The Lupe Tortilla Story: From a Family Kitchen to Over 20 Locations Across Texas
The original Lupe Tortilla first opened its doors in 1983, nestled in a 1940s frame house on the outskirts of Houston, and quickly received a dedicated following. After growing up watching our parents successfully nurture the first location, my brother, Peter Holt, and I took over the family business in 1997 after graduating from the Culinary Institute of America.
From the very beginning, we’ve had an unwavering focus on high-quality food and giving customers the best experience possible — from the fresh ingredients we choose to the atmosphere and service at each restaurant. While we’ve grown to over 20 locations across Texas, we still take the time to make our recipes from scratch, multiple times a day.
Our Unwavering Focus on Quality Ingredients and Customer Experience
We hope to offer customers a genuine Tex-Mex experience for breakfast, lunch or dinner and have something for everyone ,with over 60 menu items, each made with top-notch ingredients.
Breakfast Classics with a Tex-Mex Twist
Breakfast is something we more recently introduced to customers, and we’ve really enjoyed offering creative, fun takes on breakfast classics. The menu features everything from omelets and huevos rancheros to barbacoa benedict, chilaquiles, churros and breakfast cocktails — all with the same quality ingredients we’re known for. We also offer our take on biscuits, frittatas and 12-inch pancakes and waffles with a variety of toppings available that truly take them to the next level. Guests can wash down their morning Tex-Mex fix with specialty drinks like our Breakfast Rita made with 100% Agave Tequila, Triple Sec, lime, fresh-squeezed orange juice and whipped cream or the Fuertaccino made with shaved ice, espresso, milk, chocolate, Sauza Conmemorativo, Cointreau and whipped cream.
Fajitas, Margaritas, and More: Lunch and Dinner Favorites
For lunch and dinner, customer favorites include our famous sizzling, lime-pepper marinated beef and chicken fajitas served with all the trimmings and our soft, warm hand-rolled flour and hand-pressed corn tortillas that are made in-house to order. We also offer our carefully-crafted appetizers like house-made salsa, tableside guacamole made fresh by our servers and queso, as well as flavorful margaritas like our Lupe’s Original Margarita served frozen or on the rocks and made with freshly-squeezed lime juice, Lupe’s 100% Exotico Reposado and Triple Sec. We do some really tasty seasonal margaritas as well; right now we have our Chile Mango Rita with fresh jalapeno-infused Sauza Silver Tequila, Triple Sec orange liqueur, mango puree, fresh-squeezed lime juice, sweetened with natural cane sugar.
Setting the Standard in Casual Dining with High-Quality Cuts of Meat and Meticulously Crafted Recipes
With each dish, we’ve conducted meticulous product research to ensure customers are consuming the highest possible quality product for the price point. We take the time to craft each of our recipes and source ingredients. We truly strive to set the standard in casual dining by using only high-quality cuts of meat, cooking all items in small batches to ensure freshness and more. We really love what we do — my brother and I personally taste-test every new dish and product, and we’re really passionate about creating the best possible experience for our customers.
Setting the Standard in Casual Dining with High-Quality Cuts of Meat and Meticulously Crafted Recipes
With locations all over the great state of Texas, it’s been really important for us to develop unique systems to help our staff replicate our hand-crafted dishes so that we can consistently deliver the same service and product across all locations. We really focus on setting up our teams to win, and we’re proud that we’ve maintained top-tier employees and have a very low turnover rate.
Bringing Jobs and Growth to Local Communities Across Texas
We try to give our teams every single tool possible to help them thrive and grow. They are part of what helps drive so much of our success, so we’re constantly challenging ourselves to be the best employer we can be. We really enjoy being part of each local community we’re in, and are happy to bring jobs and growth.
Our current locations span Austin, Houston and San Antonio, and we most recently made our debut in Dallas, with plans to open more. We’re dedicated to always staying true to our roots at each restaurant and offer a fun, comfortable atmosphere to match the authenticity of our dishes. We hope that every customer that joins us feels like family when they take a seat at one of our tables.
To learn more about Lupe Tortilla, visit tex-mex.com.
photo credit: Lupe Tortilla