Urban Taco, a Georgetown sports bar offering gourmet tacos, opened just two months ago, but already often has a line out the door before opening.
“We have been trying to open for two years,” said co-owner Erika Mata. “It’s really rewarding to see people come in and really enjoy our tacos.”
Ms. Mata owns Urban Taco with her husband, David, who supported her dream of opening a restaurant. She grew up in the food industry, as her family owned restaurants when she was a child.
At age 8, she told her father she wanted to be a chef. He tried to talk her into going to law school, but she stuck to her guns. Today, Ms. Mata holds a culinary degree from Le Cordon Bleu and a business degree from the University of Texas.
“Food is art to me,” Ms. Mata said.
Urban Taco’s menu reflects that passion, combining familiar favorites with regional Mexican specialties inspired by a lengthy research trip.
“We actually took a trip to Mexico for two months,” Ms. Mata said. “We went to every state in Mexico to get recipes, and then we just made them ours.”
The restaurant’s most popular taco is the Quesabirria, made with Rafitas birria and grilled cheese, then topped with onion, cilantro, sliced radish and a lime wedge on a corn tortilla. Ms. Mata said the birria is slow-cooked for 10 hours.
The Pastor taco is another customer favorite. It features marinated pork, cilantro, onion, grilled pineapple and smoky morita salsa on a corn tortilla.
“We don’t take shortcuts. Everything’s fresh,” Ms. Mata said.
The hot sauces and tortillas are all made in-house, and Urban Taco does not add extra grease to its tacos.
While the Al Pastor taco and Quesabirria are familiar choices for many diners, the menu also includes offerings inspired by regional Mexican traditions that are less common in the United States. One example is the restaurant’s cold beans — a chilled salsa-like dip with black beans, peppers and onion prepared in a style popular in Mexico’s Yucatán region.
“Cold beans in Yucatán, they’re really, really famous,” Ms. Mata said. “You don’t get hot beans there.”
The restaurant’s beverage menu is also drawing attention. The Pineapple Spicy Margarita and the Cucumber Mezcalita are the most popular cocktails among customers.
As Urban Taco continues to build a following, Ms. Mata said the goal remains simple: creating fresh food that customers return for again and again.
“We want regulars here,” she said. “That's all we want — people to enjoy something that we love doing.”
121 South Interstate 35 Service Road, Georgetown
512-884-4498
https://urbantacotx.com