Fast Casual Takeout Spot Hey Taco! Opens in Westport at Former Border Grill

Hey Nachos w/black beans, jalapeños, cheese sauce, guac, pico, sour cream, cotija, and cilantro. Eat ‘em as is or add pastor pork, chicken tinga (pictured here), ground beef, skirt steak, or shrimp.

After over 20 years of slinging burritos, burgers, wraps, and Mexican fare, Border Grill, on Westport’s busy Post Road E, may have shut down, but in its place is another fast casual Mexican concept, Hey Taco!

Behind Hey Taco! is Judd Malin, a commercial real estate professional, his wife, Edith Galvez, and Edith’s father, Hector.

Hey Taco! is a family affair and then some. Hector’s daughters/Edith’s two sisters also work here.

But make no mistake, Malin isn’t a restaurant newbie. In the past, he’s been a co-owner of four in the past, namely, F.I.S.H. Restaurant + Bar, Quattro Pazzi, Boca Oyster Bar, and Wish Café, all in Stamford.

As for Hector, he’s the culinary talent.

“He’s a chef,” Malin says. “He just came from Juju in Old Greenwich where he was the chef from when they opened until recently. He’s wanted his own spot for a while.”

Malin told us that they skipped having a grand opening celebration so they could perfect what they do without being bombarded at the start. He did say that people have still been coming in, finding out about Hey Taco! through word of mouth and social media.

Prior to Hey Taco! and prior to being at Juju Cantina—which is part of the restaurant group that also includes Le Penguin, Le Fat Poodle, and Siren Restobar—Hector attended culinary school in his home city of Guadalajara, then later opening his own restaurant in Sonora before he’d come to the states cooking cuisines like French, Italian, and more.

What landed this family trio to take over the former Border Grill is through a connection in the industry.

Carnitas taco w/red onion and cilantro. But don’t forget to sprinkle on some of their flavorful, homemade salsas.

“Marcelo (Acosta) owned Border Grill before,” Malin explains. “He actually bought Quattro Pazzi (now Tutti Pazzi) and F.I.S.H. from us. He bought those from us and we bought this from him. He wanted to focus on his bigger places and we were looking for something, something small like this, for a little while.”

After Border Grill’s exit in February, Hey Taco! turned the space around quickly enough to open at the end of March, debuting their brand of Mexican that’s definitely different from their predecessor.

While you can expect all the common Mexican fare like tacos, burritos, bowls, enchiladas, flautas, nachos, chips and guac or salsa, they’re doing things in a healthier way, by being seed oil free.

Burritos (this one with ground beef) are wrapped up in a flour tortilla and stuffed with cilantro-citrus rice, beans, pico de gallo, avocado and tomato sauces, and crema. You can get it with mixed veggies, chorizo, chicken, skirt steak, or shrimp.

Enchiladas (your choice of cheese, chicken, ground beef, skirt steak, or shrimp) with either roja or verde salsas (ask for half and half!) come with a side of red rice.

In some of their cooking, beef tallow is in place of, say, canola oil, and in their frying, they use organic fera fruit oil, extracted from the fruit grown on hybrid American oil palm and the African oil palm trees. It’s proven to not only be highly heat stable, but it’s got far less polyunsaturated fat than canola or soy, it’s rich in antioxidants, and its sustainability factor is extremely high.

“One of our big things, is we wanted to be a little bit healthier,” Malin says.

But healthier doesn’t equal bad. Taste their slow-cooked short rib birria, their crispy tortilla chips, or a heaping order of nachos covered in black beans, jalapeños, cheese sauce, guac, pico de gallo, sour cream, cotija, and cilantro, and you won’t bat an eye that Hey Taco! is doing Mexican that’s a little better for you.

So far, Malin says that they “do a lot of burritos, but tacos are our focus, and both corn and flour tortillas are made for us by a place in New York.”

Tacos! Left to right, beer battered Baja fish (cod, cabbage slaw, chipotle mayo), chorizo (red onion and cilantro), and carnitas.

He also tells us that the early tacos favorites have been the birria and their three different steak tacos, carne asada, ribeye, and the Sonora adobo skirt steak with roasted Anaheim chilis, melted cheese, caramelized onions, and cilantro on a flour tortilla.

A few that are a bit outside the box are a grilled blackened Mahi-mahi taco with pepper and jicama slaw, cheese, and cranberry sauce (flour tortilla), and a smoked trout taco with jalapeños, cabbage slaw, onion, cilantro, cheese, and chipotle mayo on a corn tortilla.

Because it’s a small space, geared towards takeout, you’re free to swing by and place an order in-person, hit up their website to order ahead, or if you’d prefer delivery, Hey Taco! is on DoorDash, UberEats, and Grubhub.

And while space inside is limited, you’re obviously welcome to crush your tacos at the handful of counter-window seats, or when the weather cooperates, you’re free to snag a picnic table on the patio, too, which begs the question…BYOB?!

“We’re not planning on doing our own liquor, beer, or wine,” Malin says. “And no one has asked the BYOB question yet, but yeah, sure.”

1550 Post Road E, Westport
203.254.8322, hey-taco.com