Downtown taco restaurant Somos Bandidos expanding menu and hours

January 25, 2017

For Somos Bandidos owner Pat Fellows, the goal was always to grow his taco shop.

The taco concept at 303 North Blvd. opened in late September after Fellows quickly flipped this former FRESHJUNKIE location downtown.

Since opening, Somos Bandidos has offered a modest menu of tacos, guacamole, queso and slaw salad. But starting Monday, Jan. 30, Fellows plans to expand the menu with fresh, new options.

Among those will be more vegetarian dishes, including a taco with cucumber, pico de gallo, avocado, mint, cilantro and honey-lime slaw and one with roasted sweet potato, queso fresco, slaw, cilantro and pico salsa.

The eatery will start serving shrimp and fish tacos. Those tacos will initially act as specials while the restaurant experiments with flavors, Fellows says. But once Lent begins in March, they will likely be added to the permanent menu.

Part of the original menu, the "No Reggae" taco from Somos Bandidos features grilled chicken, jerk sauce, pineapple and serrano salsa. Photo by Ischelle Martin — Part of the original menu, the “No Reggae” taco from Somos Bandidos features grilled chicken, jerk sauce, pineapple and serrano salsa. Photo by Ischelle Martin

Somos Bandidos will also release four new salsas, including a tomatillo, a roasted tomato, a pineapple serrano and the roasted corn salsa the eatery already uses on its pulled pork taco.

Guests will now be able to order taco combos mixing and matching varieties of three, six or 12 tacos. “[We’re] trying to make it easy for people to order for an office,” Fellows says.

The restaurant is ramping up its hours too, opening Monday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-8 p.m., and Sundays, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. It was previously closed on weekends and only open until 8 p.m. two nights a week.

“When we started out, it was, ‘Let’s see what the needs are and see if there’s even that business,'” he says about his original hours. But, after hearing from customers and noticing how downtown is missing casual evening dining, the expanded hours made sense.

For Fellows, this expansion is a long time coming and something he always planned for the eatery. “It’s always been the goal—but takes time sometimes,” he says.