In 2019, Garnica and his brother Oscar opened Toma Taco on the corner of South Edward Gary Street and South LBJ Drive.
After a rough start a few months prior to the pandemic, Toma Taco opened back up as soon as it could after the statewide lockdown, and it has enjoyed a robust customer base ever since.
“Before COVID[-19], it was pretty slow; then we were closed. It’s weird; after COVID[-19] it wasn’t a business problem. For us it was better,” Oscar said.
The restaurant features Mexican cuisine distinct from traditional Tex-Mex offerings.
“A lot of the restaurants in San Marcos are more like northern Mexico, but we have worked in places that are more like [what you would find] in Jalisco, which is quite different,” Oscar said.
The molcajete, for instance, is a medley of beef and chicken fajita, shrimp, chorizo, country sausage, bell peppers, onions and tomatoes served in a stone molcajete—a bowl used to grind and mix ingredients to make salsa and other things—and covered with roja nopal, or red prickly pear; onions; cheese; and chile toreado.
Another Toma Taco specialty is the bistec ranchero—beef fajita served with grilled onions, tomato and jalapenos. The green jalapeno and avocado salsa is a house favorite of staff and regular customers alike.
While Toma Taco specializes in Jalisco-inspired dishes, it does not lack in other Tex-Mex offerings, and it features burritos, enchiladas, chalupas and tortas as well.
Toma Taco also serves breakfast tacos and breakfast plates from 7-11 a.m. and a limited breakfast menu after 11 a.m.The name of the restaurant came from the original idea for the location. Toma Taco—“take a taco” in Spanish—was originally intended to be more of a to-go orders only location.
“At the end of the day, we decided we were going to make it a restaurant. And it was going to be a long process to change the name because we were about two weeks from opening,” Oscar said, laughing.
Toma Taco
179 S. LBJ Drive, San Marcos. 512-667-7867. www.tomatacosmtx.com
Hours: Mon.-Sat. 7 a.m.-10 p.m., Sun. 8 a.m.-10 p.m.
