Taco Palenque is a Mexican cuisine restaurant chain in South Texas and northern

Tamaulipas Tamaulipas (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Tamaulipas ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Tamaulipas), is a state in the northeast region of Mexico; one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Federal Entiti ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. The restaurant is headquartered in

Laredo, Texas Laredo ( ; ) is a city in and the county seat of Webb County, Texas, United States, on the north bank of the Rio Grande in South Texas, across from Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico. Laredo has the distinction of flying seven flags (the flag of th ...

and was established in 1987. The restaurant's main dishes are the flame-grilled beef or chicken fajita plate, parrillada, pirata taco, panchos drizzled with bean and cheese on top of

tortilla chips A tortilla chip is a snack food made from corn tortillas, which are cut into triangles and then fried or baked (alternatively they may be discs pressed out of corn masa then fried or baked). Corn tortillas are made of nixtamalized corn, veget ...

, homemade desserts, and breakfast tacos Taco Palenque's salad bar has more than 7 different homemade salsas.

History

Taco Palenque was founded by Juan Francisco Ochoa (Don Pancho) from Sinaloa, Mexico. Ochoa was also the creator of the

El Pollo Loco El Pollo Loco (Spanish for "The Crazy Chicken") is the name of two independent restaurant chains that specialize in Mexican-style grilled chicken. Both were founded by Juan Francisco Ochoa. He established the first El Pollo Loco restaurant in Gu ...

secret chicken recipe and founder of the Grilled chicken concept. Don Pancho Ochoa and his brothers and sisters opened several El Pollo Loco franchises in Mexico in the late 1970s and the United States in the 1980s. In 1985, Juan Francisco moved to Monterrey where he planned to create a Mexican fastfood chain in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

with drive thrus that served authentic Mexican food. In 1987, Ochoa opened Taco Palenque in Laredo, Texas. The chain expanded to

McAllen McAllen is the largest city in Hidalgo County, Texas, United States, and the 22nd-most populous city in Texas. It is located at the southern tip of the state in the Rio Grande Valley, on the Mexico–United States border. The city limits extend ...

in 1998, Brownsville in 2001,

San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_t ...

in 2007,

Nuevo Laredo Nuevo Laredo () is a city in the Municipality of Nuevo Laredo in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. The city lies on the banks of the Rio Grande, across from Laredo, United States. The 2010 census population of the city was 373,725. Nuevo Lar ...

in 2008, Houston, Texas in 2010,

Mission, Texas Mission is a city in Hidalgo County, Texas, United States. Its population was 77,058 at the 2010 census and an estimated 84,331 in 2019. Mission is part of the McAllen–Edinburg–Mission and Reynosa–McAllen metropolitan areas. Geography M ...

Cotulla, Texas Cotulla ( ) is a city in and the county seat of La Salle County, Texas, United States. Its population was 3,718 as of the 2020 census. History Immigrant Joseph Cotulla, who was reared in Silesia, then a part of Prussia, migrated to the Unite ...

in 2011, Weslaco, Texas in 2015 and,

Round Rock, Texas Round Rock is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, in Williamson County (with a small part in Travis County), which is a part of the Greater Austin metropolitan area. Its population is 119,468 as of the 2020 census. The city straddles the Ba ...

in 2021. In 2005 Palenque grill was established.

Subsidiaries

Palenque Grill

Palenque Grill is a subsidiary of Taco Palenque. Palenque Grill was established in 2005 with the opening of its first restaurant in Laredo. unlike Taco Palenque, Palenque Grill is a

casual dining Restaurants fall into several industry classifications, based upon menu style, preparation methods and pricing, as well as the means by which the food is served to the customer. This article mainly describes the situation in the USA, while catego ...

table-service restaurant that features premium ingredients, margaritas, parrilladas, appetizers and desserts. These restaurants are higher-end than the regular Taco Palenque. A second location was opened in McAllen in 2006. This was followed by the opening of a third location in San Antonio in 2011. A second Laredo location, fourth in the chain, was open in 2016. A fifth location was open in Edinburg in 2019. The official slogan for Palenque Grill is "Un Rinconcito de Mexico" which means "A little corner of Mexico." A 2012 restaurant review in the San Antonio Express-News gave the Palenque Grill four out of a possible five stars and called the restaurant "a good choice for a visit".

Pollo Palenque

Pollo Palenque (formally named Pollo Tori) is another subsidiary of Taco Palenque. Pollo Palenque is a fast-food restaurant chain specializing in Mexican grilled chicken. The restaurant's main dish is pollo asado, a grilled marinated chicken. The meal is usually served with salsa, totopos and tortillas. The restaurant is currently only located on the border. It is located in

and the

Rio Grande Valley The Lower Rio Grande Valley ( es, Valle del Río Grande), commonly known as the Rio Grande Valley or locally as the Valley or RGV, is a region spanning the border of Texas and Mexico located in a floodplain of the Rio Grande near its mouth. Th ...

References

External links