Chico’s Tacos Menu — El Paso’s Rolled Tacos in Red Sauce
A teenager’s improvised recipe, cooked up to feed his siblings on a tight budget, became El Paso’s most argued-about dish. Rolled tacos, drowned in tomato sauce, buried in cheese — here’s the current menu, the 70-year cheese saga, and why locals still can’t agree if it’s actually a taco.
A jukebox mechanic invented this dish to feed his little brothers and sisters. Seventy years later, it’s the reason people fly into El Paso hungry.
Chico’s Tacos opened on July 4, 1953, when Joe Mora — a local boxing promoter and jukebox mechanic — turned a recipe he’d invented as a teenager into a walk-up stand on Alameda Avenue. As a kid, Mora fed his younger siblings while their parents worked, and with limited ingredients on hand he improvised: rolled, fried tacos dropped into a tomato-based sauce and buried in cheese. That teenage improvisation is still, essentially, the entire menu.
Mora ran it with his wife Emma Mora until his death in 1992, after which their children took over. Emma passed away in 2018 at age 90, and the Mora family — now including Richard C. Mora Sr., who spoke as company president at the restaurant’s 70th anniversary in 2023 — still runs all four locations today. Two operational quirks survive from 1953: the restaurant is still cash-only at the register, and it still uses a version of the same daily paper-envelope accounting system Joe Mora set up on day one.
In 2003, the Texas House of Representatives passed a resolution (HR 84) honoring the Mora family and the restaurant’s 50th anniversary. The sauce recipe itself has never been published — kitchen staff reportedly sign a non-disclosure agreement before they’re taught how to make it.
What Makes Chico’s Worth the Trip
Seventy years on, it’s not really about the tacos being fancy — it’s about a flavor and a ritual you can’t get anywhere else.
A Taco Found Nowhere Else
Rolled, fried, and submerged in that unmistakable tomato broth under a heap of cheese — a dish that isn’t Tex-Mex, isn’t traditional Mexican, and by most accounts exists only in El Paso.
The Fry-Dip Ritual
Locals know the sauce left in the tray is half the meal — crinkle fries get dragged through it once the tacos are gone. The full order-like-a-local playbook is on its own page.
Cheap, Fast & Open Late
A few dollars, a quick-moving line, and doors open until around 11 most nights — the late-night El Paso staple generations grew up on, cash in hand.
The Great Cheese Debate
The tomato sauce recipe has stayed a locked, non-disclosure-protected family secret since 1953. The cheese, on the other hand, has changed more than once — and El Paso still argues about it. Here’s the documented timeline.
Joe Mora opens the original Alameda Avenue stand on July 4, 1953, running the taco-and-sauce recipe he’d developed as a teenager feeding his siblings. Co-owner Bernie Mora has since described this early era’s flavor as the benchmark the family would later try to return to.
Source: CBS4 El Paso, 2017From the early 1980s until 2016, Chico’s ran on an imitation, processed government-style yellow cheese — the version most El Pasoans under 40 actually grew up eating, and the look most people picture when they think of a Chico’s tray.
Source: Remezcla, 2018In 2016, Chico’s switched to a premium Wisconsin cheddar. Co-owner Bernie Mora told CBS4 the goal was to “return to the original taste that launched our restaurant in the ’50s and ’60s.” It was the first major recipe change in decades — and it split regulars, some thrilled, some furious the processed cheese was gone.
Source: CBS4 El Paso, 2017The 2016 Wisconsin cheddar was later discontinued by its supplier, pushing Chico’s to yet another formula. By 2023, an El Paso foodie Facebook group was buzzing with an unconfirmed rumor that the original processed cheese had quietly returned — a debate that still isn’t fully settled among regulars as of our last check.
Source: KLAQ / Foodies of El Paso, 2023Through every cheese era, the tomato sauce itself is reported to be unchanged and undocumented — kitchen staff are said to sign a non-disclosure agreement before they’re taught how to make it. Whatever your take on the cheese, the sauce is still Joe Mora’s original.
Source: CBS4 El Paso, 2016Are Chico’s Tacos Even Tacos?
It’s a genuinely ongoing local debate, covered by Texas Monthly and a KUT taco podcast, among others — not a question with one right answer. Here’s both sides.
“They’re not tacos”
Purists point out that Chico’s tacos are rolled and fried, closer in form to a flauta or taquito, then served swimming in a thin tomato sauce — nothing like a folded, griddled taco anywhere else in Texas or Mexico. Joe Mora reportedly caught flak for the name from day one.
“Call them whatever, just eat them”
The counter-argument, and Mora’s own reported reply to the critics: “right, they’re Chico’s Tacos” — a category of one. Seventy years, a Texas House resolution, and a national TV feature later, most locals have stopped litigating the name.
Chico’s Tacos, answered
Rolled, fried tacos served in a paper boat, submerged in tomato sauce and topped with cheese — invented in 1953 by Joe Mora and still run by the Mora family. It’s been featured on Food Network’s The Best Thing I Ever Ate and honored by a 2003 Texas House resolution.
A Single Order is 3 tacos in a paper tray for $4.44; a Double Order is 6 tacos for $8.88. Green salsa comes on the side either way. See our how-to-order guide for the full ritual.
Yes, at the register — a tradition dating back to 1953. Most locations have an ATM on-site if you show up without cash.
Four across El Paso today, down from a high of five. The original flagship is on Alameda Avenue; see Locations & Hours for all four addresses and hours.
The tomato sauce is reported to be unchanged since 1953. The cheese has changed more than once — see the Great Cheese Debate above for the documented timeline.
No — as of our last check, there’s no official Chico’s Tacos website, only third-party listing sites of varying accuracy. That’s part of why prices and hours are worth double-checking by phone before a special trip.
Find the flagship on Alameda
The original location has been on Alameda Avenue since 1953. Three more locations serve the rest of El Paso today — see the full list with hours before you go, since they don’t all close at the same time.
Chico’s Tacos — Alameda (Flagship)
Address: 4230 Alameda Ave, El Paso, TX 79905
Phone: (915) 533-0975
Hours: Daily, 10:00 AM – 11:30 PM (other locations close around 11:00 PM — see the full hours guide)
Overview: The original Chico’s Tacos stand, open since July 4, 1953. Famous for rolled tacos in tomato sauce and cheese, alongside burritos, burgers, fries and a hot dog served on a hamburger bun. Three more locations serve El Paso today, primarily on the east side.
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El PasoELEMI Restaurant
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See every menu we cover in the city on our El Paso restaurant guide.