Fusion craft taco joint Taq recently moved two doors down E. Liberty, a major expansion of its seating and kitchen capacity.
Owned by Cynthia Gagalis Messmore and managed by her son Mark, it opened as La Taqueria in 2018 at 106 E. Liberty. With just eight tables and a half-dozen barstools inside, it invested in outdoor huts and made good use of the adjacent patio space.
The new location in the original Pretzel Bell Building at E. Liberty and S. Fourth Ave. has room for forty-five tables and thirty barstools. A banquette-style seating area can be configured to accommodate a party of up to twenty-five people together. The patio between the two buildings will remain in use. They recently upgraded to eight new insulated wooden huts holding up to six diners apiece, leaving behind the clear plastic models along the sidewalk for the next tenant.
They’ve more than doubled their staffing to about fifty mostly part-time student workers. The space hosted Avalon Café and Kitchen for more than eight years and, most recently, the short-lived Turkish Village Café.
Flashbacks: Avalon Café and Kitchen, Feb. 2017
Doubling Up, Jan. 2025; From Coney Islands to Turkish Cuisine, June 2025
Taq features an eclectic mix of gourmet tacos for $6 apiece ($5 for any of the five vegetarian choices), with daily specials and a weekend brunch of savory or sweet selections. “There’s a lot of great Mexican places in town,” Mark says. “Just because they’re tacos doesn’t mean it has to be a Mexican food, and so we are able to think outside the box and deliver something that’s a unique take on a taco.”
Drinks include margaritas, cocktails, beer, wine, and nonalcoholic options. A new espresso machine is kick-starting a coffee program, including an espresso martini. Cynthia makes the desserts: tres leches cake, Mexican brownie, and a newly added molasses cookie.
Showing that if you can make it in Ann Arbor, you can make it anywhere, the concept expanded to the Tribeca neighborhood of New York City in 2023.
Taq Taqueria Restaurant & Bar, 120 E. Liberty. (734) 369–6922. Daily noon–10 p.m. taqrestaurants.com
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