Dallas restaurant from ‘Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives’ resurrected as new taco joint

When tacos mariachi fans enter Jesus Carmona’s new Milagro restaurant, they will feel a sense of déjà vu.

Birria tacos at Milagro in West Dallas are made from cod and Asadero cheese.(Ben Torres / special article)

Although both tacos mariachi restaurants – in West Dallas and Lowest Greenville – were permanently closed in 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic, Carmona’s Taco Shop 2.0 deliberately feels familiar. The old “Taco’s Mariachi” bench stands in front of his new place. It was just 450 feet between the original restaurant, which opened on Singleton Boulevard in 2015, and this new one.

As in the old place, customers see photos of Food Network star Guy Fieri as they enter.

Carmona says Fieri changed his life by showing off its taco shop at Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives in early 2018. But Carmona’s restaurant would have been great even if the Food Network kings hadn’t made it famous. And many of the recipes for tacos mariachi are now used at Milagro.

The restaurant opens on July 6, 2021.

Of course, the reborn tacos has mariachi cocktails. Here is the Milagro Rita, on the left, with frozen blood orange; and The Cure, right, with mezcal, chicharron and chapulines (grasshoppers).(Ben Torres / special article)

The smoked salmon taco and the pulpo (octopus) taco are back on the menu. Carmona’s favorite is the Campechano taco with carne asada, octopus, prawns, avocado and pico de gallo.

The Campeona (“Champion”) burger at Milagro is a serious sandwich.(Ben Torres / special article)

The Campeona burger is a feast: it’s a shrimp burger with avocado mousse, crumbled chicharrón and a jalapeño glaze. Unlike most other dishes, it comes with fries.

The restaurant will also sell Birria tacos on Thursdays. On Fridays, Milagro sells a crispy avocado taco named after Carmona’s former chef, Dallas chef John Tesar.

An interesting novelty is the gobernador taco with prawns, chili de arbol sauce and asadero cheese. The menu is also jam-packed with options for those who don’t eat meat.

Jesus Carmona had a neon advertisement put up at Milagro. It’s a parody from a telenovela and says, “Without tacos there is no paradise.”(Ben Torres / special article)

Original tacos mariachi cook, Nelly Salazar, is in Milagro’s kitchen after taking leave last year. The “taco master” of the kitchen, Leticia Galindo, also returned. So did Andrea Vilera, who hand-painted the works of art on the walls, and a few other employees.

“This is my family,” says Carmona with outstretched arms in his new restaurant. If you stay long enough you will see him hug long lost friends and brag about his team.

I asked several of his employees if they were considering getting another job while they were unemployed during the pandemic. They didn’t.

“Of course I’ve been waiting for him,” says Salazar.

And so, Tacos Mariachi is back, just with a different name.

Carmona decided to return to West Dallas at the request of the three co-founders of Trinity Groves, Phil Romano, Stuart Fitts and Larry “Butch” McGregor. Carmona named it Milagro, which means “miracle” in Spanish, to remember the path he took to get there.

“In 2019 I broke my ankle. I had three operations, ”he says. “Then in March [2020], we have closed two restaurants due to COVID. Then I got COVID. ”He laughs. But not because it’s funny.

“That’s why I call it Milagro.”

Milagro is located at 440 Singleton Blvd., Dallas. It opened on July 6, 2021.

For more food news, follow Sarah Blaskovich on Twitter @sblaskovich.

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