When a 4 AM barbacoa craving hits, Rebel Taco Cantina will be your new stop on U Street. Owner Mike Bramson is transforming his former two-story sports bar The Prospect into a full-service taqueria. Currently, there’s a fast-casual Rebel Taco stall in Philadelphia’s Bourse food hall and a taco truck version is parked at Bramson’s massive new Arlington beer garden, The Lot. Look for an early fall opening.
True to its name, Rebel isn’t a traditional Mexican spot. The menu boasts corn and flour tortillas filled with cornflake-battered shrimp, fried avocado, or Buffalo-style chicken (there are also more classic versions like barbacoa and crispy fish). The cantina will serve an expanded menu with some non-taco items alongside a tequila and margarita list. Agave aficionados can snag one of the eight-odd seats in the “tequila library” where specialty flights will be poured. For quick-grab service, a takeout window will operate until 4 AM on weekends.
Bramson co-founded the Social Restaurant Group (La Vie, Provision 14,) but Rebel Taco and The Lot are ventures with wife Christal Bramson and designer Michael Juliano (Juliano Design Build). U Street isn’t their last stop. The trio has secured a smaller Rebel Taco location in Mount Vernon Triangle at Fifth and K streets, Northwest, which is slated to open late spring or summer.
Rebel Taco Cantina. 1214 U St., NW.
Anna Spiegel covers the dining and drinking scene in her native DC. Prior to joining Washingtonian in 2010, she attended the French Culinary Institute and Columbia University’s MFA program in New York, and held various cooking and writing positions in NYC and in St. John, US Virgin Islands.
