You don’t have to squint hard to see the irony of La Taqueria replacing steamed burrito chain Steamrollers at 586 Hornby Street. Not to put too fine a point on it, but it’s a little like The Juice Truck replacing a Jamba Juice or Farina replacing a Dominos. I’m almost certain that there will be some rejoicing. The 3,000+ sqft location was secured by Marcelo Romero and Alfonso Sanz on February 1st. Their plan is to turn the large space into a licensed lunch and dinner taqueria before the end of April. I took a look inside the space with Marcelo a few days ago and was shown around. He pointed out how the room would be dominated by an open kitchen counter and anchored on one side by a large communal table, adding that the frontage would see a line of picnic tables set in the front window hollows (five in all). Marcelo confirmed that the look will follow La Taqueria’s recognizably bright aesthetic, explaining that the fundamental differences between this location and the four others (Cambie, North Van, Hastings, Victoria) would be size (90 seats here) the addition of Sonora-style burritos to the menu. We can also expect a range of local craft beers on tap and bottled Mexican beer, as well as margaritas. Take a look:
Finally the better taco shop in town has a downtown location but holy crap I hope they last, Hornby is dead after work and on the weekends.
Steamrollers only had 4 locations- It’s not like it was a Chipotle. I am looking forward to La Taqueria, though.