Tacos y Chelas Has a Family Vibe, Amazing Tacos and Free Margs Twice a Week

It can be a sad sight when mom-and-pop-owned establishments that were once considered integral to a neighborhood begin to get pushed out to make room for newer, trendier boutiques. It’s perplexing how quickly areas around Dallas can get an ultimate makeover that renders them completely unrecognizable and void of soul.

The dynamic of gentrification is reminiscent of Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men character Lennie and his ultimately fatal mishaps. The things Lennie loves the most eventually get smothered until they become still and lifeless. Lennie didn’t know how to appreciate from a distance. His overwhelming need to interact with things he deemed desirable eventually led them to their demise. Yet despite all the swanky new pop-up restaurants with overpriced menus, a few places are trying to keep the real Oak Cliff thriving.
In the heart of Bishop Arts, at the corner of Davis Street and N. Madison Avenue, sits Tacos y Chelas, a new Oak Cliff taqueria. Robert and Gracie Rodriguez, along with Nick and Olga Rodriguez, all from Oak Cliff, are the owners and this is their first foray in into the service industry. Their restaurant is the exact opposite of pretentious. There are several tables for diners inside and two TVs mounted on the walls, which seem perfect for cramming tacos and watching another Dallas sports team’s disappointing season. There is no loud music or obnoxious décor. It’s just a simple family-friendly scene that breeds hometown neighborhood vibes.

The menu is pretty simple. Tacos, burritos, quesadillas, tortas and bowls. Tacos are $3 to $4. The most expensive item is a birria plate that comes with three tacos with rice and beans for $14.95.
We looked for items on the menu that may stand out over the standard taqueria mix of pork, chicken and beef. One thing that sang to us was the fact that they serve breakfast tacos all day every day. We went with a sausage and a bacon ($2.95 each).

When the breakfast tacos came out, I had to confirm we had ordered the tacos and not the burritos because these were huge. We got ours on flour tortillas and decided to save the corn for our other tacos. Each taco was gleefully packed with fluffy eggs, gooey cheese and a variety of savory minced meats. It might depend on your metabolism, but this massive breakfast wrap can easily have you skipping the rest of your meals for the day.
Tacos y Chelas makes their own salsa, and if you don’t like heat, you may want to let them know. If they had a mild heat-level sauce, it must have gotten passed us, because each sauce was delicious but hotter than the next. From salsa verde to flaming red, the salsa was a perfect blend of heat and flavor.

The sauces married well with the pastor, barbacoa and fajita tacos, but those shrimp tacos stole the show. The word shrimp generally signifies something is small in stature, but these seafood tacos are anything but. The homemade tortillas are stuffed to the top with chopped jumbo shrimp drenched in an original habanero sauce. This could easily be one of the best shrimp tacos in North Texas.

Even though Tacos y Chelas is a new restaurant on the block, the owners are not. The owners and their extended family all grew up in the area and understand what it means to call Oak Cliff Home. With the exorbitant cost of food and real estate in the area steadily increasing, the family-owned establishment want to keep prices as low as possible.

On Tuesdays and Saturdays, score free margaritas with all meals; all other days are BYOB.

Note that the spot is closed on Wednesdays.

Tacos y Chelas, 244 W. Davis St., Monday – Tuesday and Thursday, 9 a.m. – 9 p.m.; Friday – Saturday, 9 a.m. – 11 p.m.; Sunday, 9 a.m. – 10 p.m.; closed on Wednesday.