Jimboy's Tacos is a
fast food
Fast food is a type of mass-produced food designed for commercial resale, with a strong priority placed on speed of service. It is a commercial term, limited to food sold in a restaurant or store with frozen, preheated or precooked ingredien ...
restaurant chain
A chain store or retail chain is a retail outlet in which several locations share a brand, central management and standardized business practices. They have come to dominate the retail and dining markets and many service categories, in many pa ...
and
franchise
Franchise may refer to:
Business and law
* Franchising, a business method that involves licensing of trademarks and methods of doing business to franchisees
* Franchise, a privilege to operate a type of business such as a cable television p ...
, serving
Mexican-American cuisine
Mexican-American cuisine is the cuisine of Mexican Americans and their descendants, who have modified Mexican cuisine under the influence of American culture and immigration patterns of Mexicans to the United States.
What many recognize as M ...
.
The company was founded in 1954 by Jim and Margaret Knudsen,
and is headquartered in
Folsom, California
Folsom is a city in Sacramento County, California, United States. It is commonly known for Folsom State Prison, the song "Folsom Prison Blues" by Johnny Cash, as well as for Folsom Lake. The population was 80,454 at the 2020 census.
Folsom is pa ...
.
[
Its signature dish is a Parmesan dusted ]taco
A taco (, , ) is a traditional Mexican food consisting of a small hand-sized corn- or wheat-based tortilla topped with a filling. The tortilla is then folded around the filling and eaten by hand. A taco can be made with a variety of filling ...
filled with ground beef, cheese and lettuce.[
]
Concept
The restaurant bills its signature dish as "The Original American Taco", and a company spokesperson said, "We don’t consider ourselves authentic Mexican food".
Menu
The restaurant's signature dish is its Parmesan dusted taco, filled with ground beef, cheese and shredded lettuce.
Other taco fillings include pork carnitas and a halved hamburger patty, called a taco burger. Ingredients of the taco burger include "diced tomatoes, lettuce, pickles, shredded cheese — and a 'special sauce' that tasted like extra-tangy mayonnaise.
Many Mexican restaurants in the Kansas City area also serve parmesan tacos, and it appears that the dish was developed independently in both locations.
The restaurant also serves burritos with charred exteriors.[ Most locations also serve craft beers.]
History
In 1949, Jim and Margaret Knudson visited a friend's home for dinner. They were served tacos
A taco (, , ) is a traditional Mexican food consisting of a small hand-sized corn- or wheat-based tortilla topped with a filling. The tortilla is then folded around the filling and eaten by hand. A taco can be made with a variety of filling ...
for the first time, and having experience in the food business, Jim thought the taco
A taco (, , ) is a traditional Mexican food consisting of a small hand-sized corn- or wheat-based tortilla topped with a filling. The tortilla is then folded around the filling and eaten by hand. A taco can be made with a variety of filling ...
would have universal appeal, and so he developed his own taco recipe. He added his recipe to the menu of his restaurant "Jimmy's 49er Cafe" located in Grass Valley, California
Grass Valley is a city in Nevada County, California, United States. Situated at roughly in elevation in the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, this northern Gold Country city is by car from Sacramento, from Sacramento I ...
. In the first few years, customers were not enthusiastic about trying the menu item, but it gradually gained popularity.mobile kitchen
Mobile catering is the business of selling prepared food from some sort of vehicle. It is a feature of urban culture in many countries. Mobile catering can be performed using food trucks, trailers, carts and food stands. Many types of foods may be ...
.[ Around the summer of 1954, the couple towed the recently converted trailer to ]Kings Beach, California
Kings Beach is a census-designated place (CDP) in Placer County, California, United States, on the north shore of Lake Tahoe. The population was 3,563 at the 2020 census.
The town's post office was erected in 1937. The area is named after its f ...
on the north shore of Lake Tahoe
Lake Tahoe (; was, Dáʔaw, meaning "the lake") is a Fresh water, freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada of the United States. Lying at , it straddles the state line between California and Nevada, west of Carson City, Nevad ...
.[ The fledgling restaurant soon became popular with celebrities like the cast of the '']Bonanza
''Bonanza'' is an American Western television series that ran on NBC from September 13, 1959, to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 432 episodes, ''Bonanza'' is NBC's longest-running western, the second-longest-running western series on U ...
'' TV series that filmed nearby and members of the Rat Pack
The Rat Pack was an informal group of entertainers, the second iteration of which ultimately made films and appeared together in Las Vegas casino venues. They originated in the late 1940s and early 1950s as a group of A-list show business frie ...
who were performing at casinos in the area.[{{cite news , last =Bitker , first =Janelle , title = The Jimboy's story: How a local family built a business empire one taco at a time , newspaper =]Sacramento News & Review
The ''News & Review'' is a group of free alternative weekly newspapers published by Chico Community Publishing, Inc. of Chico, California. The company publishes the ''Chico News & Review'' in Chico, California, the ''Sacramento News & Review'' in ...
, location = , pages = , language = , publisher = , date =July 6, 2017, url = https://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/content/the-jimboys-story/24602594/, accessdate =October 5, 2022
References
External links
Official website
Restaurants in California
Mexican restaurants in the United States
Fast-food chains of the United States
Fast-food franchises
Fast-food Mexican restaurants
Regional restaurant chains in the United States
Restaurants established in 1954