Soliz Casa de Tacos: A Stafford Classic

By Bryn Palmer

Six cars are parked outside Soliz Casa de Tacos, waiting for the big hand to strike 7 a.m., when the restaurant officially opens and the patrons can get their hands on what they believe are the best tacos in Stafford.

“I don't know what I would do if the restaurant closed because I have not figured out how they make what I think is the best salsa in town,” said Moksha Patel, a regular at the taqueria.

Soliz Casa de Tacos has been serving Stafford and Sugarland residents since June 1984, when Connie and Benny Soliz founded the restaurant. It is one of the oldest family-run Mexican restaurants in Stafford.

It is now run by their grandson Eric Otto, who is usually decked out in his Astros “2022 World Series Winner” hat and matching sweatshirt.

Otto is the ultimate multi-tasker. He greets customers from behind the steel counter, continuing that conversation while answering the phone, which rings constantly, taking tickets to the kitchen to place on the order wheel and serving plates to customers.

For 38 years, the small restaurant – that can fit only two tables and a bench inside – is painted in a splash of red and yellow, like ketchup and mustard. It has taken up the same 1,000 square feet for more than three decades.

But it almost didn’t make it.

In its early years, Benny Soliz had so few customers, he had to take his dishes to the few neighboring businesses that existed at the time. By 1990, the restaurant was still not generating revenue, so the Solizes struck up a deal to sell their shop to Pilgrim Cleaners.

On the day of the transaction, however, the buyers failed to show. A “blessing in disguise,” their grandson calls it because the following year, the restaurant started making a profit.

After being in the kitchen for 30 years, engulfed in the sweet maple of sizzling bacon and brothy tender beef, Otto’s grandmother chose a busy Saturday to pour herself a cola and asked him to sit with her.

“I’m not coming back on Monday,” Otto recalled her saying. She was through.

She then took him back to the kitchen and taught him how to carry on her legacy, but it wasn’t easy. She had no written recipes – they were all in her head. When Otto asked for measurements, she laughed.

“If they're small use six, if they're medium use five, if they're big use four,” she said as a confused Otto struggled to scribble notes down how many tomatoes he needed to make salsa.

Though Otto's grandmother is no longer in charge, regulars said the same authentic, rich tasting breakfast tacos persist.

This is due to the loyal women in the kitchen, Otto said.

Latin music plays faintly in the background as the seven women who run the kitchen manage to dance around each other in the small space as they scramble to get the orders out. An “ant pile,” Otto calls them.

Otto said his grandmother was more of a drill sergeant. He loosened many of her rules and changed the environment even further when he renovated the decor in 2016.

Originally, Soliz was a vision of the ’80s, with bold yellow and red walls contrasted by a dark green counter and chipped linoleum floors.

He removed the plethora of Christmas-colored decorations, repainted the walls a muted beige, replaced the flooring with a modern dark wood and updated the restaurant’s technology.

Throwing out all the red and green did not erase the restaurant’s history, though.

Otto still displays emblems of his culture, with photos of Día de Los Muertos skeletons and saintly indigenous figurines arranged on the wall. A portrait of his grandparents is displayed directly above the kitchen entrance.

Now, when customers walk into Soliz Casa de Tacos, the three most important factors of Otto’s life are prominent: family, faith and the Houston Astros.

Otto said the first item placed in the restaurant after its renovations in 2016 was the small, glossy, black ceramic cross above the door. As the builders lugged wooden chairs and tables, Otto stopped them.

“I want anything that comes in here to be blessed,” Otto said, citing God as the primary factor for his success.

He said he wants to create a welcoming environment in the place that shaped his childhood.

“Every single year there's a new crop of kids,” Otto said. “The older brothers are telling their little brothers, and the older sisters are telling the little sisters, ‘Hey, go to the taco shop. Go get you some breakfast.’”

Students at nearby Dulles High School often go to the taqueria before school starts.

“I would go there before class,'' said Cree Dickerson, who graduated from Dulles a year ago. She said it was a hangout for many of the students in the morning.

Greg Alexander, a former football coach at Dulles, has been going to the restaurant since 1988.

“That was breakfast every day,” Alexander said. “They know exactly what I want when I call.”

As a way to give back, Otto donates some of Soliz’s profits to schools and Little League teams in the area.

Soliz Casa de Tacos has been a staple in the community, and Otto hopes it continues to be.

But he is still figuring out the future of Soliz. When he considers retirement in a few years, he's not sure his 16-year-old son, who is studying culinary arts, will want to take it over. And he doesn't want to pressure him.

“Maybe another 10 years, 12 years, something like that, and then I'll be ready to sit down for a while,” Otto said. “Maybe he'll be ready to do his own thing.”

By 2 p.m., the cooks are putting up chairs, mopping the floors and cleaning the kitchen.

It’s been seven hours and Otto has been on his feet all day, but he’s prepared to do it all again tomorrow. “It’s been a blessing,” he said.