Travelers moving between Concourse C and D at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport can now grab a quesabirria taco or a California burrito from Taco Street, the Tacoma taqueria that opened its airport outpost on August 21. The restaurant sits below Brewtop Social and next to Salty's at the Sea, across from security checkpoint 4, serving the same slow-cooked carne asada, barbacoa, al pastor and pollo fare that built its following at the Waterfront Market at Ruston and its newer Tacoma Mall location.
Taco Street co-owners Elonka Perez and Martin Perez pitched their food to a judging panel and were chosen as one of six top applicants before winning the airport slot through a competitive bidding process, according to the Tacoma News Tribune. Elonka Perez told the paper that the family's Tacoma roots are a source of pride in bringing the brand to one of the region's busiest transit hubs. The News Tribune reported that the airport opening, originally expected by June, was pushed back to August 2026.
Taco Street joins Sea Ko, already operating in Concourse B, as part of the Port of Seattle's SEA Sparks incubator, an economic development program aimed at cutting costs and barriers to entry for small businesses at the airport. The Port owns the build-out of Taco Street's airport kitchen, which the News Tribune's reporting describes as having lower overhead than a typical airport restaurant — a structural difference from the standard concessions model that let a family-run taqueria compete for a spot inside one of the busiest terminals in the country.
How the Incubator Kitchens Work
According to Port of Seattle materials, SEA Sparks offers 25 limited-term concessions opportunities across seven categories, including what the Port describes as North America's first Port-owned quick-service restaurant incubator kitchens. The program is built as a stepping stone: it gives emerging vendors coaching, training and short-term operating space to prepare them to eventually compete for long-term, multi-year Airport Dining and Retail leases. Taco Street advanced through the process alongside 39 other businesses before landing its slot, the incubator's stated pathway from temporary kitchen to permanent tenant.
Perry Cooper, speaking on behalf of the Port, said the agency is working to bring small-business opportunities to the airport — part of a broader effort to diversify who gets a foothold in a facility that serves over 52 million passengers a year, or roughly 135,000 travelers a day, across 89 gates on a 2,500-acre footprint, per Port of Seattle figures. Port pricing rules cap what concessionaires can charge at off-airport street pricing plus a maximum 10 percent markup, a regulation that shapes Taco Street's airport menu.
What's on the Menu — and What It Costs
The airport menu is streamlined compared with Taco Street's sit-down locations, though it includes some items exclusive to the airport counter, including an elote taco previously reserved for special events, per the News Tribune's reporting. Single tacos run $4.75 to $5.50, a four-taco plate with rice and beans costs $15.50 to $19.50, and a trio of quesabirria tacos is $15.99. A California burrito goes for $16.50, quesadillas range from $13.99 to $15.99, and a $10 burrito is also on offer, with soyrizo available for a $1 upcharge.
Breakfast burritos come with bacon, chorizo, cheese or soyrizo, and the kitchen also serves dorados de papa for $14.99, pozole for $16, loaded esquites for $11, guacamole for $11, and chips and salsa for $9. Agua frescas in mango, strawberry, jamaica and horchata run $8, alongside a $8 spiced hot cocoa. Meats and produce are prepped at a commercial kitchen in SoDo before being slow-stewed and finished at the terminal counter, and the News Tribune reported that customers already familiar with Taco Street's Tacoma restaurants have responded well to the airport version. Taco Street at SeaTac is currently open daily from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., with plans to eventually expand to 6 a.m.-10 p.m.
A Bigger Concourse, a Bigger Bet
The taco counter's arrival lands inside a much larger transformation. SeaTac finished a roughly $400 million Concourse C expansion and renovation this year, a vertical buildout that Hoodline previously reported added four floors and grew the terminal from 81,000 square feet to more than 226,000 square feet. Built by Turner Construction and designed by The Miller Hull Partnership and Woods Bagot, the project added rooftop solar panels, electrochromic glazing and a tiered seating marketplace known as The Tree at C, timed for completion ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup travel surge in Seattle.
Taco Street's new neighbors in the expanded concourse include Olympia Coffee, which opened its Sidecar Lounge location in early summer 2026 serving drip coffee, espresso drinks, pastries and grab-and-go food from 4 a.m. to 10 p.m. Founded in 2005 in Olympia, Washington, Olympia Coffee now runs seven regional cafés alongside Moonrise Bakery and was named Micro Roaster of the Year in 2013 by Roast Magazine. Other newcomers to Concourse C include Seattle Macaron Co., Great State Burger and Nanny's BBQ, sitting alongside national chains like Chili's, Port of Subs and Buffalo Wild Wings and a 20,000-square-foot Alaska Airlines lounge, according to the News Tribune's account of the expanded footprint.
Staffing Hurdles Behind the Counter
Even with the Port covering kitchen build-out costs, getting a restaurant staffed inside a secure airport terminal isn't simple. Airport security protocols make hiring cumbersome, the News Tribune reported, and Taco Street has faced difficulty securing staff for the location. Compounding that challenge, increased federal immigration enforcement has heightened fear among immigrant and refugee workers at airports including SeaTac, according to the same reporting — a pressure point for a food-service workforce the industry has long relied on.
Taco Street's path to SeaTac wasn't its first brush with lease complications. In July 2022, its commercial lease at the Waterfront Market at Ruston sparked controversy over an exclusivity clause that temporarily blocked pop-up vendors from selling Mexican street food, an issue eventually resolved through a compromise that restored pop-up operations, as Hoodline has previously reported.
What Comes Next
Taco Street's Waterfront Market location, open daily from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., remains its original anchor since 2020, while the Tacoma Mall spot, open Sunday 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Monday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., opened in December 2025. The business plans to operate at SeaTac for three years under its incubator agreement and may eventually apply for longer-term inline airport dining and retail opportunities once that term ends, per the News Tribune. The company is also anticipating a spinoff restaurant opening in SoDo in the coming months, expanding its footprint even as it navigates one of the region's most tightly regulated commercial kitchens inside SeaTac's newly expanded Concourse C.
