A lot of folks were sad when Upshur, the Scandinavian and Eastern European mainstay closed at 821 Upshur last year. But now we know what’s coming: Taqueria del Barrio from the folks behind the DC Empanadas food truck.
Washingtonian has more on the spot, whose owners promise “legit” Mexican food. James Leeds of neighboring Hank’s Cocktail Bar encouraged the owners to pick the location.
It will have traditional Mexican items like tacos, tortas and so on, plus empanadas, and house-made tortillas.
There will be margaritas and buckets of beer, plus drinks from bartender Chris Marino with “ingredients like mole-infused vermouth, banana and cinnamon, or pink peppercorn and sumac.”
Another Washingtonian article had some renderings, posted here.
They’re aiming at late mid-March, so pretty soon.
There’s been a real explosion of Mexican food in our area lately, so I wonder if they’ll will all succeed — Taqueria Distrito Federal El Chucho and El Tio are the older ones, joined by Taqueria Habanero about two years ago, then Ruta del Vino (which is more Latin American) and Mezcalero a few months ago (where I’ve had one bad experience and another with a wait twice as long as they suggested, so we went elsewhere.) Especially since Domku closed after a big rent hike, it may be tricky for Taqueria del Barrio to make it.
