Tacotarian, A New Plant-Based Mexican Eatery, Is Now Open In North Park
Tacotarian, a plant-based Mexican eatery that originally exploded onto the scene in 2018 with its first vegan taco shop in Las Vegas, has opened doors in San Diego this week. Tacotarian San Diego marks the eatery’s 5th store and a huge move for the team with it being the first out-of-state opening.
Since opening in Las Vegas 4 years ago, Tacotarian has become a popular destination for vegan tourists and celebrities at its Arts District location in downtown Las Vegas.
Tacotarian San Diego – first store outside Vegas
The Tacotarian team considers San Diego a perfect place to launch its first store outside of Las Vegas as it’s not too far from home and has a strong vegan food scene.
Tacotarian’s location at 4332 30th Street in North Park was previously home to two other vegan restaurants, The Modern Vegan and Chicago Not Dogs, and the team hopes to make it a destination for vegans and taco lovers living in or traveling to Southern California.
Designed to look like the other Tacotarians in Las Vegas, with its stand-out black and white bar, teal and light wood accents, and hanging plants, the restaurant has a full liquor license and features specialty cocktails.
A celebrity sighting hotspot
Tacotarian was founded by two husband and wife couples, Dan and Regina Simmons and Carlos and Kristen Corral, after they were inspired by a trip to Regina’s hometown of Mexico City.
Tacotarian has become a hotspot for celebrity and political figure sightings. In 2021, Vice President Kamala Harris made headlines when she chose to stop there while visiting Las Vegas. Other notable sightings in its Las Vegas locations include Chelsea Handler, Brad Garrett, Mayor Garcetti, and Rami Jaffee, to name a few.
Excited for San Diego
“When the pandemic hit we didn’t know what was in store for us, but we just kept our heads down and kept our focus on growth. The demand for our food is there and we just want it to be accessible to everyone in the country,” said Carlos Corral, co-founder of Tacotarian.
Dan Simmons, co-founder of Tacotarian, added, “We’ve been eyeballing California for a longtime. We got really lucky with this spot as it’s in an amazing central location and we can’t wait to share our food with San Diego. People have been wanting us to come to California since day one, so it feels great to finally be here.”
With the announcement of its California expansion, the team behind Tacotarian is also unveiling its employee profit-sharing model. The employee equity model is something that the company hopes to continue to grow as a way to uplift employees and give them opportunities for ownership.
Two managers from its Henderson location have moved to San Diego to run the kitchen and FOH and are receiving part ownership in the location. Tom McGowan and Andres Castillo are thrilled to tackle this opening and look forward to WOWing guests in San Diego.
“I’m so thrilled to be starting this new chapter in my life. I’ve dreamed of being an owner of a restaurant and this gives me that opportunity. I know this is just the beginning of my career at Tacotarian,” said Tom McGowan, managing partner at Tacotarian San Diego.
See you there
San Diego’s Tacotarian store is located at 4332 30th Street in North Park.
Tacotarian’s hours are 11AM-9PM daily. Follow Tacotarian on Facebook or Instagram for the latest info.
See you there, San Diego!
