Taco Bronco Opens East Austin Location

AUSTIN, TX — Taco Bronco, a new concept from the Micklethwait Craft Meats team, announced on Monday it will open its first location this winter.

The restaurant will serve a menu of slow-smoked shared plates, Texas-style tacos and scratch-made sides from the window of a gussied up horse trailer beneath the backyard shade trees of Batch Craft Beer and Kolaches in East Austin, according to a press advisory. The trailer will focus on dinner hours Thursday through Sunday offering on-site and to-go dining.

The Taco Bronco ownership team includes Tom Micklethwait — owner and pitmaster of Micklethwait Craft Meats and Micklethwait Market & Grocery — and longtime friends and colleagues Ren Garcia and Javier Montesinos.

Taco Bronco’s menu draws its inspiration from Texas comfort food, homestyle Tex-Mex and small-town taquerias. Offerings will include shared platters featuring generous portions of slow-smoked meats such as barbacoa, pork carnitas and South Texas boar sausage served alongside locally-made tortillas and scratch-made sides such as spicy red beans, classic Spanish rice, roasted calabacitas, and jicama grapefruit slaw.

Additional offerings will include a rotating menu of specialty tacos such as lamb birria, mesquite-roasted poblano queso, specialty barbecue sandwiches and tortas, vegetarian specialties, and housemade salsa including Bronco Sauce — a spicy toasted red-chile and garlic taco sauce. Micklethwait, Garcia and Montesinos all share in the menu design.

Taco Bronco will be nestled in the northeast corner of Batch’s large tree covered backyard and beer garden. An onsite pit will sit next to the vintage trailer where the team will smoke meat over a mixture of mesquite and post oak coals. Taco Bronco pit masters will also smoke meat for featured items in the Batch bakery case, continuing a long partnership between Batch and Micklethwait Craft Meats. Taco Bronco and Batch are planning for future boozy collaborations including food pairings and special brews inspired by Taco Bronco ingredients.

Taco Bronco marks the third restaurant from Micklethwait, second from Garcia and the first for Montesinos. Garcia is currently a partner at Micklethwait Market & Grocery and the Craft Meats pitmaster /manager. His Austin resume also includes Vespaio and Enoteca (where he met Micklethwait), Bouldin Creek Cafe and Dai Due. Montesinos has worked in Austin kitchens for more than 20 years. He is a veteran of Ruby’s Barbecue, former sous chef at Wink and a longtime member of the Craft Meats catering and event staff.

The opening date and full menu will be announced soon.

LOCATION
Taco Bronco
Backyard at Batch Craft Beer and Kolache
3220 Manor Rd.
Austin, TX 78723

HOURS
Dinner Thursday - Sunday
WEB & SOCIAL
tacobroncotx.com
Instagram @tacobroncotx
ABOUT MICKLETHWAIT CRAFT MEATS
Founded in 2012 by pitmaster Tom Micklethwait (the “th” is silent), Micklethwait Craft Meats offers oak-fired Central Texas barbecue served from a vintage Comet trailer nestled in the heart of East Austin. Micklethwait prides itself on serving high-quality smoked meats, inventive sausages, made-from-scratch sides and fresh baked goods. Micklethwait currently sits on Texas Monthly’s list of the “Ten Best BBQ Joints in Texas.” In February 2019, the Micklethwait team opened its first brick and mortar, Micklethwait Market & Grocery, in Smithville, Texas. The Downtown Smithville location features a market-style barbecue restaurant and corner grocery housed in a thoughtfully restored automotive shop. For more information, visit craftmeatstexas.com.