Rittenhouse is losing a decade-old taco institution, but the address isn't leaving the family: Carolyn Nguyen is turning the former Revolution Taco into a Cajun-Vietnamese restaurant rooted in her Louisiana childhood. The catch is that Philly diners have been waiting longer than originally promised for the next chapter.
Revolution Taco closed its Walnut Street outpost on January 6 after nearly a decade, and PhillyBite Magazine reports that Nguyen renewed the lease for another three years while reworking the space. Carolyn’s Modern Vietnamese is expected to pair traditional Vietnamese cooking with Louisiana soul and a warmer, more refined Vietnamese cafe atmosphere.
The concept was first detailed by The Philadelphia Inquirer, which reported that Nguyen planned a full-service restaurant drawing from seafood boils, boudin, curries, chicken, thịt kho and slow-cooked grits. One planned dish was curry duck with handmade gnocchi, a fittingly Philly way to let a chef’s childhood and career share the same plate.
The timeline has stretched considerably: the original plan called for an opening within weeks of Revolution Taco’s closure, while the later PhillyBite report pointed to March 2026. As of Friday, July 31, Carolyn’s official website was still collecting email sign-ups and did not list a public opening date.
For taco loyalists, the old concept is not completely gone. Revolution Taco’s current location page lists its Comcast Center Concourse outpost as the brand’s only open location, serving weekday lunch in Center City.
From Global Tacos To Gulf Coast Vietnamese
Nguyen, who has spent two decades working as a Philadelphia chef, grew Revolution Taco out of the city’s food-truck era and is now putting her own name on the door for the first time, according to the Inquirer. The change is more than a cuisine swap: it moves the Walnut Street restaurant from globe-trotting street food toward a menu centered on Vietnamese heritage and southern Louisiana upbringing.
For now, the project remains a highly anticipated Rittenhouse placeholder rather than a restaurant with published hours or reservations. Nguyen’s own website is asking would-be diners to sign up for updates, making the eventual debut date the next big piece of news on Walnut Street.
