Restauranteur Mike Cordero and Team Cordero Introduce Their Largest Fast-Casual Taqueria and Tequila Bar at Birch & Broad
Chef Mike Cordero is on fire with Taco Rock. The Northern Virginia restauranteur and his Team Cordero restaurant group has opened Taco Rock-Falls Church, the third and largest site in their newest fast-casual concept. Taco Rock-Falls Church is located at 1116 West Broad Street in the recently completed Birch & Broad shopping center. The new 2,815-square-foot gourmet taqueria and tequila bar closely replicates its Rosslyn and Alexandria locations with several new additions. Notable DC and New York designer Yvette Irene developed the interior design.
Taco Rock is Chef Mike Cordero’s first fast casual restaurant concept and first venture with Team Cordero, a family business group that consists of Chef Mike Cordero, sons Nick Cordero and Anthony Cordero and Chef Stefano Marzano of MightyMeals. Taco Rock-Falls Church is Chef Mike Cordero’s tenth Northern Virginia restaurant location and seats 85 guests with 25 dining tables and 35 barstools centered around a 25-foot tequila bar. The larger restaurant space boasts a roomier interior area and a substantial outdoor patio that seats 100 guests and features heat lamps and large garage door front windows that access the open-air space for alfresco dining.
Taco Rock-Fall Church’s menu matches its Arlington and Alexandria counterparts featuring affordable, gourmet tacos served on homemade Blue Rock Tortillas, an original recipe featuring blue corn tortillas. Taco Rock offers an extensive tequila bar, offering specialty tequila cocktails and imported Mexican beers. Dessert items include crispy stuffed churros, with an assortment of cream fillings and gourmet ice cream tacos made to order. Taco Rock-themed mainstay events and daily specials, such as Happy Hours seven days a week, are carrying over to the Falls Church location.
Standout menu items include:
- Birria Crunch Supreme Wrap: Mozzarella cheese, queso, crispy tortilla, Pico de Gallo and sour cream.
- Puffy Beef Taco: Seasoned ground beef, melted queso, jalapenos, jack cheese, sour cream and flaming Cheetos.
- Birria Taco: Braised beef, melted cheese, onion, cilantro, guacamole and beef consommé for dipping.
Irene’s interior décor mirrors the Taco Rock Rosslyn and Alexandria locations with several new design pops. She refurbished the space into a hip, lively restaurant with a cool vibe that pays homage to colorful rock-and-roll culture. While maintaining a street taco theme, the new restaurant presents a rustic contemporary palette featuring a corrugated wood paneled bar face, a stainless-steel circular patterned bar top, a mixture of color pitted tiles, burnt orange and gray leather banquettes, rail lighting and industrial pendants throughout. The restrooms present a unique skull wallpaper for Day of the Dead-themed social media postings. Located in the back hallway is a full-length abstract mural of a farmer shucking blue corn cobs in the horizon, which innuendos Taco Rock’s Blue Rock Tortillas and fully stretches the length of the corridor. Introduced to this location is an old-school television screen playing classic videos that marries the retro stereo speaker wall art across the room — a new design element that Irene plans to carry forward to future Taco Rock locations. The main focal point is Taco Rock’s iconic giant guitar jutting out from the ceiling and spanning the length of the entire restaurant, which is highlighted in the first two locations and the largest in Falls Church.
Later this year, Team Cordero plans to open Taco Rock-Lorton, its fourth at Liberty Market in Lorton Virginia. The Lorton locale is part of Team Cordero’s larger expansion plans throughout the national capital region for as many as 12 Taco Rock locations. In January 2021, Team Cordero opened Taco Rock-Alexandria, its second location in the Pinecrest Plaza shopping center and introduced Taco Rock-Rosslyn in downtown Arlington in November 2019.
“Taco Rock is an epicurean delight giving a nod to street food that includes a gourmet twist with our signature Blue Rock tacos,” said Mike Cordero. “Team Cordero is thrilled to expand Taco Rock’s footprint in Northern Virginia with the opening of our largest and third location in Falls Church.”
Taco Rock is open daily for lunch and dinner and offers takeout and delivery that include to-go cocktails. To stay up to date on events and happenings at Taco Rock, please visit www.thetacorock.com or follow on Instagram, @tacorock_.
A 40-year veteran of the hospitality industry, Mike Cordero has always possessed the innovative instinct and relentless drive needed for the fast paced, ever-changing restaurant business. He has been prominently featured in top-tier media outlets including The Washington Post, USA Today, CNN, Washingtonian, Washington Times, Nation’s Restaurant News, Restaurant Magazine, Restaurant Institute and Restaurant Hospitality. Chef Cordero has made cooking appearance on The Cooking Channel, Fox 5, WUSA9, NBC4, ABC7 and Newschannel 8. Touted as one of the Washington, DC-area’s newest tastemakers, Chef Cordero is known for his culinary creativity and thriving restaurants that give back to the community. As the Executive Chef and Owner of Bronson Bier Hall, Barley Mac, Bronx Pizza, Don Tito, Don Taco, Taco rock and Rockwood, Cordero is always on the move, defining and exploring new trends. Additionally, he is in the process of working on two new restaurant concepts in the Washington metropolitan area.
