Ciccio Restaurant Group is back at it again in Tampa’s SoHo district. A couple of months after opening the doors of healthful hotspot Sweet Soul, another new restaurant in the neighborhood called Taco Dirty is joining the family.
Co-owner David Pullman, who helped launch Sweet Soul, is leading the charge at Taco Dirty — planned for the former 2,000-square-foot Soho Tavern space at 2221 W. Platt St. CRG brought Pullman on board in 2011, and he’s been an influential force in a few of its concepts since then. Upon his arrival, the first project he tackled was revamping The Lodge.
“I came down here about seven years ago. Originally, I took over The Lodge and ended up rebranding that concept, and it became a huge success for us,” Pullman said.
After that, he moved on to the build-your-own-bowl Fresh Kitchen, helping locations open in SoHo, Sarasota, St. Petersburg and Boca Raton, where he lived for a year to ensure the store was up and running smoothy.
The working title of Taco Dirty was, initially, Taco Dirty to Me. But it wasn’t a good fit. Rounds of trial and error with several names later and CRG had warmed up to Taco Dirty. It stuck.
According to Pullman, the coming-soon restaurant with indoor and outdoor seating has a fun and edgy vibe, and he wanted to make sure the name represented that.
“Over time, we just decided [Taco Dirty to Me] was too long,” he said. “We went through a whole slew of names once we decided against using that and came back to Taco Dirty. Everybody loved the name.”
Residents driving on the SoHo strip can see the future home of Taco Dirty coming along. When the folks behind Soho Tavern wanted to leave the property, which CRG owns, the restaurant group decided to take it over with their own concept. A few other ideas for the building — including betterBYRD — were tossed around before the team settled on Taco Dirty.
“We thought it was the perfect space and the perfect location,” Pullman said. “We thought Howard could use more newer and food-driven stuff.”
Taco Dirty is modeled after Fresh Kitchen’s quick-service approach. Customers can expect a health-conscious lineup of Mexican fare (à la Green Lemon, perhaps?) — primarily tacos and bowls, but also items like quesadillas — with vegetarian and vegan options. They’ll walk down the restaurant’s assembly-style order line, customizing dishes however their hearts desire.
Menu items are set to start at $2 for individual tacos, while a majority of the offerings range in price from $6 to $10.
“There won’t be any premade stuff,” said the co-owner.
Taco Dirty’s premiere date is to be announced. However, Pullman is targeting the end of May. The restaurant plans to serve up lunch and dinner 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday.
“The SoHo area is our backyard, and we have a great following here,” Pullman said. “The goal is to create a great experience for our customers.”
This article appears in Apr 26 – May 3, 2018.