Popular DC-based taco shop comes to Raleigh. What to know about the opening
A mega-popular DC-area taco shop will make its debut in Raleigh this month.
Taco Bamba, founded by fine-dining chef Victor Albisu, will open its first taqueria beyond the brand’s home turf in the Washington, D.C., suburbs. The new shop has been built from the ground up at 3518 Wade Avenue in the Ridgewood Shopping Center.
The Raleigh Taco Bamba will hold its grand opening Aug. 28, completing an 11-month build out.
It is the brand’s first free-standing restaurant, with all other locations built into suburban strip malls. It will have a large outdoor patio and nearby lawn and a dining room largely covered in wood.
For its grand opening, Taco Bamba is giving away passes for one free taco each week for a year to the first 100 people in line.
“It’s something we had to stop when we opened our other locations because it got so big it caused traffic problems,” Albisu said. “But we’re bringing it back for Raleigh.”
Taco Bamba’s entry into the Raleigh market continues a trend in the Triangle of fast casual brands seeking out the region’s diners for expansions. But Albisu said he feels a connection with Raleigh that led him to push Taco Bamba beyond Northern Virginia.
“I feel a kinship to the Raleigh diner,” Albisu said. “I think they’re going to appreciate the way we build our flavors. It’s an extraordinarily sophisticated market, from a culinary perspective. I think we speak each other’s language.”
Albisu’s fine dining background includes former DC restaurant Del Campo and feeding the Obamas at upscale steakhouse BLT steak.
The Raleigh opening kicks off Taco Bamba’s southern expansion, with the brand also adding locations in Richmond and Nashville. Albisu said each restaurant has a slightly tweaked menu unique to that location, along with all the tacos, burritos and fried creations on the regular Taco Bamba menu.
“We’re setting the stakes in the ground in markets where we feel like Taco Bamba could have been born,” Albisu said.
What’s on the Taco Bamba menu?
In Raleigh that means the a special taco called the Sweet Baby Jesus, where bacon carnitas is sweetened with Cheerwine barbecue sauce and topped with smoky mustard, jalapeno slaw and tomatillo chow chow. Raleigh will also have a shrimp and grits taco called “Kiss My Grits.”
And, catering to the home team, there will be a “Wolfpack Poutine,” made with sweet potato fries topped with white barbecue sauce, pimento cheese, jalapeno onion salad and seasoned pecans.
The standard Taco Bamba menu includes the familiar and classic taco fillings and fixings, but also swerves in some wild directions. There’s a brisket quesadilla made with pimento cheese, Peruvian chicken tacos and potato salad dressed like Mexican street corn.
Other highlights include The Jeffrey, an egg roll on a stick, stuffed with al pastor, steak, choizo, cheese, peppers, onions and salsa.
“We change the menu in every store, we’re constantly being creative,” Albisu said. “Creativity is its own life, its own thing. Once an idea is put in play and becomes part of a business, it’s a thing that gets to live.”
This story was originally published August 16, 2023 at 11:36 AM with the headline "Popular DC-based taco shop comes to Raleigh. What to know about the opening."
