‘This is a taco town.’ Wildly popular DC-area taqueria taps Raleigh for first expansion.

Taco Bamba, an outlandishly creative taqueria born in the DC suburbs, will launch its first expansion in Raleigh.

The new taco shop will open in Raleigh’s Ridgewood Shopping Center, becoming Taco Bamba’s first North Carolina location, and the brand’s first restaurant beyond the Washington area.

To Taco Bamba founder Victor Albisu, tacos are as much a structure as a tradition. Beyond the classics, like al pastor and barbacoa served with onions and cilantro, Taco Bamba builds a dozen or more of its own taco creations at each of its locations, drawing inspiration from gyros and barbecue and ramen.

Albisu said he found a lot in common between Raleigh and DC beyond a love of tacos.

“This is a taco town,” Albisu said in a phone interview. “I found Raleigh to feel a bit like Northern Virginia in some ways, but it has its own character. There are adventurous and educated diners; I’ve had great meals in Raleigh. It feels like a lot is possible in Raleigh. I believe in that market.”

The first Taco Bamba opened in Falls Church, Virginia, in 2013, built as a small 1,000-square-foot takeout spot next door to Albisu’s mother’s Latin market, where the chef once worked as a butcher. After crowds and lines out the door and clamoring for new locations, Taco Bamba grew to seven taquerias in Northern Virginia, Maryland and Washington.

Taco Bamba’s expansion into the Triangle is born out of the brand’s partnership with Raleigh company IMC, the parent company of Golden Corral, which invested in the growing taco concept last year.

A top DC chef

Albisu’s culinary background includes more fine dining than fast-casual. He trained at the famous Le Cordon Bleu culinary school in Paris, worked in a three Michelin star kitchen in France and opened the sprawling and popular South American restaurant Del Campo in Washington. That earned Albisu his first James Beard Award semifinalist mention for Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic.

His follow-up Mexican restaurant Poca Madre earned him a second James Beard semifinalist honor and was named Washingtonian magazine’s sixth best restaurant in DC. Poca Madre closed in 2020 amid the pandemic. Albisu said his focus now is solely on Taco Bamba.

“The original Taco Bamba was just a little local taqueria, a side project while we were building our fine dining restaurant (Del Campo),” Albisu said. “Then it took off in a way no one expected. ... We feel like we’re putting all our energies towards the elevation of this new kind of taqueria.”

Taco irreverence

In addition to the seven Taco Bamba locations in the DC area, three others are in the works. Beyond Raleigh, Albisu said he doesn’t have a set plan of where future locations will be.

“We want to grow. Our intention is to grow wherever we can, but the market will tell us what we’re able to do.”

Albisu describes Taco Bamba’s vibe as irreverent, meaning it knows and honors the longstanding taco traditions, then works to demolish them in delicious ways.

“The concept grew from a love for traditional Mexican food, street tacos and the like,” Albisu said.

There’s a spectrum to irreverence, and Taco Bamba spans or exceeds it. Each location has a somewhat different menu, offering a distinctive lineup of tacos, quesadillas and tortas. Tacos might include buffalo pork skins with ranch and chiles, or fried grouper with squid ink aioli, or even a poutine taco, filled with fries and barbacoa juices and spicy mayo.

Among the more creative inventions at existing locations, there’s the “Vic-Fil-A” taco, using a cheese quesadilla as the tortilla filled with fried chicken, pickles, chipotle mayo, bacon and pickled chilies, nodding to a particularly famous chicken sandwich chain. Or there’s the “Generous Jorge,” a quesadilla filled with spaghetti noodles and bolognese, with basil ranch for dipping.

Albisu declined to reveal some of the creations in the works for Raleigh, but it sounds like a safe bet something in the realm of barbecue will end up on the menu. Beyond tacos, look for tortas and quesadillas and snacks like chips and queso and guacamole, wings and flautas. On the beverage side, the Raleigh Taco Bamba will have a full bar, with draft beer and freshly made cocktails.

Raleigh’s newest taqueria

The Raleigh Taco Bamba will open in a standalone building in the Ridgewood shopping center off of Wade Avenue, which is anchored by a Whole Foods market. The dining room and kitchen space will be about 2,500 square feet, with seating inside for 28. On a larger covered patio, Taco Bamba will add 50 more seats. The brand is eyeing a spring 2023 opening.

The Triangle’s taco scene is perhaps the most underrated slice of the region’s larger culinary community, built with beloved taco trucks parked in familiar spots, trendy taquerias and traditional restaurants. In the pandemic, Raleigh has added three popular taco shops, a brick and mortar location of Gym Tacos, the first location of Texas-based Torchy’s Tacos and the new Soul Taco.

That unending hunger and Raleigh’s collection of acclaimed restaurants made the Triangle an attractive spot for Taco Bamba, Albisu said.

“Raleigh has become quite the taco town,” Albisu said. “We want to come in and showcase our stuff right next to all the other great spots. Our hope is to really connect with the chef community there. The (diners) just want good there — good food and cool experiences.”