Taylor's Tacos offers a unique take on popular Mexican dish in Little Italy
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A popular pop-up taco stand now has a permanent home in Little Italy, where the owners are using their West Coast roots to create fusion style tacos.
You might have had their food before, because Taylor's Tacos has managed to make its way into the hearts of Chicagoans across the city through their catering pop-ups.
Now, their first brick-and-mortar restaurant is making history as the only Black lesbian-owned taco shop in the entire country.
Their famous authentic street-style tacos have an impeccable amount of soul.
"We got our start in kind of bars, lounges; and we kind of got that idea from just living in California and just really appreciating how you could get million-dollar-tasting tacos at a gas station. And that's kind of the vibe that we were going for," Taylor's Tacos' founder and co-owner Taylor Mason said.
Taylor fell in love with street tacos while living on the West Coast, and wanted to create a fusion between authentic Mexican cuisine and something that the African-American community has coined as the "Black Taco."
"Which is, you know, the flour tortilla, the ground meat, the salsa, cilantro, cheese, lime, you know, got to have that sour cream. But we can fuse. We can create fusion food with other cultures. And I think I want to start to pave that way," Taylor said.
Before the pandemic, they only offered pop-up catering. Once the pandemic hit, Taylor and her wife and co-owner, Maya, had to figure out a way to make their business – that was predicated on people coming together – work for the individual customer.
"We started doing self-serve taco bars. We started doing taco trays. We started doing taco kits. You name it, we were probably doing it," Taylor said.
But Taylor's customers wanted more than just a pop-up version of her tacos.
"If I had a dollar for every time I got a call, 'Hey, can I come get tacos today?' And I'm like, 'No, we're popping up next week,' or 'We're going to be here. We're going to be there,' that forced us to kind of think outside of the box. And so we knew that this was kind of the next way to evolve, so that people could get their favorite tacos every single day," she said.
Since their soft opening earlier this month, the shop is quickly becoming a community favorite— and it's situated just a neighborhood over from where Taylor grew up in North Lawndale and Douglas Park.
"Just to be able to have this opportunity, to be able to hire people from the South and West side," Taylor said.
With their shop, Taylor and Maya are aiming to break the cycle of disinvestment on the West Side.
"I want to be able to bring good food, sustainable food to my neighborhood where a hop, skip and a jump away. And it's been such a dream to be able to work on the West Side, be on the West Side, hire from the West Side, and hopefully just make my community continue to flourish," Taylor said.
Taylor's Tacos is open Tuesday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at 1512 West Taylor Street.
