El Taco Loco food truck to open restaurant in downtown Danbury
DANBURY — The owner of El Taco Loco — a popular, local food truck specializing in authentic Mexican cuisine — is preparing to open a brick-and-mortar restaurant on Main Street.
“This transition happened very fast, but we’re excited to take this next step,” El Taco Loco food truck owner Noel Dominguez said in an email.
The 25-year Danbury resident is getting ready to open his first downtown restaurant, which will have the same name as his food truck, at 317 Main St.
After sitting vacant for a couple years following the closure of Subway, the roughly 1,600-square-foot commercial space on the corner of Main and Crosby streets was transformed into a Japanese-Latin restaurant called ItadakiMÀS, which closed its doors last month after a year in business.
ItadakiMÀS owner Anna Llanos, who also owns Mothership Bakery & Café, said she thought 317 Main St. would be great for a taco shop and decided to help El Taco Loco move into the space.
“It was a good opportunity that was given to us,” Dominguez said. “Anna has helped us a lot in figuring out how to open up (there) to expand our business and give it a shot.”
Dominguez entered Danbury’s food scene three years ago with the El Taco Loco food truck.
“We’re Mexican and my wife knows a lot of traditional Mexican recipes, so my wife, brother and I had the idea to get into the food business,” he said.
Since July 2019, the El Taco Loco food truck has been a family-run business offering authentic Mexican dishes like tacos, burritos, quesadillas and tortas, as well as chips, guacamole and salsa.
“We really try to offer the flavors that we have back home in Mexico,” Dominguez said.
The El Taco Loco restaurant will offer the same items as the food truck, according to Dominguez, who said he plans to continue using the truck for events in the area.
Dominguez said he’s excited for El Taco Loco to open at 317 Main St. and sees it as an opportunity to not only grow the business, but learn more about the food industry.
“We don’t have an exact date yet — we are still organizing everything and in the process of getting the space ready — but we’re hoping to open it in the next couple of weeks,” he said.
In the meantime, Dominguez said updates on the restaurant’s grand opening will be posted on El Taco Loco’s Facebook and Instagram pages.
Another Danbury-area food truck recently opened a storefront. Marcos and Leidimar Mendonca, the owners of Cinnamon Churros — a food truck specializing in unique churros — opened a café on Old Hawleyville Road in Bethel.
