Mexican restaurant with a focus on dippable birria tacos opening near Rochester airport
What began as three friends' entrepreneurial pivot during the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a spacious new Mexican restaurant.
TacoDero Restaurant & Lounge will open on Brooks Avenue, directly across from the Frederick Douglass Greater Rochester International Airport, on Tuesday, Aug. 29.
The menu of the counter service-restaurant will be based on the popular birria tacos that propelled the business from backyard operation to food truck.
Food and drink at TacoDero
The centerpiece of the TacoDero menu is birria tacos, made with beef that has been braised for hours and shredded. A double thickness of corn tortillas is filled with the tender beef, along with mozzarella cheese, cilantro, onions and pineapple. They are dipped in oil, crisped on the flat top and served with a brothy consommé for dipping.
Other protein options include shredded chicken tinga, vegan smoked jackfruit and New York City chopped cheese.
Other menu items will include quesadillas, loaded fries/nachos, birria pizzas and birria-topped mac & cheese. It will also serve its popular fiesta potatoes: seasoned home fries smothered with queso, melted mozzarella, bacon, sour cream, onions and cilantro. Fish tacos are planned for Fridays.
Once the restaurant is in full swing, the plan is to offer more proteins such as carne asada and al pastor.
TacoDero will have a full bar. The cocktails were developed by Brandon Pinkins, who is also bartender at Cure and owner of brandonthebartender.com. Among the offerings will be a Mexican twist on an old fashioned, with mezcal and tequila subbing in for whisky, as well as his versions of a paloma and a pain killer. Margarita towers will also be in the mix.
How TacoDero got its start
Cordero Rivera completed his culinary studies at East High School followed by Johnson & Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island. His career eventually took him to New York City, where he was a private chef cooking for hip-hop artists and NBA players. But when bookings dried up during the pandemic, he returned to Rochester.
He noticed that nobody in town was serving birria tacos, which he had enjoyed on his travels to California and had been getting attention in viral videos on social media. Using stimulus checks to purchase flat-top grills, he teamed up with East High School classmates Pinkins and Tim Reed to sell birria tacos from Rivera's back yard. They were wildly popular ― too popular ― and they struggled to find an appropriate space.
For awhile, they held Taco Tuesday pop-ups at Flour City Station. They launched a food truck that continues to make the rounds to festivals and food truck rodeos. Next, they opened a ghost kitchen at the corner of Culver and Atlantic, which is now closed. "Things were going well but we missed being in front of customers," Rivera said.
Finally, they found a promising space at the former home of Mr. Theo’s diner near the airport. For the past few months, they've been cleaning, painting and making it their own. It will have seating for roughly 120 inside, as well as a few tables outside.
If you go
TacoDero Restaurant & Lounge is at 1174 Brooks Ave. in Gates, across from the Frederick Douglass Greater Rochester International Airport. It has free parking in a large lot.
It will open to the public from 4 to 11 p.m. on Aug, 29. It will close on Aug. 30, to attend the food truck rodeo at the Rochester Public Market that evening. After that, the bar will be open 4 to 11 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and 4 p.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday. The kitchen will close an hour earlier. It will offer takeout with online ordering.
It is wheelchair accessible, with a mixture of tables and seating: high tops, banquettes, booths and standard-height tables.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Mexican restaurant serves birria tacos near Rochester NY airport
