Tacos Selene, voted the second-best taco shop on the Front Range by readers of The Denver Post, is finally staking its claim in the Mile High City.
Carmen and Enedino Gonzalez started the business as a food truck in the 1990s before opening brick-and-mortar stores in Aurora in 2010 and Littleton in 2018.
The third location made its debut Sept. 12 at 1001 Santa Fe Dr., in the Art District on Santa Fe, and it’s not only an expansion of the restaurant, but also of ownership.
Celene Rivera, the Gonzalezes’ daughter and the taqueria’s namesake, left a career in nursing so she and her husband, Joseph, could join the family business as co-owners of the newest restaurant. (If you’re wondering why Celene’s name is spelled differently than the restaurant’s, credit whoever processed the business’ original licensing and title paperwork for the typo.)
The menu at Tacos Selene in Denver includes beloved staples, such as street tacos, a salsa bar and a weekend menudo special. Additionally, it features a few specialties unique to the location. For example, buche, which comes from the outer lining of a pig’s stomach, is served here in tacos, burritos, tortas and quesadillas. The restaurant also makes breakfast burritos with chicharrones, eggs and beans, and plans to offer chicharron tacos soon, too, Celene Rivera said.
The nearly 2,900-square-foot space is located on the ground floor of an apartment building at the intersection of West 10th Avenue and Santa Fe Drive, and can hold up to 145 diners at a time. When The Denver Post spoke to Rivera in March, she was scouting locations in Castle Rock. The commercial real estate market proved so competitive, however, that she pounced on a spot in Denver instead.
“We got it by offering 25 cents more per square foot than their first offer,” she said.
The family is now looking to build a fourth restaurant in Bennett, east of Denver.
Craving a bite? Tacos Selene is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. seven days a week.
