Bruna De Souza’s family had run out of room in the Plano shopping center where they operated their Brazilian grocery store, Kiosk Brazil, and needed a bigger space. The family acquired a new spot in the same strip in 2022 and employed contractor Miguel Mendoza for the build-out of the five-thousand-square-foot market and cafe. As De Souza worked alongside Mendoza during construction, she learned that Mendoza, a native of Monterrey, Mexico, was a former co-owner of Maestro Tacos, in Fort Worth. They went on to discuss the restaurant business and, after a year and a half of planning, they established La Bamba Tacos in Kiosk Brazil’s original space last January. “Construction is my day job,” Mendoza says. “Food is my passion. That’s why I wanted to get involved in a taco place with a business partner.” 

The food is based on Mendoza’s family recipes, including salsas that are never too spicy and classic guisados, such as silky curls of chicharron in salsa verde—a far cry from his previous restaurant’s lineup of pork-beef-chicken options. Nothing is fussy or precious, nor driven to collect social media cachet. At La Bamba, homey selections like rajas con queso, ground beef studded with cubed potatoes, and chipotle-stewed tinga de pollo are served family style from large pots. “We really focused on keeping his family recipes that he’s refined over the years and just [creating] somewhere that people can come eat and feel like this feels like home,” De Souza says. “We didn’t spend so much on trying to go over the top. People make places very Instagramable and stuff. We just want to have good food that people will come back to.” A year later, they’ve clinched it with their tacos, gorditas, and other popular Mexican street foods.

Instead of being presented as pockets, these gorditas have their plump, house-made masa cakes cut all the way through. And to keep the fillings of meat or grilled and sliced nopales in place, each is smeared with refried beans. La Bamba’s gorditas reminded me that I don’t eat enough gorditas.

Meanwhile, the carnitas taco features pork that is sweet and just fatty enough to retain its juices. Sliced from a vertical spit and chopped, the vermillion twists of meat bear only a slight char and not an overpowering taste of ash. The rajas-con-queso taco highlights roasted, inky-green chiles mixed with threads of white cheese. 

The stunner of the menu is the quesadilla de elote: quesillo cheese and your filling of choice nestled in a spongy and sweet tortilla made from grated yellow corn. It is a special treat seldom seen outside of Mexico—a dish beloved by Mendoza and De Souza that is also a nod to the sweet-leaning arepas that one of their employees grew up with in Venezuela. 

One dish with a more Brazilian bent is the taco filled with a loose tumble of chopped calabresa, a smoky Brazilian sausage with a red tint from Calabrian peppers and a garlic punch, revealing its Italian origins. The calabresa not only differentiates La Bamba from other taquerias but draws in more Brazilian customers. “Maybe it is a little bit of a bait to get them to go in there to try, but I also really like that sausage,” De Souza says. “I feel like it was good to switch it up a little bit.”

Kiosk Brazil shoppers are a large part of the taqueria’s customer base. It excites De Souza to see Brazilians giving Mexican food a try. “Some of the other offerings—the gorditas, the tortas, the stuff that people that have never tried because it wouldn’t cross their minds as Brazilians—they enjoy,” she says. It also helps La Bamba stand out from the crowd. “We want to be different from other taquerias,” Mendoza adds. 

Any taqueria worth mentioning evokes a sense of nostalgia and home. It must be so welcoming that one can sense it in their bones. La Bamba Tacos is brimming with that quality. The taqueria’s norteño roots are unquestionable with the inclusion of barbacoa, northern Mexico-style trompo, gorditas, and quesadillas on the menu. And for Brazilians, the incorporation of calabresa—which is classically served with rice, on pizza, and in sandwiches—does the trick. “It just reminds me of time with my family,” De Souza says. “We would make it at home and with grilled onions. Having it offered now in a taco for me is exciting.”

During our discussion, Mendoza explained he’d very much like to open more locations. I hope if that happens, La Bamba Tacos will maintain its familiar, comfy feeling.

La Bamba Tacos
901 W. Parker Road, Plano
Phone: 469-929-8484
Hours: Sunday 8 a.m.–8 p.m., Monday–Saturday 8 a.m.–9 p.m.

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