A beloved Dallas taco store has discovered (one other) new house: Trompo, the taqueria from proprietor Luis Olvera which has earned nationwide acclaim, will open in Oak Cliff at 337 W. Jefferson Blvd.
That is the previous house of Kookie Haven, which closed in early July.
Trompo has relocated just a few instances up to now few years, together with stints in Oak Cliff and in East Dallas. Will this lastly be the one?
“I am grateful to have discovered this spot, and I really feel like it’ll be a terrific match,” Olvera says.
Trompo is legendary for its tacos, quesadillas, and corn tortillas made in-house — sufficiently well-known that it earned a spot on a listing of the 50 greatest new eating places in America in 2016 by Bon Appetit journal, the one Dallas restaurant that yr to make the checklist, which they described thusly:
“Proprietor Luis Olvera oversees the creation of a few of the greatest tacos we have had all yr. There are three easy however surreal tacos: deep-pink al pastor, which reaches its crispy-juicy peak because of the trompo (the rotating vertical spit); bistek (beef); and surprisingly good vegetarian paneer-poblano, all set on house-made corn tortillas and sprinkled with onions and cilantro.”
Olvera and his taqueria have been media darlings over time: In 2017, Trompo was named one of many 10 Greatest Eating places in Dallas in CultureMap’s annual Tastemaker Awards, after which once more in 2018. Olvera additionally obtained a Tastemaker Awards nomination in 2018 for Greatest Chef.
That very same yr, Trompo was considered one of three taquerias featured in a documentary collection produced by PBS Digital known as Tacos of Texas, primarily based on a ebook with the identical title.
At one level, Olvera had two areas, one in Bishop Arts and the opposite on Gaston Avenue. However because of the pandemic and different life challenges, he closed each and reverted to working out of a ghost kitchen.
He’d truly begun to contemplate transferring to Mexico the place he nonetheless has household. His tales about Dallas landlords are irritating, corresponding to false guarantees of “turnkey” standing when the areas have been nowhere close to that. Or the slumlord who’d threaten eviction until Olvera made funds for issues like water payments that weren’t his duty.
When he confirmed up at his first location on Singleton Boulevard in 2016, he was joined by sheriffs and former tenants whose property had been seized by the owner and promised to an unwitting Olvera.
“I deserve some credit score for my very own ignorance and bliss,” he says. “I got here into this pondering it was all rainbows and butterflies, I believe I lasted solely by sheer will. However finally I made a decision to do a re-set and attempt to make selections another way.”
He is now engaged on the brand new location which he calls “in all probability probably the most splendid place.” One addition is that he’ll have the ability to serve alcohol in addition to meals. Over the following few months, he’ll transition out of the ghost kitchen and into the brand new house, with a hoped-for opening in October.
To have fun, he is internet hosting a pop-up on August 25 at 626. W. Davis St. that he is calling “Trompo Homecoming,” as in, again to Oak Cliff.
“I have been on a journey, I hope it ends right here,” he says.