The first Hillsborough location for Capital Tacos opened late last year, which was a huge deal. An outpost in Brandon meant that fans of the popular fast-casual restaurant brand living outside of Pasco didn't have to make the hour-or-so-long trek to New Port Richey, Wesley Chapel or the Land O' Lakes flagship get their Tex-Mex taco fix.
Starting this weekend, diehards based in Pinellas won't have drive to Brandon, either.
The county's first Capital Tacos has taken over 5226 Fourth St. N., the St. Petersburg building most recently occupied by another fast-casual concept, Uncle Maddio's Pizza, which closed a while back, and before that, the short-lived Pie Topia. Capital Tacos — which has breathed new life into the 2,500-square-foot space while adding its own signature touches in the decor — plans to publicly debut in St. Pete with 65 seats at 11 a.m. Saturday.
Capital Tacos co-founder Bobby Heskett could be seen spearheading the grill early Thursday night, when CL got a sneak peek of the fifth location, whose open kitchen is big enough to handle a sort of sub-bakery responsible for churning out house-made tortillas daily (Brandon's larger bakery supplies the other sites).
According to partner Josh Luger, St. Pete is an expansion milestone that marks another big moment for the brand.
"We have folks from all over the Tampa/St. Pete region coming to us, so we're now reaching them, and we take a lot of pride in being kind of Tampa Bay's homegrown taco," Luger said. "We've won national awards for our taco, and now it's kind of on us to bring it everywhere in Tampa."
Soft opening hours for Capital Tacos St. Pete are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday. Sometime in August, guests can expect the permanent hours to kick in: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday.
What sets St. Pete apart from the existing locations? The commissioned mural from Tampa artist W.A.R Artifex, for one, which takes inspiration from both Dali and Capital Tacos. However, core elements of the brand were incorporated into the aesthetics, too, including chalkboard walls for the kids, bottle caps and a pinball machine).
As for the food, most of the menu items at Capital Tacos St. Pete remain the same, but some dishes are new — among them the late-night bites (think epic nachos and puffy tacos) and the exclusive Spicy Banty taco, which is basically a Tex-Mex take on chicken and waffles. Heskett, as Luger puts it, is also behind the ingenious Tampa Bay 2 Punch, a glorious mix of frozen sangria and Capitalrita in a large cup, topped with a mini bottle of Corona.
Even better is that diners don't have to leave their cars for grub if they don't want to; an active pick-up lane on the side of Capital Tacos St. Pete allows them to bypass the hassle of parking. After placing an order through the app, online or by phone, guests can simply roll up to the attendant out front, who rings 'em up and retrieves the takeout inside.
During our visit, Luger suggested dipping the puffy taco shell, which gets the deep-fried treatment, in queso — because it's delicious — and he ain't lyin'. You gotta try it. Check out a little bit of what we saw throughout yesterday's sneak peek in the media gallery above and below.
"We're gonna be adding some more stores, so this is the first in Pinellas — it won't be the last," Luger told CL. "We're looking very heavily at Tampa. We hope to have some news there very soon."
