This local restaurant was named Fort Collins' favorite taco shop
After more than a week of voting in the Coloradoan's 2024 March Madness-inspired taco bracket, are you ready to know what Fort Collins' top taco shop is?
The winner is of our 2024 taco bracket is...
The Taco Stop!
The south Fort Collins Mexican restaurant started out as a taco cart, serving up steak street tacos to Old Town's late-night crowd in August 2012.
Founders Cesar Lopez and Berenice Longoria — then just 22 and 19, respectively — were newly married and new to Fort Collins. They had sunk their savings into The Taco Stop, melding Longoria's longtime dream of owning her own business with Lopez's dream of having his own food business. Longoria ran the business side of the cart while Lopez took on the food, drawing on his upbringing and culinary education in Mexico City, according to previous Coloradoan reporting.
The couple eventually added more taco options, including chicken, pork and vegetarian tacos, Longoria said. They added a food trailer to their ranks in 2015 and transitioned to a food truck in 2017. In 2020, The Taco Stop opened the restaurant at 6324 S. College Ave.
"It was a roller coaster," Longoria said of opening a restaurant in the midst of COVID-19 shutdowns. Despite the challenges, The Taco Stop was able to offer takeout out of its new brick-and-mortar location, and the couple's loyal base of customers showed up to see them through the crisis, Longoria said.
Today, The Taco Stop employs 24 people, including Longoria and Lopez. They still bring out their taco cart at their original Old Town corner — College Avenue and Oak Street — on summer Friday and Saturday nights from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. They also retained their food truck, which they use for the occasional private event, Longoria said.
The Taco Stop's most popular offerings
While it's tough to say what taco stands out among the rest at The Taco Stop, Longoria said the restaurant's Azteca taco is a fan favorite. Starting out as one of Lopez's monthly taco specials in 2022, Azteca tacos — filled with a nopal cactus, a slice of asadero cheese, chorizo, fajita veggies and topped with guacamole and fresh cilantro — were so popular they made it onto The Taco Stop's permanent menu.
Longoria's personal favorite is a tie between the restaurant's carnitas street tacos and pastor street tacos, she said. The Taco Stop's carnitas nachos are another non-taco favorite on the restaurant's menu.
The Taco Stop is on the move
After four years in south Fort Collins, The Taco Stop is getting ready for its next big change.
The restaurant will move from South College Avenue to the Scotch Pines Village Shopping Center later this year, taking over the former home of The Garlic Knot, Longoria said.
Longoria and Lopez plan to close the existing location at the end of May and open at the new location in early June.
Who was in the running in our taco bracket?
Here are the bracket matchup breakdowns (the winner of each round is bolded).
Final round:
The Taco Stop vs. Taqueria Los Comales
Final four:
The Taco Stop vs. Tacos el Diablo
Cafe Mexicali vs. Taqueria Los Comales
Great eight:
Carnicieria Las Delicias vs. The Taco Stop
Illegal Pete's vs. Cafe Mexicali
Taqueria Los Comales vs. Vatos Tacos + Tequila
Uno Mas Taqueria vs. Tacos el Diablo
Spicy 16:
The Taco Stop vs. Consuelo's Express
Las 4 Americas vs. Cafe Mexicali
Vatos Tacos + Tequila vs. Los Pepe's
Torchy's Tacos vs. Tacos el Diablo
Uno Mas Taqueria vs. Maggie's Tacos
The Taco Man (food truck) vs. Taqueria Los Comales
Illegal Pete's vs. Angry Hippie Tacos
Carnicieria Las Delicias vs. DGT
Initial matchups:
The Taco Stop vs. El Don
Las 4 Americas vs. Los Chingones
Vatos Tacos + Tequila vs. La Luz Mexican Grill
Torchy's Tacos vs. Agave Underground
Uno Mas Taqueria vs. La Buena Vida
The Taco Man (food truck) vs. Tecate Grill
Fuzzy's Taco Shop vs. Illegal Pete's
Blue Agave Grill vs. Carnicieria Las Delicias
DGT vs. Tortilla Marissa's
Angry Hippie Tacos (food truck) vs. Santa Elena's (food truck)
Taqueria Los Comales vs. Los Tarascos
Maggie's Tacos (food truck) vs. Ta Cabron (food truck)
Tacos el Diablo (restaurant and food truck) vs. Almansitas
El Burrito vs. Los Pepe's (food truck)
Matador Mexican Grill vs. Cafe Mexicali
La Campechana (food truck) vs. Consuelo's Express
Who are the winners of the Coloradoan's past food brackets?
Best sandwich (2023): Cheba Hut
Best bakery (2022): La Creperie
Best wings (2020): Jim's Wings
Best burger: (2018): Nick's Italian
Best breakfast burrito (2017): Matador Mexican Grill
This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: This spot was named Fort Collins' favorite taco shop in food bracket