I had just finished helping set up for a trade show at a hotel in Addison and I was looking for a place to eat. Mexican sounded good to me that evening and there seemed to be a plethora of Mexican restaurants in the immediate area not far away. I had a seen a couple that had caught my attention, but I found one while doing an on-line search for Mexican restaurants that seemed to stick out more than the others - El Rincon Mexican Kitchen & Tequila Bar. I took off to find El Rincon and have dinner there that evening.
Rick Na grew up in New Orleans and his parents ran restaurants in the Crescent City for a number of years. His girlfriend - and later his wife - Susan Kuy also had parents who ran restaurants in New Orleans which she and her brother Steven would help out in. All three wanted to get away from the restaurant business and Rick Na got his pharmacy degree from Xavier University of Louisiana, while Susan got her degree in business and Steven got his degree in political science.
After graduating from Xavier University in 2008, Rick Na became a corporate pharmacist for CVS. But after five years of doing that, it turned out that his wife and brother-in-law were looking to get back to their restaurant roots.
Working in the corporate world in the myriad of office buildings around the greater Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex, the group saw an opportunity to put establish delis in the office towers as there were few choices of close-by food places in some of the areas the group sought out. In 2013, the trio opened the first of what turned out to be three Murphy's Deli locations in the Dallas area. Leaning on their New Orleans roots, Murphy's Deli was well-known for their muffuletta sandwiches. The deli's turned out to be a successful venture for the group and they set their sights on offering franchises.
To help guide them through the path to franchising, the Na's and Kuy ended up reaching out to Elite Food Group, a corporate entity that had started in Houston in the early 90's with a business plan of putting delis in office complexes in and around the Houston area that mirrored what the trio had accomplished in Dallas. But it wasn't long before the group decided to sell the Murphy's Deli locations to Elite Food Group and the deal was transacted in 2016. Elite Food Group began to franchise the Murphy Deli concept and today there are 36 Murphy's Deli locations primarily in the Dallas/Fort Worth and Houston areas.
Wanting to stay in the restaurant business, Steven Kuy, and Rick and Susan Na had a non-compete where they couldn't start a deli-style restaurant for a period of time. (Rick Na still owned a Murphy's Deli franchise as part of the deal to sell the delis to Elite Food Group.) The trio pivoted toward the popular TexMex cuisine and sought out an area in the Dallas suburbs where they could open a restaurant that featured made-from-scratch food and cocktails. They found a spot in historic downtown Carrollton on Dallas' north side and they opened El Rincon (The Corner) Mexican Kitchen & Tequila Bar in a corner building near I-35E on Carrolton's city square in 2016.
Pictured right - Steven Kuy, Susan Na and Rick Na. Photo courtesy Canvas Rebel.
El Rincon turned out to be a substantial hit with the people in Carrolton with their upscale TexMex fare and the large number of high quality tequilas and cocktails they had available. In August of 2019, the group opened a second El Rincon in Frisco, TX on the far north side of the DFW metroplex. And a bit over a year later, the trio set their sites on a location in Addison Circle, a 10-acre park/entertainment/residential area in Addison. They opened their third El Rincon in January 2020.
Less than two months after opening, the COVID 19 pandemic hit causing restaurants to shut down all over the nation. Concentrating on keeping the Carrolton and Frisco locations open, the Na's and Kuy decided to mothball the Addison location until things began to settle down finally reopening in the fall of 2020. The Addison El Rincon never had an official grand opening because of the pandemic, so in January 2021 - their one year anniversary of that location - El Rincon had a grand re-opening. In late 2022, the group shut down the Frisco location citing leasing issues and a downturn related to the post-pandemic restaurant business and looked to relocate to nearby McKinney, TX. It took them over a year to find a spot and they opened the McKinney El Rincon in July of 2024.
It was a very short drive for me between my hotel and El Rincon. Addison Circle is a planned community space that features residential, retail, and dining spaces, as well as entertainment venues, and hosts a number of events including Taste Addison, Oktoberfest, and Addison After Dark which features live entertainment and food trucks on a periodic basis. El Rincon is located just east of the Blueprints at Addison Circle sculpture at 5004 Addison Circle. (see map) There's on-street parking available, but being that it was a Friday evening all the spots were filled. There are a couple free parking garages in the immediate vicinity and I parked at the one just north of El Rincon.
Walking up to El Rincon, I found a patio area in the front that was bordered with pastel colored wood planters. It was a nice evening and a few people were seated on the patio enjoying drinks and appetizers.
Inside El Rincon, the dining room was just off to the right hand side of the front door. The room was brightly lit and had decorative Mayan/Aztecan wall paper with portraits of 1920's era Mexican men on the wall. It wasn't a big dining area - it maybe sat 40 to 45 people. But it seemed comfortable.
The bar area was to the left as you come in the front door at El Rincon. It had bright pastel accents with industrial light fixtures with Edison lights hanging from the ceiling. The bar was small - it sat just 7 people - but there were a handful of high-top tables in the bar area.
There was one seat open at the bar when I got there. The bartender that evening was a young man by the name of José. He was a tall guy - I guessed him to be 6'7". There was a young lady who was serving the dining room and she had to be 6'3". I wanted to ask if they were siblings. But José turned out to be a good guy who referred to me as "boss" throughout my visit.
I started off with a special margarita they had featured that evening. It started with El Rincon's "Tequila-of-the-Month", the Titanium Reposado, mixed with Cointreau, agave syrup and fresh-squeezed lime juice. That's exactly how I make my margaritas at home and I've spoiled my wife so much that she won't order margaritas in a Mexican restaurant if it's made with a mix or soda pop.
She would have liked this margarita and it came with a tequila "side-sipperr" that was served in a champagne flute. The margarita and the accompanying shot were a great start to the meal.
The menu at El Rincon was very interesting. It featured a number of appetizers such as house-made guacamole, bacon-wrapped grilled shrimp, brisket nachos, and queso cargado - queso with seasoned ground beef with pico de gallo, sour cream and guacamole. Their taco selections featured Baja shrimp tacos, brisket tacos and pastor tacos with adobo pork, pineapple, onions and cilantro with an avocado salsa. Their Mexican classics part of the menu had fajitas, a pulled pork torta, beef or chicken chimichangas, and a 2.5 pound El Gigante burrito with grilled steak and a number of other fillers.
They also had a number of enchiladas to choose from including chicken chile verde, brisket, and traditional ground beef enchiladas. And their especial section of the menu featured a 6-ounce beef tenderloin with grilled shrimp combo, beef tenderloin fajitas (that I seriously thought about getting), beef birria, and a dish called Mexi-Fried Rice - it was a mixture of beef and chicken fajita meat, along with grilled shrimp and chorizo with corn, carrots, and onions topped with an over-easy fried egg and a spicy serrano pepper sauce. That dish also gave me pause as I was looking through the menu.
I was really interested in the carnitas chile relleno, but I found out that it was served opened faced and had raisins. I'm not big on raisins, but I'll bet it was very good. The blackened tilapia fish tacos topped with Mexican slaw and an avocado/chipotle aioli was a big possibility. The beef tenderloin fajitas and the brisket tacos were weighing heavily on my mind. José asked me if I was ready to order and I told him my dilemma. "All good choices, boss," he said. "Did I give you our specials for the evening?"
He handed me a list of three or four specials that evening and one of the items were chile rellenos stuffed with seasoned ground beef. I usually don't find chile rellenos stuffed with beef at Mexican restaurants - most of the time they're stuffed with cheese. So, once I saw those on the menu, I had to try them.
The beef-stuffed, deep-fried chile rellenos were topped with Monterey jack cheese and a sauce made from Guajillo peppers. Mexican rice and refried beans topped with cotija cheese came on the side.
Now, my benchmark for beef chile rellenos are the ones I used to get all the time at the old Raul's Mexican restaurants on the east side of Des Moines. Those were just fabulous. (God, I miss Raul's...) And these were pretty damned close. The Guajillo sauce had a nice, yet subtle, spicy bite that really brought out the flavors of the beef chile relleno.
I had a top-shelf house margarita to go with my meal, and after I finished I wasn't quite ready to go back to the hotel, so I had José pour me an El Chignón IPA from the Four Corners Brewery in Dallas. It was a great after dinner beer and a nice cap to a very good meal.
I don't think I can say enough good things about my visit to El Rincon Mexican Kitchen & Tequila Bar. From the great margaritas, to the excellent food I had, to the great service from José, El Rincon was a great find. There's a lot of good Mexican restaurants in the Addison area, but I would say to go to El Rincon first, then try the rest. Then tell me if you found something better.
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