One of the many changes COVID-19 brought to the dining scene in this country was the sudden proliferation of ghost kitchens. Dallas restaurateur and Mexico City native Markus Pineyro became part of that wave with Oomi Digital Kitchen, which he opened in 2022. At Oomi, diners can order—either online or in person, via touch screen, at the East Dallas headquarters—from several different “restaurants.” In actuality, all of the food is made in the same kitchen by the same employees and delivered to cubbies, which diners unlock to remove their orders and then go home to eat or sit down at one of the few counter stools.
Oomi serves chicken wings from Clucky’s, smash burgers from Okie Dokie, and flautas from Taquitos Ross, Pineyro’s first Oomi collaboration with Revolver Taco Lounge owner Regino Rojas, which opened in November.
The concept (and that’s not just restaurant jargon, since there’s no independent physical location), which focuses on the Mexican comfort food commonly called taquitos in the U.S., opened to little fanfare. In fact, I only learned about it when a post on Oomi’s Instagram page announcing the arrival of Taquitos Ross caught my eye. It was enough to get me to head to Oomi HQ to try the new venture.
After I ordered, I observed the cooks quickly and quietly sliding bagged orders into cubbies and delivery drivers grabbing them and shuffling off into their cars. A few first-time customers wandered in and asked me how the ordering worked. There still seems to be a learning curve with such a newfangled establishment.
As I waited my turn to order with a screen, I recalled a 2015 trip to Mexico City during which two friends and I passed a flautas stand. I spun on my heels, walked up the stand, and asked for one flauta. The rolled and fried tortilla was stuffed with mashed potatoes and crunched so loud it caught the attention of my friends, who hadn’t noticed I was no longer behind them. They stopped halfway down the block to wait for me as I ran toward them with the flauta. It was so good that I stomped my feet with joy. Taquitos Ross turned out to be just as fantastic. “Whenever I go to Mexico to visit my family, the first meal, like every time I go, is taquitos,” says Pineyro, who mentions that his two daughters love them as well.
Left: Several food concepts operate out of Oomi, including Taquitos Ross. Photograph by José R. Ralat
Top: The queso con papas taquitos at Taquitos Ross. Photograph by José R. Ralat
I ordered the traditional taquitos filled with melted Oaxacan quesillo and potatoes. To my surprise, the potatoes weren’t mashed. They were presented as crinkle-cut fries. The fries’ ridges trapped the crema de zanahoria (cream of carrot), a creative tweak from Rojas to replace the more traditional Mexican crema. The crema de zanahoria on top was so uniformly rectangular it looked painted on. The order of three taquitos was speckled evenly with queso fresco. This taquito dish isn’t the average street-style version—it was inspired by Rojas’s frequent travels to Europe.
“It’s good old-school French cuisine,” Rojas says. “Cream is heavily used in their cuisine. And it’s one of the major elements of taquitos.” The carrot cream adds additional sweetness to each corn tortilla, and the serrano-tinged salsa verde provides a good spice. The guacamole, served alongside for dipping, cools it all down.
The influence behind the Texas Twisters taquito plate is perhaps less subtle. The taquitos are topped with bacon bits, melted cheddar, and ground taco meat, and the frenzied garnishment and gluttony evoke the fun of State Fair of Texas foods without the bloated pricing.
There’s always been a problem with taquitos, though. Because they’re served covered in crema, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, and sometimes avocados, the toppings tend to fall off when you pick the rolled tacos up. Pineyro and Rojas take a simple but innovative approach to solve the issue: They put the garnishes on the bottom of each order. As tortilla shards and bits of fillings inevitably fall from the taquitos, customers can mix everything together to make a taco salad of sorts.
The impetus for Rojas to join this venture with Pineyro was what Rojas feels is unfair treatment by local real estate developers who relegate what he calls “ethnic cuisines” to marginal, nondescript strip malls, where the restaurants are less likely to get noticed. He figures that by joining forces with another Mexican American entrepreneur (Pineyro also owns Urban Taco, a former mini chain that’s currently only available at Oomi), he can create a restaurant that’s so popular it will help places like his and Pineyro’s score better locations in Dallas. “The more united we are in this city, the more that we can fight what keeps us down. What keeps us down is real estate,” he says, adding that he feels as though “this city is not about how good you cook” but “about where you are located.”
Nevertheless, mom-and-pop spots and small restaurants such as Taquitos Ross and Revolver Taco Lounge try their best to attract customers with their dedication to their craft and their excellent food. Perhaps these rolled and fried taquitos are one step closer to change.
To order food from Taquitos Ross, visit the Oomi Digital Kitchen website.
