“You’re going to serve corn tortillas? You’re never going to make it!” This advice wasn’t uncommon 10 years ago when chef Victor Albisu opened his first Taco Bamba. A decade after the debut of his Falls Church location in its 1,200-square-foot space, Albisu and his team will unveil the ninth Taco Bamba restaurant, a 2,850-square-foot location in Herndon. It opens on April 4 at 2445 Centreville Rd. in the Village Center at Dulles Shopping Plaza.
The restaurant will have about 30 indoor seats, bar seating, and a seasonal patio. It will open daily at 9 a.m. and close at 9 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays, and at 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.
Albisu says that a chorus of devotees has sprung up requesting locations everywhere from the Caribbean to the Middle East, but the loudest (and most plentiful) voices were in Herndon.
“It’s got some really cool ethnic eateries already,” says the Taco Bamba founder. “We want to be a part of it.”
Like each of the previous eight Taco Bamba locations, the Herndon restaurant features both classics like carne asada and chicken tinga, and dishes special to that kitchen. The originals in Herndon include the Afghan Van Damme, centered around a portion of beef koobideh dressed in garlic yogurt sauce. The overstuffed flour tortilla is filled with with pistachio rice, cilantro chutney, and sweet-and-sour currants. Korean-style fried chicken is at the center of the Bon Chongo, along with soy-pickled cucumber and house-favorite esquites slaw. The Guru combines spiced sweet potato with chile árbol honey, corn, feta, crispy onion, and pepitas.
The Herndon Taco Bamba is the first one to open with both dirty- and clean-style tacos. Diners can choose any filling and get it either in tortilla griddled with cheese (dirty) or in a cabbage cup (clean).
“I’m a fan of our brand and a fan of our food,” says Albisu. “When it’s in a cabbage cup, I can just eat more of it.”
Ten years into his successful business, Albisu isn’t stopping to smell the tortas. Instead, he is approaching the openings of four more locations. Two of those will be in NoVA. A location in Shirlington will open this spring, but diners in the Fair Lakes area will have to wait until the fall. Another Taco Bamba will be in the City Ridge development in Northwest DC. But the biggest news might be the first outpost outside of the DMV, in Raleigh, North Carolina. That will come later this spring.
For now, says Albisu, “We can’t wait to have people in Herndon having breakfast, lunch, and dinner with us.”
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