When Julio and his wife Ximena Rodriguez first opened the original Don Julio’s Mexican Restaurant in the Palms Connection plaza on E. Bearss Ave. seven years ago, the restaurant was an homage to Julio’s mother Esther Rodriguez (or Doña Esther). Esther began putting her cooking talents to good use in the late 1980s and early ‘90s by selling her authentic Mexican cuisine out of her garage in West Tampa after her husband, the original Don Julio, passed away when her three children were still young. She did well enough to put all three kids through college.
As we reported last year, since then, Julio and Ximena opened a much larger restaurant, with a full-liquor bar, in the City Plaza at Tampa Palms shopping center, which has really helped increase the Rodriguez family’s exposure in the community “and brought in a lot of new customers,” Julio says.
But, just a few days before we went to press with this issue, Julio and Ximena had moved the original Don Julio’s two spaces down in the same plaza — to the much larger space previously occupied by Bearss Tavern & Tap. “It just got too packed on the weekends at the old space, Julio says.
I promised Julio that Jannah, photographer Charmaine George (who took all of these pictures), her boyfriend Brendan and I would visit the “new” location to not only check out the much larger space but also to sample some of Doña Esther’s “autentica” recipes we hadn’t tried before.
And, it just so happens that Doña Esther (center in above photo, with Ximena and Julio) was helping out in the kitchen on the day we visited — and yes, we definitely sampled! We started by sharing the huge Don Julio’s Sampler (photo right) from the “Antojitos/Cravings” menu. The sampler includes crisp taquitos (we had them filled with chicken), a tamale (corn dough stuffed with pork, wrapped in a corn husk and steamed), a sope (handmade thick corn tortilla topped with refried beans, lettuce, onions, cheese and sour cream; we added ground beef to it), a tostada (similar to a sope, but flatter; we added carne asada steak to it), nachos (we added pastor and ground beef) and our new favorite, the perfectly cheesy quesadillas to which we added shredded chicken.
We each also ordered a main course. Jannah got her usual fave (although it was her first time having it at Don Julio’s) — the ground beef enchiladas (with refried beans and a red guajillo chile sauce). Charmaine really enjoyed her taco salad (bottom right photo) with tender carne asada steak. Brendan also raved about his chimichanga al pastor (marinated pork cooked on a vertical spit; left photo), which also was stuffed with plenty of cheese and topped with melted cheese).
I also tried the Bistec Ranchero (below), which is round steak cooked (and covered) in an amazing combination of tomatoes, onions and serrano peppers. The steak itself was not quite as tender as the carne asada, but the flavor was truly fantastic.
The new restaurant itself is beautiful. Julio says, “It took us six months to build this out, but we’re very pleased with the result,” including the authentic Mexican Talavera tile behind the bar (bottom left photo). We’d have to agree.
And, speaking of the bar, the newest Don Julio’s still features an incredible selection of tequilas and mezcals, some very upscale and rare, but all at very reasonable prices. Brendan, previously a long-time bartender, said his strawberry margarita was “spot on,” Charmaine savored her tequila sunrise and Jannah raved about the white sangria. I, of course, also had no complaints about my Woodford Reserve bourbon.
Ready For Cinco?
Julio promises that both locations of Don Julio’s will be throwing “the best Cinco de Mayo party in town” the weekend of May 3-4, “and the big final blowout on Monday, the 5th.”
“We’ll have DJ music, drink specials and, at the Bearss location, we’ll be serving quick and easy tacos from our food truck outside,” he says. “Plus the new location has this huge outdoor patio, so come check us out!”
Both award-winning Don Julio’s locations (2802 E. Bearss Ave. and 16023 Tampa Palms Blvd.) are open Sunday-Thursday, 10 a.m.-9 p.m., and 10 a.m.-10 p.m. on Friday & Saturday. For more information, visit DonJuliosMexican.com or find them on Facebook or Instagram. For reservations (not required but suggested, especially on the weekends), call (813) 898-2860 (Bearss Ave.) or (813) 644-7899 (Tampa Palms).
