Your New Go-To For Late Night Tacos in Wynwood
The rows of Fabuloso bottles are extra surreal at 1 am
Courtesy Sala de Despecho
It’s midnight. That after-work happy hour that you said you’d stop by for “a drink” turned into “what do you mean I ordered eight martinis?!,” six sips of water, and a regrettable trip to The Dirty Rabbit. As you wander the mural-filled streets deleting videos from your phone, you think, “Man, I could go for some tacos….and maybe a Mana video.”
Then you see it. A small storefront that appears to be technicolor portal into 1990s Latin America, complete with snacks, cleaning products, and music videos featuring very large hair. This is Sala de Despecho, a taco shop and nostalgia factory straight from Mexico, that’s your new Wynwood go-to for late-night tacos and surreal surroundings.
So why would I go here instead of the 700 other taco shops in Wynwood? Because Sala de Despecho is exactly what you need when you’ve several drinks deep and forgot to eat. It’s big, it’s bright, it’s filled with stuff you’d have found in a Mexico City bodega circa 1994, and the music videos lend themselves really well to making up your own stories about people in legwarmers. It’s the kind of place where you look down at your plate of trompo and ceramic Don Francisco glass, then look around, and think, “How the hell did I get here?” In the best possible way.
Courtesy Sala de Despecho
The space: Sala de Despecho looks like, now try and follow along, a taqueria stuck inside an old, big-city bar, if that bar was stocked like a Mexican 7-11. You don’t need to know what Zote or Rumbero are to appreciate the nostalgia of the products on the shelves, nor do you need to know a single song to sing along with the videos blaring on TV. The music and the nostalgia make everyone inside a special kind of late-night happy, and it’s exactly where you want to be at the end of the night.
What to eat and drink: Tacos, obviously. The menu comes from Taco Atarantados, with all your traditional street taco meats like pollo, carne asada, ribeye, trompo, and others. If for whatever reason you’re not feeling tacos, the papas asadas are equally satisfying, the kind of rich-meat-on-french-fry creation that keeps cardiologists in business. On the drink side, the specialty cocktails are a must, if for no other reason than they come in ceramic mugs shaped like 1990s Spanish TV stars.
Perfect for: Late night food. Though if you want to kick your night off with some spicy margaritas and street tacos, that works too. You’ll probably leave saying, “We need to come back here later.”
Pro tips: Make sure to ask for an order of the chips and salsa first. The “chips” are more like tiny strips, so you won’t fill up on three baskets of them like you always do at Chili’s. The salsas run spicy, but you won’t realize it until well into the next morning.
Expect to pay: $15-$20 per person if you’re done drinking for the night. If you want a cocktail, budget another $15-20 for each one of those. But for the love of god, don’t steal the mugs.
Courtesy Sala de Despecho
How’s the parking? It’s Wynwood, so if you find a space maybe grab a lotto ticket on your way in, too. Then again, if you’re getting the real Sala de Despecho experience, you won’t be driving.
@saladedespecho.us // 218 NW 25th St. Wywnood
d