TALKIN’ TACOS TAKING OVER
Miami food truck grows to four South Florida restaurants, the latest in Coral Springs
If ever there was an aptly named food truck, it was Talkin’ Tacos. The buzz about the Miami-based mobile kitchen was so strong back in 2020, it propelled the owners — Mohammad “Moe” Farraj and Omar Al-Massalkhi — to open a brick-and-mortar restaurant in Miramar in 2021. That did so well, they debuted a second restaurant later that same year in Miami’s Brickell neighborhood. Then they added a Wynwood location in 2022.
Now they’re bringing that taco chatter farther north into Broward County with their latest venue: A Talkin’ Tacos in Coral Springs, at 2866 N. University Drive. This latest fast-casual spot opened on March 24 in the shopping/ dining plaza The Walk of Coral Springs.
“We thought that Coral Springs was a great market and has a great community,” Al-Massalkhi told the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “[We] definitely wanted to bring something special to Coral Springs, as well as all of our customers that drove from Coral Springs or Plantation, Sunrise down to Miramar, telling us we should open up in Coral Springs. We just decided to pull the trigger on that one.”
Both owners are 27 years old and from Miramar. They’ve been buddies since attending West Broward High School in Pembroke Pines.
“We’ve identified a goal, and our goal is to expand Talkin’ Tacos to the areas that we’ve seen a lot of attraction from customers towards us, and our goal is to do that in a manner where we preserve the quality of the services and food that we give,” Farraj says. “So expanding rapidly is not within our horizon or plans. We plan to expand through franchising and corporate expansion as well.
“At the moment, we are opening up a location in Orlando, a location in Jacksonville
and Tampa, as well as Manhattan, N.Y. And so just spreading our roots everywhere we go.”
The halal Mexican fare includes:
■ Carne Asada, Chicken Achiote, Southwest Chicken, Bang Bang Shrimp Tacos, Mushroom, Caribbean and Birria Tacos ranging in price from $11.99 to $15.99. The beef birria is said to be braised each day for 12 hours before the cooking process is complete.
■ There are also entrees such as Birria Ramen ($9.99), Quesa Birria ($14.99), Rice Bowl ($14.99), Tomato Basil Ramen ($12.99) and Loaded Nachos ($14.99).
■ Side dishes include Street Corn in a Cup ($5.99), Loaded Fries ($9.49) and Sweet Plantains ($4.50).
■ As for desserts, there are different-flavored Churros ($6.99), as well as Tajin and Chamoy Gummies, Tres Leches Cake and Dulce de Leche ($4.99 each).
Below, find more about Talkin’ Tacos in excerpts from a question-and-answer session with owners Al-Massalkhi and Farraj. The interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Q: What makes Talkin’ Tacos unique?
Farraj: The concept itself started in Wynwood. And as a lot of people know, Wynwood is filled with artists. We took what we can from it and and we grounded that into our roots. So now if you walk into our locations, you see this. It’s not just the food, it’s the atmosphere that we create. We have this Day of the Dead-themed restaurant layout. We have street paintings within our restaurants on the walls with black lights that pop out. [The lighting is] a little bit dim in the restaurant, so there’s a little bit more of that seclusion and privacy. Al-Massalkhi: So Talkin’ Tacos has a great vast menu with the Miami twist to it. You know a new hip vibe to it. We have great scratch-made ingredients made fresh daily ... It’s something that’s very unique. We were one of the first to bring the birria tacos down here to South Florida. So it also gave us ... that push [ahead of ] the competition that we had something no one else did.
Q: Are you working “Floribbean” flavors into the dishes on the menu? Farraj: Absolutely. One of the most talented chefs that is on the team is actually from the Caribbean and so we have one of our bestselling items, which is called the Caribbean Tacos. They’re very flavorful. They give you that sweet-salty flavor to it, from the plantains to the [marinated] steak to the avocado salsa. It’s very delicious ... So those flavor profiles do tend to make their way through a lot of the items within the menu.
Q: Why go from food truck to a brick-and-mortar restaurant? What’s the advantage?
Al-Massalkhi: I think being in the brick-and-mortar gave us more platform to work with ... we could do a lot more than we could have in the food truck. So as great as we were in the food truck, I think we were able to just double that in having more space, more staff, more time, more resources to work with.
Q: What did you do before you got into the food and beverage biz?
Farraj: Before I got into the food and beverage business, I was a dentist, still am today. I was in school prior to us opening up the food truck. And shortly after we opened up the food truck, I completed my residency in New York in oral facial trauma and then came back, and now my I’m also a full-time restaurateur.
Al-Massalkhi: I’ve actually been in the food and beverage industry since I was 15 years old. I’ve been in plenty of restaurants locally. I started off in every position you could think of — dishwasher, busboy, prep, cook, line cook. You name it, I did it. I did it for about five or six years. And then I decided to open a food truck, different from Talkin’ Tacos, and I did that for another four years. Then me and Mohammad decided to team up and do something different.
Q: How did the name Talkin’ Tacos come about?
Al-Massalkhi: The name Talkin’ Tacos came about in a group meeting with partners just throwing names out there, and we decided that Talkin’ Tacos was the best fit. And we decided to quote it as well with our slogan: “Less Talkin’, More Tacos.”
The new Broward County Talkin’ Tacos is at 2866 N. University Drive, Coral Springs. For more information, go to talkintacos.net or call 954-290-0941.