzo’s and diagonally from the pastel pink Talking Out of Turn, even though it needed much love, they went for it.

“At the end of the day, you don’t know unless you take that step,” she says. “I’m like, ‘We’re going to be stuck with, ‘Oh, what if?’ What could have been, you know? It was weird, our whole relationship is based off of, let’s just do it. We don’t even think about it. We just jump into it.”

This “go for it” mentality led to some sleepless nights, but as soon as the contract was signed, Martin was knocking walls down and tearing floors up.

“We just started off,” Jennifer says. “We’ve never done this. We were in a completely different business before this. So it’s new to us.”

Some of the sauces and the restaurant’s best-selling quesabirrias were Martin’s idea, but a good friend of the Reyes couple, Javier Ventura, was heavily involved in the recipe creation process and works as a manager at the restaurant. With nearly 30 years in the industry, he traveled to Mexico to research recipes and created the wall collage that is the centerpiece of the building. Along it, a self-serve salsa bar holds spice levels from one to six. Separate from the bar, there is a secret No. 7 salsa to prevent tolerance accidents from happening.

“People don’t know about that one, but when they’ll say like, ‘Oh, it’s not spicy,’ I’m like, ‘Ah, let me bring you one from the back.’”

One of the best-selling items from the Reyes’ restaurant is the Taco Perron ($7.50), a ribeye corn or flour filled tortilla topped with asadero cheese, grilled cactus, avocado and DLT slaw. A single taco overflows with toppings, so Jennifer suggests starting with one.

“Because they are pretty filling. And then the melted cheese tops it off, too, because it gives you so many flavors in one taco, but it’s not too overwhelming. It’s just the perfect taste,” she says.

Martin’s quesabirrias ($11.99) are filled with slow-cooked pork and come with a serving of consomé for dipping.

we soak the quesabirrias, and people walk in here, and they’re like, ‘Do you sell them daily?’ I’m just like ‘Yeah, why wouldn’t we?’ Well, there’s places that don’t sell them daily. They only sell them on the weekends.” 

For starters, the Reyeses added queso after many requests and kept a shrimp taco option ($4.50) after planning just to add it for Lent to accommodate those abstaining from certain meats for the annual tradition. They also have one vegan option with a plant-based pastor ($3.50).

To cool off the tongue after experimenting with the salsa bar, there are house-made aguas frescas ($4) including Pepino Lima, Strawberry Hochata and Sandia Refresh. And there’s the option to take frozen margaritas ($11-20) sealed to-go.

Donde Los Tacos is wrapping up final preparations for the patio with outdoor seating and hopefully occasional live music just in time for the fall weather.

“We wanted to be welcoming for family to be able to come in, sit down, have a meal, maybe stay, chat a little, have a drink or two, you know?” Jennifer says. “Whatever makes you guys comfortable and whatever brings you guys in.”

Donde Los Tacos, 900 W. Davis St., 214.258.6689, dondelostacos.com