Fort Worth Stockyards Get a New Taco Restaurant With a Cult Following — Taco Heads Expands its Reach

While Jimmy Buffet has his Parrot Heads, North Texas taco maven Sarah Castillo’s cult following is known as Taco Heads. Now, they have a new reason to celebrate. For Castillo is opening a new Taco Heads restaurant in the Fort Worth Stockyards.

“We are excited to be a part of the whole Stockyards boom,” Castillo tells PaperCity Fort Worth. “I’ve lived in Fort Worth my entire life, and have been to the Stockyards more this year than ever. We are projecting a late spring or early summer opening.”

What began as a crave-worthy food truck now has its second Fort Worth brick-and-mortar restaurant. There is already a Taco Heads at 1812 Montgomery Street in Fort Worth. A Dallas Taco Heads closed during the COVID shutdowns last year.

Now Taco Heads is taking over Northside next with the new restaurant at 2341 N. Main Street. It will be going in next door to the new Tecovas Boots that opened there last year.

Stream Realty Partners’ Fort Worth office represented KRS Realty Advisors, the building’s owner, in leasing the 3,700-square-foot space that will house the new Taco Heads. For Castillo, it continues her Fort Worth obsession.

Along with Taco Heads partner/chef Christian Lehrmann and Glen Keely (who also owns Thompson’s Bookstore and Poag Mahone’s Irish Pub), Castillo opened Tinie’s Mexican Rotisserie in South Main Village in early March 2020 (just weeks before the coronavirus closures began). And her Sidesaddle Saloon is readying to open in Mule Alley this month.

Taco Heads Stockyards restaurant will be “a fast casual 2.0 concept,” Castillo notes. “While our full service model makes sense for Montgomery Street, this one will be a walkup order restaurant. We’ll even have to-go margaritas from a walkup window.”

It will serve breakfast, lunch, dinner and a late night menu — with seating for 169 inside. Taco Heads will open the front of the restaurant and add a covered patio with seating for 30 diners.

The Taco Heads menu keeps it simple, though it has evolved since Castillo’s first food truck hit the streets in 2008. Its breakfast tacos are already fanned out around both Fort Worth and Dallas, served daily at more than a dozen local coffee houses.

While the elote has been a mainstay from the beginning, featuring hand-shucked roasted corn, topped with cotija crumbles, chili powder and a drizzle of crema, other appetizers have been added, such as the spicy shrimp ceviche with tiger’s milk, mango and serrano.

The signature taco selections are Mexico City style and not too tricky. My favorites include the garlic cilantro Gulf shrimp topped with purple pickled slaw and queso fresco, and the Nuevo Leon al pastor with grilled pineapple and red sauce.

And what launched as more of a necessity when the first Fort Worth Montgomery Street Taco Heads opened, The Cantina is now a sought after spot to enjoy happy hour or a sip during brunch. It’s about classy cocktails, in a relaxed setting, such as the Mexican mule and the Paloma with a twist, which adds a splash of grapefruit Topo Chico to the top.

The original Taco Heads on Montgomery Street temporarily closed this week to undergo a remodel of its own. A Montgomery Street entrance will be added and more restrooms will be put in too. The patio will be dressed with permanent awnings, Big Ass fans and radiant heaters as well, according to Castillo.

The design of the new Taco Heads restaurant in The Stockyards will have what Castillo calls “a modern Marfa vibe, with tons of cactus on the inside.” While the neon sign at Montgomery Street Taco Heads reads “Another Day Another Taco,” in the Stockyards it will read, “Another Day Another Taco Y’all.”

This taco cult is growing.