Texas’ No. 1 taqueria will open in Sundance Square. (It’s a familiar name.)
February 10,2021
See full Fort Worth Star-Telegram article by Bud Kennedy here.
When last we saw Gino Rojas, he and his Revolver Taco Lounge were headed to Deep Ellum after a couple of tries in Fort Worth.
Now, Revolver will come home. Rojas will open a Revolver, recently ranked Texas’ No. 1 taqueria by Texas Monthly, in the Sundance Square space left empty by the uninspired Taco Diner.
Revolver is a Michoacán-style gourmet taqueria featuring traditional street tacos plus fish and lobster tacos, cabrito, chicken mole and a special reservation-only chef’s menu in a separate dining area named Purépecha.
Rojas described it as “traditional dishes with an avant-garde approach.”
“I will not call it ‘modern Mexican,’ “ he wrote in an email. “I hate that term.”
Rojas has 10 years of experience under his belt since he opened the first Revolver in 2011 in the West 7th neighborhood.
It became known as quirky, from the offbeat menu with seldom-seen items like chiles en nogada. to the cast of characters including Rojas’ family members from Michoacán, who flew in weekends to cook and make tortillas.
Rojas developed a devoted following but lost the lease. A new location on Forest Park Boulevard was slowly growing a following when Deep Ellum developers lured Revolver.
Rojas wrote on Facebook on Monday: “I left with my heart broken and a mind full of problems. But I never gave up!”
“I knew one day revolver would come back to fort worth,” he wrote, adding: “It’s time for RTL to go back home and show mama what I have learned.”
Eats Beat newsletter
Be in the know on where to eat and the newest restaurants to check out in North Texas.
Revolver still has the flavors of Rojas’ native Yurécuaro — also the home region of iconic Fort Worth restaurateurs Joe T. and Jesús García — and now offers choices such as sliced duck tacos, octopus and birria de cabrito.
In 2019, Rojas was a semifinalist for the culinary world’s James Beard Award.
His new Fort Worth restaurant will open during a still-raging pandemic.
“Some people tell me, ‘You are crazy! Can’t do that right now!’ ” he wrote. “But I always like challenges..”
Rojas also said he gives “my deepest gracias to the Bass familia for giving me this opportunity!”
Taco Diner was the subject of jokes because it was neither a taqueria nor a diner, and it offered uninspired tacos.
“The fact that I am taking over a space that symbolizes the oppression to my culinary culture is already a win!!” Rojas wrote.