FIrst Look: Fireside Chicken and Tacos Opens Second Location in North Dallas

After years working in the restaurant field, Adrian Pozhegu and Oscar Espinosa decided to open up their own spot, Fireside Chicken and Tacos, in Rockwall in 2015. Through self-marketing and word of mouth the business took off, and now they’ve opened a second location. They settled on a corner location at Midway and Frankford roads and have been open now for about two weeks. Is there room for yet another chicken and/or taco place? We decided to go check it out and see for ourselves.

The not-overly-large dining room provides a bit of hominess while you enjoy a menu that includes chicken and tacos, along with enchilada and flauta platters, burritos and wings. You can order a whole or half chicken as well as several varieties of street tacos, the latter of which were our focus on this day.

We decided on four tacos: barbacoa, yellow jacket, firefighter shrimp and the quesabirria. The first basket of chips, complimentary for those dining in, came with two squeeze bottles of salsa: one red, which was fresh and lively, and the other green, a creamy concoction of jalapeños and poblano peppers that was stellar.

The barbacoa taco contained shredded beef, raw onions and cilantro in a corn tortilla and was priced at $3. The beef tasted like it had been cooked slow and long, as it should.

The Yellow Jacket tacos came two to an order and consisted of crispy chicken, mozzarella, grilled corn, pico de gallo, cilantro and creamy poblano sauce in flour tortillas for about $8. These were on the larger side and were extremely good. The contrasting textures of crispy and smooth brought a lot of positives to the party.

The firefighter shrimp taco came in a corn tortilla stuffed with shrimp in cocktail sauce along with lettuce, red cabbage, carrots, cucumbers, jicama and cilantro. There was a lot of garden goodness going on here, and the shrimp were just a bonus.

Finally, the quesabirrias came three to an order for $11, and were more or less quesadillas filled with birria meat and topped with raw onions and cilantro. A small cup of birria dipping sauce added the chef’s kiss to the dish. The quesadillas were lightly fried, which created a pleasant texture and color.

We really wanted to try the carne asada fries, described as grilled sliced steak topped with green peppers and onions, served with a side of rice, beans and tortillas. Yes. Sounds amazing, but we’re trying to be a bit less impulsive and greedy when we order off a menu.

This, along with perhaps the buffalo chicken taco, Baja taco, burritos and roasted chicken and other items from the menu will have to wait for another visit. And then there’s that green salsa, which evidently you can buy in 16-ounce jars to go. It’s really hard to not be impulsive.

18110 Midway Road, No. 101, Dallas, and 2332 Greencrest Blvd., Rockwall. 10 am. – 10 p.m. daily.