Taco wizards Luis Olvera, Ben Reynolds are hosting a secret Trompo taco pop-up on Tuesday, April 26, that you won’t want to miss
When restaurant hospitality vet Ben Reynolds texts you the map to some magic pop-up Trompo tacos in DFW, you don’t ask questions. You hop in the car and go. Consider this your text from Ben.
Reynolds and taco wizard Luis Olvera have joined forces to broaden Olvera’s Trompo taco empire; this month, that includes hosting a series of weekly taco pop-ups in the BADlands, the Bishop Arts District. The Trompo Taco Tuesdays wrap up Tuesday, April 26. You’ll want to be there.
Trompo specializes in Monterrey-style tacos. At Tuesday’s pop-up, you’ll find $2.50 tacos filled with adobo-spiced pork, marinated then slow-roasted on the trompo. While the pork spins in front of a hot stack of charcoal, its crunchy outer bits are carved into steamy, soft tortillas, each made by hand from fresh corn masa. Prefer flour tortillas? Go with Trompo’s $5 quesadilla, which adds cheese and a heftier portion of the pork.
Of course, there’s beer to help ease the wait (it was about 20 minutes on my visit).
As orders pile up, Olvera may crisp some of the trompo pork alongside the tortillas warming on the griddle, but that’s a shortcut we’ve come to expect at taco pop-ups everywhere.
It’s not easy to spot the pop-up location (626 West Davis St.), but it’s a stone’s throw west of Encina restaurant.
Park on the street or in the empty lot adjacent to the former Bolsa Mercado on Davis St. Make a bee line to the rear of the shaded patio, where you’ll spot the charcoal-fired trompo. Olvera will be working the flattop. A few others will be taking or building orders at the small table adjacent to the salsa bar. And Reynolds will be doing everything else– including working the crowd — because that’s what newly appointed operations managers do.
While they’re working, kick back at one of the picnic tables or commandeer one of the fold-up chairs.
“We’re doing the same tacos and basic things Luis did at Trompo, so we know they’re popular,” Reynolds told me while I munched on a taco. “We wondered if we might only have a couple of people show up, but the line kept growing and now we serve almost 500 tacos a night at these pop-ups.”
These are terrific trompo tacos.
5-8 p.m.