Taco Bus Opens Downtown

Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn can be expected to say how the opening of the new restaurant on Franklin Street is great for downtown. And he didn't pass the opportunity at the ribbon cutting ceremony Tuesday afternoon.

But then he said something that Taco Bus fans can really relate to: “This restaurant will be great for downtown, and bad for my waistline.” And with that the self-described “Taco Bus junkie” cut the ribbon. Business owner Rene Valenzuela then pulled the cover off the restaurant's yellow bus facade relief before dozens of friends, family, reporters, and officials filed inside to sample carne asada tostadas, pineapple water, and new menu addition guava cheesecake.

The new storefront at 505 N. Franklin St. opens to the public at 11 a.m. Wednesday. It's the third location for the chain that originated in Seminole Heights, at 913 E. Hillsborough Ave., where the iconic converted school bus still serves as the restaurant's kitchen.

Inside the Franklin Street store four HDTVs overlook seating booths and a long stand-up counter that stretches the length of the dining room. Outside is the take-out window, framed by the bus relief and serviced by its own food service line.

But the kitchen is where the rubber meets the road, and Valenzuela said for the Taco Bus to distinguish itself from other Mexican restaurants, “We have all these different tools in the kitchen. One of them is authenticity. The other is the ingredients are really fresh. Our shredded chicken for our tomatillo sauce is done by hand. It is very labor-intensive, so we have to put a lot of love into it. A lot of other (restaurants) just want to grab the low-hanging fruit.”

The new Taco Bus will share the same menu as the Seminole Heights and downtown St. Petersburg locations.

Valenzuela, a native of Monterrey, Mexico, came to the U.S. in 1988 to study and work as a jalapeno pepper sales representative. He first settled in Chicago, then moved to Tampa in 1994. Once here he operated a Mexican food truck at the Hillsborough/Armenia Avenue intersection. When Hillsborough Avenue was widened, Valenzuela moved his truck to Plant City.

In 2002 he opened his first restaurant there, Taqueria Monterrey. That same year, husband and wife team Roberto and Monica Morfin opened El Taconazo at 913 E. Hillsborough Ave., a popular eatery that everybody called the Taco Bus due to its unique kitchen. In 2007 Valenzuela bought the business from the Morfins and officially changed the name to Taco Bus. He tweaked the menu, spruced up the dining room, and opened a second location at 2324 Central Ave. in St. Petersburg.

The restaurant's growing popularity led to its appearance on an episode of Food Network's "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives." It was taped at the Seminole Heights location in March 2011, and aired Oct. 31, 2011.

Standing outside his new Taco Bus Tuesday afternoon, Valenzuela said he never imagined Taco Bus would achieve this level of success. “Tampa has been extremely generous to us,” he said, “and we've been extremely lucky. I have nothing but love for Tampa.”

As for Taco Bus' next location, Valenzuela said he will convert his second Taqueria Monterrey restaurant, at 2320 E Fletcher Ave. near the University of South Florida, to a Taco Bus within the next few months.