King David Tacos In Five Delicious Bites

In 5 Delicious Bites highlights five delicious points of interest about a food business we find compelling. Do you ever wonder which popular regional foods from one place earn respect in another? Or what aspects of navigating a food business through a global pandemic will stick around in the long run?

This week, we’re learning about the rise of King David…Tacos, an Austin style breakfast taqueria that’s made a home in New York City and can also be found in a store called Whole Foods.

Photo: King David Tacos

First Bite: Founder Liz Solomon Dwyer is an Austin native who refuses to bow down to the street cart mafia

The first thing you need to know is that Liz Solomon Dwyer, the founder of King David tacos, grew up in Austin and knows what an authentic breakfast taco is supposed to taste like. She didn’t take one trip to a place and become magically inspired by the food there as in the case with so many founders.

Moving to New York City, she craved a taste of home and transitioned into hospitality after a career in advertising. Realizing there was an opportunity to bring real breakfast tacos to NYC, she began her business with a street cart in order to learn what the people wanted and had to say - because New Yorkers will tell you how they feel about food as we all know.

“I'm creating a food business that has scalability and is built for volume and built for expansion. You have to look at how and why people will eat your food,” explains Solomon Dwyer. So how does one taco cart founded in 2016 evolve into multiple taco carts positioned throughout NYC’s busiest locations, a catering operation, a brick and mortar location in Brooklyn, taco drop delivery, and retail partnerships with companies like Whole Foods? Well obviously it’s because Solomon Dwyer knew that focusing on the breakfast taco and meeting New Yorkers where they are (the streets!) was the key to building an empire.

Second Bite: Authentic Austin Style Breakfast Tacos Begin with Flour Tortillas.

"Any self respecting breakfast taco must have a good tortilla” explains Solomon Dwyer. In this situation, that means FLOUR tortillas are the key to holding delicious combinations of meat, cheese, veggies, and sauces. In a city where the ancient art of masa grinding is held in high regard, its the humble flour tortillas that capture the essence of an Austin style breakfast taco. So please don’t show expecting or asking for corn tortillas - but if you need gluten free they do have “taco cups” which means you can totally eat here.

Third Bite: First Time Here and Don’t Want to Hold Up the Line? Opt for This Taco.

“The bean and cheese. The bean is one of the most satisfying foods in the world, and a bean and cheese breakfast taco is so good hot, so good cold, it’s good all day long. It’s such a good taco,” says Dwyer when I wouldn’t end this interview until she provided me a recommendation for first timers. There are other combinations you might think taste superior such as the combination of potato and chorizo which to me is the greatest marriage of ingredients I’ve ever seen. The lineups vary whether you’re visiting a cart or storefront so please review the menu in advance. Spoiler alert: Yes they have Migas for all you Austinites in search of them. (Solomon Dwyer’s personal fave).

Fourth Bite: Coffee is the Appropriate Beverage Pairing with a Breakfast Taco

New Yorkers have a very hard time getting the day started without coffee. Because of this, King David Tacos has partnered with Blank Street Coffee for their new carts, which are great for the environment because they’re zero-emission. And since New Yorkers are particular about their coffee, King David Tacos can also be found at notable coffee houses like Stumptown, Joe Coffee

The Fifth and Final Bite: To Stay the King of Breakfast Tacos, You Must Listen to the People

“After I tested it through catering, I knew there were thousands of others trying to find something to impress a client and they couldn’t find anything,” explains Solomon Dwyer on how she knew breakfast tacos had a real place in New York City food culture. Testing through catering and launching via a mobile operation is a savvy tactic when you first start, but the need to evolve your product and make it accessible is critical to its livelihood.

Being able to open a brick and mortar location as well as retail partnerships has led to King David Taco being front and center in places where the people crave breakfast, and their Taco Drops delivery option ensured they could get customers their breakfast taco fix during city wide shutdowns.