Nancy Reza smiles a lot, even when talking about the family rift that created Taqueria El Arquito. Her large family is best known for owning 23 locations of Taqueria Taxco (established 2009) across Dallas–Fort Worth. In 2020, though, Reza, several siblings, their parents, and other relatives broke from the family’s chain to open their own operation. “Working with family is complicated,” Reza told me during a conversation at the newest Taqueria El Arquito—one of nine locations—in tony University Park. She didn’t clarify the reason for the split, only hinting at some kind of friction.
What Reza did share was pride in her family and her love of her hometown of Taxco, famous for the arches of its aqueduct, built under order of conquistador Hernán Cortes, in the Mexican state of Guerrero. She also shared her pride in the comfort food prepared at Taqueria El Arquito, where, in the tradition of taquerias, all are welcome.
The first Taqueria El Arquito opened in July 2020, in the rear of a dilapidated, freestanding convenience store along industrial Cesar Chavez Boulevard. The kitchen is separated from the counter by a plexiglass wall. As is the case in many gas station taquerias, there is no indoor seating. Everything is packaged for takeout. The freshest dining experience you can get is eating paprika-spiked slivers of charred-edge trompo meat inside your car, on the hood, or on the trunk—all consumption methods familiar to Texans. Careful, though. If not given time to cool to a manageable temperature, the oil-slicked, shimmering yellow corn tortillas will sear your fingertips. Rendered fat coats the tangles of barbacoa, giving the beef a glossy appearance. Meanwhile, the carnitas, crisped in spots, retain their juiciness and sweetness. The curls of the chicharron en salsa verde conceal delectable heat. The taqueria delivers a series of happy moments in the heat of summer or the cutting gusts of winter.
In August of 2020, Taqueria El Arquito’s staff began slinging tacos in the Sunny Food Mart convenience store–gas station across the street from Trinity Groves, in West Dallas. The launch was announced in a low-key manner on Instagram, but it came with the news that four other branches were scheduled to open soon, in spaces with existing kitchens. Reza and her siblings were on to something, and they knew it. I imagine the addictive, creamy salsa verde with a lingering heat had something to do with the popularity.
But things could’ve easily gone wrong. Reza admits she didn’t have much of a plan. “When we left the family business to open El Arquito, we didn’t even know what kind of taqueria we were going to open, in the early days of the pandemic,” Reza says. Eventually the group found the spot on Cesar Chavez. The logic for opening in gas stations was simply that “everyone needs gas,” Reza explains. The first menu had a litany of all-star Mexican dishes, including sandal-shaped huaraches; enchiladas; small, round sopes; saucy chilaquiles; and, of course, tacos, all made to go in compliance with COVID protocols.
The menu was too big. “If you put a huarache in a takeout container, it’s not long before it falls apart,” Reza explains. That most of the dishes arrived at their destinations without being completely steamed in Styrofoam clamshell containers is surprising. Such configurations aren’t meant to be transported long distances.
Reza and her brothers-in-law, chefs Juan Diego Gutierrez and Jose Angel Avila, stripped down the menu to focus on tacos, with weekly specials and a few other items, such as aguas frescas, plump gorditas, stout tortas, and sugary churros. If the family hadn’t committed to quality control and doubled down on classic recipes, Taqueria El Arquito likely wouldn’t have gotten a foothold in the Dallas–Fort Worth taco scene. Now it’s booming.
The most recent Taqueria El Arquito outpost is a counter-service, dine-in restaurant at the Preston Center shopping area, in University Park. It opened in July. The taqueria’s wall of front windows, pastoral color scheme, and photos of Taxco’s aqueduct arches give the space an airy, relaxing atmosphere. Tacos are meant to be consumed quickly, but it’s impossible to resist lingering over revitalizing aguas frescas and exciting conversation.
And despite digs that are a bit fancier than those at other El Arquito locations, Reza and her family refuse to increase prices at the University Park branch. “In an area like this, with an affluent clientele, we could sell our tacos for more compared to our locations in gas stations. But that doesn’t make sense,” Reza says. “We want everyone who comes to enjoy our food at the same quality and same price at all of our locations, no matter their social station. They’re all workers of some sort.”
Reza’s vision of a taqueria hearkens back to the early days of the taco’s popularity, during the turn of the twentieth century in Mexico City. Back then, tacos were sold from the backs of bicycles on commuter routes. The tacos were purchased by blue-collar and white-collar workers alike—they bridged social divides. In the decades that followed, taquerias developed into street-side stands, mobile carts, and trucks, as well as brick-and-mortar joints. They took tacos to the masses.
Now, more than one hundred years later, taquerias remains true to their origins as spaces where cilantro becomes wedged between the teeth of customers regardless of socioeconomic background. Taquerias have also developed beyond the original template, serving food across all price points; offering more creative, chef-driven dishes; and focusing on artisanship, such as by nixtamalizing non-GMO corn in-house. There are tacos and taquerias for everyone.
For Reza, though, the word “taqueria” evokes affordability, efficiency, and community. The egalitarian and familial approach has served her well, and it has earned Taqueria El Arquito a varied customer base welcome equally at any location. “We love to see Mexican customers because it validates our work,” Reza says. “At the same time, we love to see non-Mexican customers enjoying our tacos.” Taquerias are public squares where people find common ground in food and, hopefully, in conversation. A taqueria is a civic and civil space where an exchange of tortillas can come with an exchange of ideas and handshakes are spiced up with salsa-stained fingers. In other words, tacos are a force for good.
To find the Taqueria El Arquito location nearest you and learn its operating hours, visit the restaurant’s website or Instagram page.
