Las Vegas is about to get a serious taste of Los Angeles taco culture. Villa’s Tacos, the Michelin-recognized Highland Park taqueria that recently landed in Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show, will open its first location outside Southern California at Durango Casino & Resort.
The new outpost will debut Saturday, Aug. 15, inside the Eat Your Heart Out food hall, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. An 11 a.m. ribbon-cutting will kick off the opening-day celebration, followed by live mariachi music until 3 p.m.
Station Casinos, which operates Durango, previously announced that Villa’s Tacos would take over the former Fiorella space. The Vegas location marks the brand’s first expansion beyond Los Angeles, where owner Victor Villa built a following around homemade blue-corn tortillas and tacos topped with a crisp Monterrey Jack cheese skirt.
Free Taco Samples And Late-Night Hours
The first 100 guests in line on opening day will receive a free sampler trio plate and additional surprises, the Review-Journal reports. Villa’s Tacos will open from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and from 11 a.m. to midnight Sundays through Thursdays.
The menu is expected to include the shop’s signature tacos, queso tacos and mulitas, with fillings such as chicken thighs, skirt steak, pork chorizo, grilled soy chorizo, frijoles con nopal and papas a la plancha. Station Casinos says the Vegas shop will also offer the fried Baja fish taco and a new wood-fired al pastor taco prepared on a grill inside the food hall.
That menu is built around the same blue-corn tortilla foundation that helped Villa’s Tacos earn a Bib Gourmand from the Michelin Guide, a distinction for restaurants offering high-quality food at a comparatively good value. Toppings include guacamole, crema, Cotija cheese, onion and cilantro, with radishes and lime served alongside.
From Grandma’s Front Yard To The Super Bowl
Villa started the taqueria in 2018 from the front yard of his grandmother’s home in Highland Park before opening a brick-and-mortar location in early 2023. The Villa’s Tacos website describes the business as a family-rooted operation that grew from a neighborhood pop-up into one of Los Angeles’ best-known taco destinations.
The restaurant’s profile jumped again in February, when Victor Villa and his taco cart appeared during Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl LX halftime performance. The Los Angeles Times reported that Bad Bunny handed Villa a piragua during the performance, giving the taqueria a blink-and-you-missed-it moment in front of a massive audience.
Now the spotlight is pointed at southwest Las Vegas, where the new Villa’s Tacos will join Durango’s growing food hall lineup. The resort is located at 6915 S. Durango Drive, and the property lists Villa’s Tacos among its dining options at Durango Casino & Resort.
