The Lake Street landscape looks a little different today than it did in 2014, when the Latino Economic Development Center (LEDC) first held its popular Taco Tour.
The event then attracted over a thousand people eager to sample Lake Street’s culinary bounty, including carnitas, spicy chorizo and juicy al pastor. The goal was to make this an annual event, but economic challenges put the festivities on hold long before civil unrest changed the neighborhood.
Now the tour returns on September 24th with more tacos, more fun and a chance for the city to reacquaint itself with one of Minneapolis’ most famous thoroughfares.
“There are traditions that are clear to everyone,” said Henry Jiménez, executive director and president of the LEDC. “Everyone has their own family traditions. We think of the Taco Tour as part of our tradition.”
It’s also an opportunity for the group, which began in 1999 as a way to help Latino entrepreneurs, to highlight Lake Street and support its BIPOC-owned small businesses.
“East Lake Street is a magnet for anyone who loves food,” Jimenez said. “If you love Lake Street, you love the food.”
The first Taco Tour was an effort to promote many of the Latino-owned restaurants in the area, and 10 restaurants participated. Some hired entertainers, while shuttles drove hungry attendees from place to place. The Luchadores wandered the street, stopping to pose for photos. The LEDC deemed the event a success, with restaurants and diners enthusiastically relaying positive experiences and a new or renewed love for Lake Street.
It seemed like an auspicious start to a perennial celebration of this taco hub, but after a few years the annual event was shelved indefinitely. Then history arrived at his doorstep. The pandemic closed businesses. George Floyd was killed and people left. The unrest that followed was broadcast internationally, and the reputation of E. Lake Street became more sinister than its current reality, where on any given day there are families waiting to board the Route 21 bus, workers taking a lunch break in front of a food truck, cars colliding with music and passers-by pausing to contemplate colorful murals.
Businesses eventually removed the plywood protecting their windows, pandemic restrictions eased, and most restaurants reopened. Old favorites like Manny’s Tortas returned with renewed vigor. New restaurants such as El Guanaco, a Salvadoran pupuseria, opened on the street.
This year’s Taco Tour will feature more than two dozen restaurants and taco trucks along a mile-long stretch of Lake Street. The free event runs from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., with food available for purchase at participating restaurants. Expect a family day: In addition to maybe sharing a Las Cuatro Milpas birria with the kids, there will be music and activities like bounce houses, face painting and a taco eating contest, all in the US Bank parking lot (919 E ). . Lake St.).
“The taco tour is a way to show your commitment to your community,” said Jimenez. “If we don’t support these businesses we won’t be able to support and continue these traditions.”
East Lake Street Taco Tour
When: September 24, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m
Where: Lake Street between Clinton and 19th Avenue.
Cost: Free entry, plus the cost of food in restaurants
Getting there: Organizers suggest cycling or public transport. Metro Transit offers free hop-on and hop-off rides on the Route 21 bus that crosses Lake Street.
More information: ledcmn.org
