Rebel Taco Food Truck Enters the Brick-and-Mortar Game in D.C.

Roving food truck Rebel Taco is preparing to open not one, but two, inaugural standalone locations in D.C. over the next few months.

Rebel Taco is currently parked at Clarendon’s sprawling new beer garden The Lot, where patrons are washing down its popular cornflake-battered “Shrimp Gone Wild” tacos with buckets of White Claw spiked spritzers. Taco fans in Philly can currently visit Rebel’s year-old stall in Bourse food hall.

Owner Mike Bramson tells Eater Rebel Taco’s first brick-and-mortar venture in D.C. will replace his shuttered sports bar, The Prospect, by mid-October (1214 U Street NW). In the spring, a second will open in Mount Vernon Triangle at 508 K Street NW, he adds.

Washingtonian first reported on the expansion, and Bramson adds the brand plans to expand its specialty selections at its new locations. Think a Get Him To The Greek taco (lamb shank, jalapeno-tzatziki sauce, pickled onions, corn tortilla) and Burguesa Taco (cheesy ground beef, grilled onions, pickles, TI sauce).

Rebel Taco/official photo

The first arrival on U Street NW, dubbed Rebel Taco Cantina, plans to sustain its last call corridor with a late-night taco window until 4 a.m.

“Several of the TVs will remain so guests can get their sports fix while enjoying tacos, tequila, and beer,” he tells Eater, of the conversion from Prospect to Rebel.

The second floor will flip into a tequila-fueled perch, offering eight-seat agave tastings at a time. Also look for frozen margaritas and a large-format margarita cocktail.

The subsequent 1,600-square-foot space, which sports a 600-square-foot outdoor patio, will hand patrons those frozen margaritas through a bar window. Corn and flour tortillas will be hand formed daily on-site.

The truck’s Day of the Dead design, splashed with neon colors and skull logos, will transfer over to its new locations.

Rebel Taco is ready to go head to head with nearby Mexican options: On U Street NW, there’s late-night taco shack El Rey (which is coming to Ballston), and K Street NW will welcome a new tequila-driven venture from restaurateur Richard Sandoval under a strip club next summer.

Bramson is co-founder of millennial-friendly Social Restaurant Group (La Vie, Provision 14), though Rebel Taco and The Lot are manned by him, his wife Christal Bramson, and designer Michael Juliano.

• A Modern Tequila Bar Will Open Underneath a D.C. Strip Club Next Year [EDC]
• A Taqueria Is Opening on U Street With a Tequila Library and Late-Night Taco Window [W]
• D.C. Drinkers Are Shotgunning Buckets and Buckets of White Claw [EDC]