Catch up on past Owner's Corner columns.
During the pandemic, shortly after they met, Houston and Macleod Adegoké tinkered with brisket taco recipes at home in Houston, Texas, and they discovered a shared love for cooking.
This led to their launching a food truck blending Mexican and Asian cuisine—called Orange Taco—in late 2022. This spring, they expanded Orange Taco to a full-service restaurant at The Highlight at Houston Center, a shopping mall in downtown Houston.
“Our goal is to match flavors that are bold and also go very well together,” says Houston, who has a chef background. The menu’s namesake Orange Taco features roasted beef brisket tossed in caramelized orange barbecue sauce and served with red pickled onions, orange zest, and avocado aioli. Also on the menu is Fancy Chicken: chicken with bacon bits, buttermilk ranch, basil aioli, Monterey Jack cheese, micro greens, lemon zest, and dill.
Meat-free, vegetable-based tacos are also on the menu, as are salads like the Sesame Ginger (romaine with spiralized carrot, red onions, cilantro, and purple cabbage in sesame-ginger dressing) and Soba Noodle (buckwheat soba noodles, bok choy, bell peppers, snow peas, green onions, and sesame in soy vinaigrette).
Having the permanent and larger space—open from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.—has been a game changer for the Adegokés.
“In the beginning, we wanted to drive around the city,” says Macleod. “That was our original plan. Then we found out parking was a bit of an issue.” Eventually they decided to park somewhat permanently in front of a liquor store that Houston owned downtown. They also traveled to local food and music festivals.
“We even went to Sysco (food distributor’s headquarters) for lunches,” says Macleod. “That was a strategy to target industrial locations for lunch.”
At the permanent location, the space is much larger, and they no longer manage a mobile operation with tight space. “The menu definitely expanded,” says Macleod. “We are serving breakfast now and will be serving alcoholic beverages and also coffee, which we didn’t have [before], due to space.”
Bridging into a breakfast menu gave the couple another opportunity to develop recipes. “Elegant Sunrise pays homage to the orange taco with caramelized orange barbecue sauce and a poached egg with hollandaise with green onion,” says Houston. “Urban Classic has a tamagoyaki-style egg with green onions, a bacon-gravy and garnished with lemon zest.”
Searching for the storefront took time because they knew what it needed to entail. “We wanted to stay downtown. That was rule number one. In terms of rent, we were looking for rent that would make sense to us. Traffic was also important because we had already gained good traffic, so we wanted to have visibility and exposure,” says Macleod.
The transition from a food truck to a permanent location required patience, but it also came with benefits. For example, the ability to hire staff and grow the business are two perks the duo enjoyed when moving away from the food truck space and into a larger space. “When it comes to employees, we were very lean. It was operated solely by Houston, and I was supporting from time to time,” says Macleod. “Now we will have an actual staff to support us.”
“Everyone who has a food truck knows you have to be flexible. But also, be resourceful. Persistent. Keep going. It might get hard—months or years into your endeavor—but it’s always going to pay off if you believe in what you’re doing,” says Houston.
Holding tight to a goal is key. “You have to have a clear trajectory of where you’d like to be,” says Macleod. “A lot of times people get caught up in the daily activities and not thinking of the strategic side of things … where you would like to be in the next five years. You just have to be patient and take those baby steps and be confident with every step.”
Houston agrees. “You really can get bogged down in the details of the operation and forget what your end goal is,” she says.
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