The owners of a long-standing Overland Park eatery have officially entered a new chapter, close to where they started another one.
After four years of owning and operating Chinese dim sum restaurant ABC Cafe, Derrick and Joanne Lam are leaning into another expertise of theirs — Mexican cuisine.
The couple “soft opened” their new venture Tacos Borrachos last weekend, in the same strip mall just a few doors down from ABC Cafe.
Tacos Borrachos operates at 10049 W. 87th St.
- The restaurant operates out of a space just off 87th and Farley streets, near QuikTrip and the Central Resource Library.
- There, it operates two doors down from ABC Cafe.
- Tacos Borrachos operates from 10:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. every day.
Tacos Borrachos offers street food-style Mexican fare
The restaurant’s menu offers a range of tacos, from chicken tinga and quesabirria to mushroom fish tacos.
Tacos are the main attraction (the restaurant’s name itself means “drunken tacos”), but Tacos Borrachos also serves other items like burritos and fiesta bowls, as well as snacks like elote and chips and guacamole, and popsicles from Kansas City-based Frutopia.
Customers can place their orders at the counter and watch as the food is prepared through the restaurant’s open kitchen layout — including catching a glimpse of fresh tortillas being pressed in a hand-cranked machine.
The restaurant also offers a “help-yourself” salsa bar with various salsas and toppings.
Beyond its soft opening phase, Lam said the menu will grow further with craft cocktails — and potentially new food items like breakfast tacos.
Lam said the goal was a modern, yet laid back atmosphere — a place where people can grab a quick to-go order or stay for a while, with multiple TVs to catch games and tables that can easily be pushed together.
“I’m really excited about the decor and how the restaurant turned out, and the look of it all,” he said. “I think it’s a good setting where people can sit here comfortably and eat lunch or dinner with their family or friends, but it’s also pretty quick. So people who want to get (their food) to go can do that pretty easily.”
The owners want to bring something new to the area
Having made several trips to Mexico over the years, Lam said he and his wife, Joanne, have become well acquainted with Mexican cuisine. The restaurant’s silent third partner also has experience with Mexican food, he said.
“If we were going to open something in the same shopping center, we knew we didn’t want to take anything away from ABC (Cafe), but we also wanted to bring something new,” Lam said. “So that it would bring more overall traffic and kind of reach a different clientele.”
Even in its first few days, Lam said the local community has responded well to their new concept, and many customers have told him they’ve been waiting for the opening.
“We wanted to set ourselves apart,” Lam said. “We’re going to try to keep this restaurant modern and trending and just try to give the people what they’re looking for.”
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