What's Eric Eating Episodes 378 and 379

Tacodeli owners dish on new Galleria-area location, reveal Memorial plans

Tacodeli has opened its new location near the Galleria.

Photo by Mackenzie Smith Kelley

One of Austin’s most popular taco restaurants has opened its second Houston location. Tacodeli is now open in Post Oak Plaza (1715 Post Oak Blvd.), but Houston will soon see a third location — and more after that.

Founder Roberto Espinoza and co-owner Eric Wilkerson brought Tacodeli to Houston back in 2017. It quickly earned a following for its tacos that are rooted in Espinoza’s hometown of Mexico City but blended with touches from his time in America. It’s a winning combination that’s allowed the company to grow steadily for 25 years.

“I always want to have some sort of representation of what some traditional dishes are from Mexico, but with an ability to interpret that in a way that feels good to us,” Espinoza says on this week’s episode of CultureMap’s “What’s Eric Eating” podcast. “We’re not trying to reinvent the wheel, but we’ll give it our own little touch.”

Perhaps the biggest change the company has made since arriving in Houston are the additions of dinner service and cocktails. The Post Oak location is just the second Tacodeli to open since they made the change to all-day service. It’s reflected in certain aspects of the new restaurant’s design.

Tacodeli Post Oak interior Tacodeli has upgraded the interior of its new location.Photo by Michael Forbes

“Historically, we would build them for speed. It was the office lunch crowd. We needed to get people in-and-out quickly,” Wilkerson explains. “As we thought about dinner, we needed to make it a little more comfortable … encourage people to hang around, have another margarita, have some fun. So we tried to be a little more thoughtful about the interior finish-out.”

In fact, the company is feeling so bullish on Houston that it’s already planning a third location that will open either later this year or early 2025 in the Hedwig Village Shopping Center (9406 Gaylord Dr.). That won’t be the last.

“We are continuing to look very hard in the inner loop and also in the some of the suburban areas,” Wilkerson says. “Seven or eight restaurants is a very realistic goal … We have some trade areas identified that we feel confident about. It’s just can we find a space that’s the right size and has the attributes we’re looking for.”

Listen to the full episode to hear Espinoza and Wilkerson tell the story of how they started working together. They also share a few of their favorite menu items.

In this week’s other episode, Sandler and co-host Chelsea Thomas, staff writer for The Infatuation Houston, discuss the news of the week. Their topics include: Love Buzz Pizza Pub suddenly closing in Montrose; Pitch 25’s plans to open in Katy; and The Taco Stand opening in Webster.

In the restaurants of the week segment, the two writers discuss their meals at two new restaurants. First, they find a lot to like about Dipping Tiger, the new pho restaurant from Tiger Den chef-owner Mike Tran. Second, they have a more mixed experience at Tsujita Artisan Noodle, the Los Angeles-based concept that opened in March at the West on West shopping center.

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i have the power

Houston restaurant returns after power outage forced 2-week closure

Photo by Sabrina Miskelly

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A Houston restaurant is on the road to recovery after a power outage shuttered it for two weeks. Daily Gather will reopen this Wednesday, August 19.

Owner Aaron Lyons tells CultureMap that the CityCentre restaurant lost power on August 4 when an underground transformer malfunctioned.

“Black smoke was coming out of the ground,” Lyons says. Both CityCentre and Centerpoint engineers initially told Lyons the problem would be fixed in two or three days, so he opted not to rent a generator, although both the neighboring Yardhouse restaurant and The Moran CityCentre hotel did acquire generators to remain open.

A representative for MetroNational, the Houston commercial real estate giant that acquired part of CityCentre in 2025, confirms that the property had an electrical problem that required complex repairs.

“CenterPoint Energy responded to the incident and isolated the affected service,” the representative writes in an email. “Our electrical contractor then worked continuously to locate, access, and repair the damaged infrastructure. Due to the extent of the underground damage, as well as the need to excavate and access multiple buried junction boxes and conduit pathways, the repairs were complex and extensive.”

That complexity meant the initial estimate of three days got extended by an additional week. Lyons says he asked about obtaining a temporary generator but was told by CityCentre’s management there wasn’t room on the property for one. “We were told we couldn’t get a generator because the hotel was taking up all the space,” he says.

Therefore, Daily Gather, Bellagreen, and Jeni’s Ice Cream all remained closed until the problem was finally resolved on Monday, August 17.

Lyons says he’s paid his employees the entire time the restaurant has been closed. He’s working with his insurance company to file a business interruption claim that he hopes will cover lost revenue and food waste. Still, the timing couldn’t have been worse. After a slow July, Lyons was counting on Houston Restaurant Weeks diners to help Daily Gather build some momentum for the busy fall season.

“Summer has been super slow. World Cup killed our business,” Lyons says. “We were looking forward to Houston Restaurant Weeks. We basically lost the first two weeks of Houston Restaurant Weeks. It just sucks.”

Open since 2022, Daily Gather serves an eclectic, globally-inspired menu that mixes Southern, Italian, Vietnamese, and other influences. It's $55, four-course Houston Restaurant Weeks menu offers everything from elote cornbread and watermelon salad to shrimp pasta in poblano cream sauce and sumac-marinated roast chicken. Like Dish Society, its fast casual sister concept, Daily Gather sources much of its produce from Texas farms and updates its menus seasonally.

Lyons adds that the restaurants staff is working furiously to repair any damage during the outage and prepare food for Wednesday’s service. He’s hoping to open in time for lunch, but Daily Gather might not reopen until dinner. Either way, keep an eye on its Instagram feed for the latest updates.

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