Contemporary Updates to Mexican-American Classics

The shells of the Crispy Tacos at Taco John’s are designed to offer a “localized bite,” meaning they shouldn’t break apart while eating (especially useful in a drive-thru setting). The shells, which are fried in-house daily at all 320 locations of the now 57-year-old Mexican-American chain, are made with masa, water and lime, and filled with a choice of sirloin steak or chicken, taco sauce, lettuce and cheddar. But this summer, customers were craving more crunch—and the subsequent mess. The extra-crunchy Dorado Taco, inspired by L.A.’s Chuy’s Tacos Dorados, came out as an LTO and perfectly fit the bill.

“We go after Midwestern comfort from a foundation standpoint and throw in Mexican flavor cues with sauces, seasoning and cheeses,” says Brad Bergaus, corporate chef and director of menu innovation. The Crunchy Dorado Taco is fried longer than regular shells and made with a thicker corn tortilla, so there’s even more crunch and break-ability. It’s stuffed with chipotle-smoked shredded chicken (which takes inspiration from Midwestern barbecues), chipotle ranch, lettuce, double portions of cheddar and fresh pico de gallo. “It’s meant to be somewhat messy because you’re biting into this extremely crunchy shell, and you’re going to have flakes come off.”

Be it nostalgia for ’70s taco nights complete with yellow store-bought corn tortillas, memories of deep-fried chimichangas made famous at restaurants like Chi-Chi’s (which recently reopened in Richfield, Minn.), or cravings for sizzling fajita spreads, chefs are revisiting Mexican-American and Tex-Mex classics, but adding their own twists and ingredient upgrades.

While the Dorado Taco is new for Taco John’s, the chain has looked to the past for the return of its Mexi Rolls and Taco Burger. A core offering in the ’80s and ’90s, the flauta-like Mexi Rolls feature flour tortillas rolled and stuffed with beef, refried beans and cheddar, prepared and fried in-house daily. They were eventually taken off the menu, but returned in 2015 through 2020. This year marked yet another return, following customer requests for the retro offering.

Credit: Taco John’s

Taking inspiration from an iconic L.A. taco, Taco John’s debuted a Crunchy Dorado Taco LTO, featuring a thicker corn tortilla and longer fry time for extreme crunch and an intentionally messy eating experience.

“I think it’s because it brings back memories for a lot of our core consumers who are 40 or 50 and grew up on the brand,” Bergaus explains. The chain’s Taco Burger also debuted in the ’70s and recently returned with some enhancements, such as upgrading from a standard hamburger bun to a potato bun. “We saw an opportunity from a nostalgia standpoint,” he says, adding that a larger, heartier bun helps support the wetness of the taco meat and taco sauce. “It’s going to hold up and get back to the portions that customers remember.”

Ford Fry’s Superica is anchored in Tex-Mex favorites, albeit with a chef-elevated twist. The Fajitas al Carbone section specializes in locally sourced proteins that are cooked on a wood-fired grill and served with freshly pressed tortillas, charred onions and jalapeños. Steak gets an overnight marinade, chicken is smoked, brined and seasoned with a proprietary blackening season, and cured pork belly comes with a guava glaze. Adding another level of flavor to the classic fajita platter is the “frothy” Mexican butter used to cook the proteins (it’s also served in a ramekin for extra dipping on the side). “It’s a combo of margarine, butter, white wine and garlic that foams up. Then you drizzle it tableside,” says Marcelo Han, culinary director.

Another standout, the Crispy Tacos, are fried to order and available in two protein options, including picadillo. “We sear it hard so you get that caramelization on the meat,” Han says of the beef they season with cumin, dark chile powder, regular chile powder, poblano peppers, chicken powder and onions. Meanwhile, the Chicken Tinga leverages a mix of chicken breast and thigh cuts for more moisture and flavor plus a morita salsa of poblano peppers, canned tomatoes, onions and juices from the chicken after it’s slow-cooked in a combi oven. Both tacos come with a mix of Monterey and Chihuahua cheeses, house crema, lettuce and cilantro.

Credit: Andrew Thomas Lee

Superica ups the ante on fajitas, which are cooked in a “frothy” Mexican butter over a wood-fired grill. The housemade butter (combining margarine, butter, white wine and garlic) is also served on the side for extra dipping.

Less traditional but crucial for contemporary appeal are two vegetarian options, including an off-menu Crispy Avocado and the Cauliflower Macha. For the latter, cauliflower is cut into steaks and marinated in salsa macha overnight, which cures it and softens the stalks. Then, the steaks are slowly cooked on the grill (for char and smoke flavor), cooled and chopped. When an order is placed, the cut veggies are put in a perforated basket and returned to the grill to recapture the smoke.

Chef Gabe Erales grew up in El Paso, Texas, where he says Tex-Mex and northern Mexico borderland cuisine were second nature. After traveling throughout Mexico and immersing himself in pre-Hispanic techniques throughout his culinary career, he turned his focus to Tex-Mex cuisine. The culmination of this immersion is Ometeo in Tysons Corner, Va., which reimagines the cuisine. “I was really excited about how a whimsical approach of Tex-Mex would feel to me because I grew up eating and seeing it, and it was always so amazing and delicious. But from a distance, it felt kind of boring,” he says. “When we started talking about what the concept for Ometeo looked like, it got really exciting. We wondered how to make fajitas a little bit more nontraditional and interactive and how to reimagine some of the classics so they still feel nostalgic but have a different lens.”

One example is the Shrimp Chimichanga, which Erales created after eating a whole shrimp wonton with sweet-and-sour dipping sauce at an Asian restaurant. “I thought, “Why don’t we take our small flour tortillas and create a fun shrimp mixture with bacon, roasted onions, chiles and Chihuahua cheese and add a chipotle and Fresno chile sweet-and-sour sauce on the side?’” he says of the starter, which is rolled and cut to resemble egg rolls. “It’s a smaller version of a classic chimichanga, which makes it more fun to eat.”

Credit: An Phuong

Ometeo’s Shrimp Chimichangas are shrunk to bite-sized portions and served with Fresno chile sweet-and-sour sauce, borrowing inspiration from classic Chinese egg rolls.

The fajitas at Ometeo go beyond the classics, with mix-and-match protein choices like confit carnitas, scallops, local squid, prawns, octopus, Wagyu strip steak, short ribs or suadero beef belly, all served with corn and flour tortillas, salsa and pre-melted cheese. “You can create your own adventure and build tacos with the flour tortillas,” says Erales, who puts melted cheese on the skillet along with the proteins, “so as it melts and goes to the table, you get a piece of queso fundido, action which has been really fun.”

Ometeo will expand to Nashville, Tenn., next year, and Erales says he’s thinking of adding other Tex-Mex dishes like the classic egg batter-breaded chile rellenos and puffy tacos, which didn’t do as well on the menu when the restaurant first opened. “I think from a familiarity standpoint, people in the D.C. area were looking more for the extra-crispy, yellow hard shell, so it’s been a moving target trying to identify what the specific customer base in the area really gravitates toward. But Puffy Tacos were a big one for us when we opened, and something we’ll definitely revisit.”

Of course, operators don’t always know which dishes will resonate or make a comeback if at all, but according to Taco John’s Bergaus, “We’ve definitely looked at the nostalgia piece and don’t see it slowing down. From our lens we brought back some classics, but look to those alternative line extensions you can bring or additional flavors that consumers remember, maybe not necessarily from us but from their childhood.”