Lala’s Taquería serves tacos with a twist in Prosper

Lala’s Taquería is shaking up the Texas taco scene with inspiration from California street food, owner Dante Ramirez said.

He opened Lala’s almost two years ago, blending his experience from El Paso, Los Angeles and the Dallas-Fort Worth restaurant industry to create a one-of-a-kind experience in Prosper.

“That’s my whole thing,” Ramirez said. “Culinary-driven people want you to eat something and when you eat it to be like, ‘Okay, that’s unique.’”

On the menu

At Lala’s, customers can order their tacos two different ways: street style on two layered corn tortillas, or Lala’s style, where shredded cheese is melted onto a blue corn tortilla to create a “cheese skirt.”

Ramirez was inspired to add Lala’s style to the menu alongside more traditional street tacos after visiting Villa’s Tacos, a taquería in Los Angeles that started as a front-yard pop-up and was recently featured in Bad Bunny’s 2026 Superbowl halftime show, he said.

“I had already been to L.A. several times,” Ramirez said. “I knew that I wanted to bring some of those flavors here.”

Some items on the menu like nachos, quesadillas and breakfast tacos were added later based on customer feedback, he said.

Other menu highlights include loaded elote, a Mexican street corn served with beef, cheese, jalapeño and lime, and horchata, a milky rice-based drink flavored with cinnamon.

The backstory

Ramirez founded Lala’s after a career of working for other people in the restaurant industry, he said.

After studying restaurant management at Texas Tech University, Ramirez moved to Dallas and worked for companies like the former Harvey Hotel in Addison, Consolidated Restaurant Operations and Abuelo’s Mexican Restaurant.

In 2017, he partnered with investors to open his own restaurant, Tender Smokehouse, in downtown Celina, he said.

The restaurant took off, eventually opening four more locations in Frisco, Aubrey, Little Elm and Whitesboro.

Ramirez sold his share of Tender Smokehouse in 2024 and opened Lala’s Taquería shortly after.

The taquería combines the Mexican food Ramirez ate growing up in El Paso with the flavors he explored with his two daughters in Los Angeles, he said.

“I’ve always been around Mexican food.” Ramirez joked. “People say, ‘Do you like Mexican food?’ I’m like, I don’t know, growing up we just called it food.”

Going forward

Looking ahead, Ramirez is focusing on “growth with intention,” he said.

In addition to Lala’s, Ramirez owns Wheeler Barbecue in Denison, and he’s working on a barbecue collaboration with a golf resort in Bonham.

He would love to open additional locations of Lala’s Taqueria one day, especially in Dallas, but he and his wife are making an effort to be deliberate about investment in new ventures.

“Right now, because of COVID, costs are crazy high. Labor costs are high,” Ramirez said. “It’s just a different world today, but I love it.”