The Commercial Appeal

El Mero Taco food truck to open brick-and-mortar shop

- Jennifer Chandler Memphis Commercial Appeal USA TODAY NETWORK – TENNESSEE

The award-winning food truck El Mero Taco will soon have a brick-and-mortar restaurant.

Owners Jacob and Clarissa Dries will open El Mero Taco at 8100 Macon Station Drive in Cordova on Tuesday. It’s been a dream that the couple have had for years. “My wife was raised in Oaxaca, Mexico, while I was raised in Memphis. We feel that our food is a representa­tion of our two cultures colliding,” Jacob said of their taco offerings.

El Mero Taco was featured on Food Network’s “Big Food Truck Tip with Andrew Zimmern” last year. The taco food truck has been nominated as “Best Food Truck” by The Commercial Appeal the past two years and is on numerous “best of ” lists in the Memphis food scene.

El Mero hopes the new brick-and-mortar space in Cordova will offer area residents a one-of-a-kind dining spot and community gathering space.

The menu will include popular food truck staples such as southern fried chicken taco and brisket quesadilla. The new menu will also include items that truck lovers have not seen before such as smoked sweet potato flautas and The Chi-cha taco, which contains inhouse made Chorizo verde — thinly sliced steak, and chicharron tossed in a morita pepper sauce.

Vegetarian­s and vegans will also be pleased to see the same choices at the restaurant and a few new

If you go

Hours: 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Tuesday-thursday; 11 a.m.10 p.m. Friday; 9 a.m.-10 p.m. Saturday plant-friendly options.

The new space will have beer and wine as well as a cocktail menu.

According to the couple, the cocktails will marry the truck and brick-and-mortar location by taking things like the watermelon agua fresca and hibiscus tea, previously offered on the food truck, and using those drinks to create seasonal cocktails.

The new restaurant will also include a grab-and-go section for items such as salsas and dips, as well as entrees for dinner.

The restaurant will feature fast casual service and have a dining room as well as an outdoor patio.

The food truck will continue to roll through Memphis as much as before.

Jennifer Chandler is the Food & Dining reporter at The Commercial Appeal. She can be reached at jennifer.chandler@commercial­appeal.com and you can follow her on Twitter and Instagram at @cookwjenni­fer.

Phone: 901-308-1661 Online: elmerotaco.com

 ?? EL MERO TACO ?? El Mero Taco owners Clarissa and Jacob Dries serve Southern-inspired tacos using fresh ingredient­s from their food truck.
EL MERO TACO El Mero Taco owners Clarissa and Jacob Dries serve Southern-inspired tacos using fresh ingredient­s from their food truck.

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