DEPAUL — The people behind the newly opened Holy Taco think a restaurant should reflect its neighborhood, and one has to admit the name suits a taqueria in the heart of St. Vincent de Paul Parish.
Owner Brian Reynolds, best known for Millie's Supper Club, lives in the immediate area, "so he knows what his neighbors want," chef Daniel Espinoza said.
"Tacos aren't new. We aren't re-creating the wheel. But bringing consistency and quality to the neighborhood, I think that sets us apart from other taquerias."
Holy Taco, 953 W. Webster Ave., opened a couple of weeks ago, and Espinoza readily admitted, "I'd never done tacos before." Rather, he came out of a more upscale Mexican background at Mexique and developed through his own Anomar pop-up restaurant.
Espinoza said he wanted to avoid the bugaboo of most taco places, which tend to specialize in one type of taco — al pastor or carne asada or chorizo — and leave the others on the menu more "meh." After advising friends to get this type of taco here, that type there, he wanted a place where everything was uniformly good: one-stop taco shopping.
So the tortillas are made by hand on site from masa Espinoza picks up daily from the family-run Tortilleria y Taqueria Los Gamas in Logan Square.
"We take a whole lot of pride in all of our meats," he added, including those listed above as well as a tinga pollo, but he called the barbacoa "my baby," made from beef brisket hit with abundant spices and wrapped in avocado leaves to be slow-cooked for 15 hours.
The restaurant aims to please DePaul University students too with reasonable prices: under $3 for tacos, under $6 for burritos and under $4 for sincronizadas, Holy Taco's take on quesadillas, or what Espinoza called "a Mexican grilled cheese."
It's also serving brunch on weekends, including huevos rancheros, chilaquiles, a breakfast burrito and breakfast tacos, made simply using scrambled eggs.
"That was one thing that captivated me when I was traveling in Austin," Texas, Espinoza said. "They're big in Austin, but you don't really see them that much here."
Hours are 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Sundays-Thursdays, 11-2 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays.
Espinoza is adding churros to the menu, and he'll be rotating in seasonal specialties, starting with fish tacos in March.
"Lent's coming up," Espinoza said. "We're right next to a church."
