Regino Rojas of Revoler Taco Lounge and the tasting room, Purepecha.
Jordan Maddox
Chef Regino “Gino” Rojas has had an outsized influence on the story of tacos in Dallas. Originally from Michoacán, Mexico, the chef introduced the city to a new style of the cuisine. While taco stands are aplenty (and we love them), Rojas upgraded the local staple with an inventive menu and a tasting room. Purépecha, named after an indigenous group from Mexico, is a reservations-only spot in Deep Ellum designed so that guests feel like they’re eating in his home kitchen.
See part of this Q&A on Instagram.
He also has the more casual cantina Revolver next door. In both places, his mix of styles and cultures is simple yet inspiring. Wonton-wrapped cabrito, for instance, employs the delicate Chinese staple as a “vehicle,” as he once called it. A long octopus tentacle sticks out of a tortilla, which his mom and aunt make, in the crowd-favorite octopus al pastor.
Rojas’ mom and aunt work with him. His father, Arturo Rojas, ran a shop in the back of the restaurant where he engraved guns with intricate, hand-etched scrollwork — a great story told by José Ralat for Vice.
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We recently caught up with the six-time (!) James Beard semifinalist (seriously, James, get it done) to ask him a few burning questions from, what he calls, “the bad-ass neighborhood of Deep Ellum.”
Here’s our chat:
Dallas Observer: What’s your favorite guilty pleasure meal?
Rojas: Well, there’s a dish that my mom make for me since I was a little kid. It’s a gordita apachurrado, which is a classic toasted gordita. And then it’s hand-crushed and then there’s chili de arbol applied, which is a very rich sauce. And I’ve been eating those dishes since I was a little kid. In Mexico, you don’t get food in school. Your mother will have to take your lunch. So, my mother would take little prepared dishes for me. So, all my friends were like, “What is your mother bringing today? What is your mother bringing?” So, all those dishes, especially that one. Sometimes I cry when I eat it.
DO: What are some of your favorite restaurants in Dallas?
Rojas: I can count them, probably with three fingers. One of the best dishes here in Dallas — my favorite one is the duck hearts at Mot Hai Ba. It’s the best fucking dish in Dallas. They don’t have many a day for obvious reasons, but it’s delicious. Every time I go, I demand a double portion. And the foie gras at Paris 7th in Fort Worth. [Chef Peja Kristic at Mot Hai Ba suggested we talk to chef Rojas; here’s that chat.]
Kidney dish at Steirerick in Vienna.
Photo courtesy of Regino Rojas
DO: What’s the best meal you’ve ever had?
Rojas: That’s hard. I will tell you the dish that has wowed me this year, and the best in probably 20 years. It was kidneys at a place in Vienna called Steirerick. It completely blew my mind. How can somebody do so much with so little? That was the essence of fine dining. Some delicious kidney that is still red in the middle. How? I don’t know; I didn’t even want to ask. I wanted to sit down, shut the fuck up and eat it because it was subliminal.
DO: What’s a food trend you’re tired of?
Rojas: There are so many. Aguachile is one of them. Everything is an aguachile now. They seem to almost get rid of the word “ceviche.“
DO: What’s the worst thing that’s ever happened in your kitchen?
Rojas: There are many, but … we were cleaning right here, washing the floors. And I was in the front and all of a sudden I just heard this noise, and I’m like, ‘Fuck, somebody fall.’ And, I saw her on the floor; my aunt called, and I was like, ‘Aunt, don’t move, please don’t move.‘ And she goes, ‘I’m OK.’ And she stands up; the knot was like this fucking big.
And I was like, ‘Oh no, Tia.’ And then we sit her down and made sure all her senses were fine. This happened around 5 p.m. and we make sure she was fine and everything. Fifteen to 20 minutes passed by, she was fine. No blood or anything. I was like, “OK, let’s go to the doctor. I want to take you to the hospital. I want to make sure you’re fine.’ She looked at me like, ‘No, mijo, we have a service tonight.‘ [Gino slaps the table in pride.]
She refuses to go because she wanted to serve the people. Of course, I took her right away after, and she was fine.
DO: Who should we talk to next?
Rojas: Chef Mark Hitri from Paris 7th in Fort Worth.