Streetlight Taco, a new concept specializing in regional Mexican cuisine, opens in South Tampa this fall

There’s no shortage of food trucks and taquerias dishing out no-frills fare throughout Tampa, but one restaurant veteran will introduce a brand new dining experience at his upcoming Mexican restaurant.

Chef-partner Michael Brannock tells Creative Loafing Tampa Bay that his debut restaurant, Streetlight Taco, will open its doors sometime this fall—hopefully September.

Located at 4004 Henderson Blvd. in South Tampa’s Palma Ceia neighborhood, this “hyper-traditional,” 2,500 square-foot restaurant will boast a capacity of about 100.

Brannock’s partners in Streetlight Taco are Jack Murray and Nick Reader, two of the managing partners of Rocca, the modern Italian restaurant that took home one of Tampa’s first Michelin stars earlier this year.

Although he recently left the corporate food world to dive head-first into Streetlight Taco’s opening, Brannock says that this concept has been on his mind for several years.

“I started waiting tables back in college and after a year or so I realized that I was a lot more passionate about cooking and learning about food. Since I grew up in a small North Carolina town with only chain restaurants, it took a while to realize that I could actually do this for a living,” Brannock explains. “From there, I worked my way into managerial and regional  roles and then eventually a corporate-level position with the company that brought me to Tampa about 10 years ago.”

Throughout his career as a corporate chef for large companies like Carrabba’s  and PDQ, he’s come to realize that Mexican fare is a vast and deeply historical cuisine that Tex-Mex franchises and Taco Tuesday-promoting restaurants don’t showcase.

Coworkers and friends that he made in kitchens and beyond gave him a taste of true Mexican food at various birthday parties, Christmas dinners and quinceañeras—but realized he had to fully immerse himself in the culture to learn even more.

Brannock has spent the last several years traveling throughout the nooks and crannies of Mexico—from bustling cities to rural farms—soaking in the knowledge and craftsmanship from what he describes as the “very best chefs in Mexico.” Just a handful of cities he’s frequented include culinary hubs like Oaxaca, Mexico City, Toluca and Cuernavaca.

“It’s been a few years that I’ve been able to travel around Mexico and just be a student of the entire process. I’ve spent years just getting the nixtamalization of corn right,” he tells CL. “It’s an incredibly complex cuisine and the restaurant will definitely speak to that. Americans—actually anybody besides Mexicans themselves—might not realize its complexity.”

The nixtamalization of corn in order to make tortillas is a lengthy, yet necessary process that dates back thousands of years, according to tastingtable.com. Once kernels are soaked in an alkaline solution, they are ground into masa aka the corn-based dough that can be flattened and grilled to make tortillas.

In terms of the menu future customers can expect when Brannock’s restaurant opens this fall—tacos will obviously be the star of the show—but will also be joined by a variety of other traditional dishes and vegetable-based sides.

Roadside-style chicken (cooked on the wood-fire grill, of course), bright green chorizo verde sausages, cactus fried rice, Pueblan-style cemitas sandwiches and carnitas cooked in the traditional copper pot are all travel-inspired dishes that Brannock will feature on his menu. He stresses that Streetlight will highlight the brightness and uniqueness of Mexican produce, from family-grown heirloom corn and swiss chard to peppers only cultivated in certain regions of the country.

Customers will be able to witness Streetlight’s wood and charcoal-fired grill in action, as well as masa being ground and  tortillas being pressed. This particular grill requires a special hood system—one of the many details of Brannock’s open-air kitchen.

“I kept the kitchen completely open on purpose because I wanted people to be involved in what we’re doing and what we choose to take our time on,” he says.

Mezcal, which Brannock describes as “one of the most misunderstood spirits,” will be showcased on Streetlight’s small cocktail menu alongside a spread of imported Mexican cerveza, juices, sodas, sangria and horchata.

“There’s a lot of flexibility and potential in the ways we can expand the menu down the road, but what I’m most excited about is continuing being a student of this entire process,” Brannock explains.

For the latest information on Streetlight Taco’s soft opening this fall, head to its Instagram at @streetlighttaco, where you can also find documentation of Brannock’s Anthony Bourdain-style travels throughout Mexico.

Brannock says that during his restaurant’s soft opening phase, Streetlight Taco will be tentatively open from 11 a.m.-9 p.m. daily.

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This article appears in Jul 20-26, 2023.