The Cuantos Tacos Austin diners know from a little yellow trailer is preparing for its first permanent restaurant—and the trailers are part of the plan. At 808 Justin Lane, founder Luis “Beto” Robledo intends to build a place with indoor seating, a patio and a bar around the cooking experience that helped Cuantos earn its following.
Robledo announced the restaurant in May. Now, an October 2 state construction registration adds the physical details: a 1,800-square-foot interior renovation with $200,000 in estimated construction work. The filing lists March 31, 2027, as estimated construction completion. A restaurant opening date has not been confirmed.
The new address is a milestone in a journey that started well before Michelin noticed the tacos. It runs through family kitchens, formal culinary training, a pivotal trip to Mexico City and an Austin food-truck community that helped make Cuantos a destination.
An Austin cook finds his direction in Mexico City
Robledo was born and raised in Austin, with parents who immigrated from Tamaulipas, Mexico. His mother, grandmother and aunts helped teach him to cook. As Austin PBS recounts in its Taco Mafia profiles, he went on to study at Le Cordon Bleu in Austin and work at Uchiko, developing a cooking background shaped by Mexican, French and Japanese traditions.
A 2018 visit to Mexico City gave that training a particular direction. In an Edible Austin interview, Robledo recalled tasting many of the meats he would later serve at Cuantos for the first time on that trip. The food he encountered became the basis for the street-taco experience he wanted to offer back home.
His professional training appears in details customers might take for granted. He told Edible Austin that his time in a Japanese kitchen informed how carefully Cuantos cuts its onions and cilantro. Sharp knives and precise handling preserve their texture and flavor. He also described using a chorizera, a broad cooking pan with a raised center, to cook meat in its own fat.
That attention makes sense on a taco with only a few components. A small tortilla, a portion of meat, chopped onion, cilantro and salsa leave little room to hide. Cuantos built its identity around getting that combination right.
The yellow trailer finds a following
Robledo launched Cuantos in September 2019 behind Fast Eddie’s at 2967 Manor Road. Before the business reached its first anniversary, a property dispute affecting the auto shop forced the trailer to find another home. Eater’s contemporary reporting documented the June 2020 move to Arbor Food Park at 1108 E. 12th Street.
The new setting offered seating, parking and shade. It became the familiar home of the yellow trailer, where customers could order at the window and share the outdoor space with other food-park vendors. Cuantos’ current website still lists the East 12th Street address.
Its reputation eventually reached well beyond the picnic tables. Cuantos earned a Bib Gourmand in Michelin’s inaugural 2024 Texas selection and retained the distinction in 2025. Michelin uses the award to recognize especially good cooking at good value. Yelp also selected Cuantos as Texas’ top taco spot in its 2024 state-by-state ranking.
Cuantos also became part of Austin’s self-described Taco Mafia, alongside the people behind Nixta Taqueria and Discada. Austin PBS’ documentary series follows their businesses, friendships, families and cultural roots. That wider story places Robledo among a community of taqueros whose work connects food with their lives in Austin.
Cuantos Tacos Austin: small tacos with a clear identity
The Cuantos menu describes Mexico City-style street tacos sized for about two or three bites. Thin nixtamalized corn tortillas form the base, with fillings that give a mixed order plenty of variety.
There is suadero, the brisket preparation; cachete, or beef cheek; carnitas; and longaniza, a Mexican-style sausage. Champiñones offers mushrooms, while campechana brings suadero and longaniza together. A tray can move from one preparation to another, with lime and salsa alongside.
Michelin’s description of Cuantos emphasizes that same focused approach: a concise menu, simply dressed tacos and thin corn tortillas. Quesadillas and sides such as beans and grilled onions round out the meal. The appeal lies in the range of preparations within a straightforward street-taco format.
That is the identity the next restaurant is intended to carry forward. The plans offer more ways to sit, eat and stay awhile around the food that already defines Cuantos.
A permanent restaurant with the trailers at its heart
In his May announcement, reported by MySA, Robledo said he had signed the lease for Cuantos’ first brick-and-mortar at the former Nugent Grocery. He described preserving the food-park atmosphere, with trailers used for cooking, outdoor patio seating, indoor seating and a bar.
The announced vision also included daily specials and a drinks selection featuring Mexican beer, Mexican wine and frozen margaritas. Those remain plans for the new restaurant, rather than a finalized opening menu.
Keeping the trailers gives that expansion a recognizable center. Guests would gain an indoor place to gather and a bar, while the cooking remains tied to the format through which many first encountered Cuantos. The permanent restaurant grows out of the trailer experience.
The building brings another Austin layer. Commercial listings for 808 Justin Lane date it to 1957. Giving the former neighborhood grocery a restaurant use would extend its food-related history, now through an Austin-born cook whose business began on a different neighborhood lot.
What the Cuantos Tacos Austin filing adds
The new Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation registration, TABS2027002671, describes renovating the interior of an existing one-story building for restaurant use. It identifies Luis Robledo and Cuantos Tacos as the tenant and says the tenant is providing the private construction funds.
EMADI Architecture of Dripping Springs is the design firm. The property owner is listed as 3423 Crestview LLC. The $200,000 estimate covers registered construction work; it does not establish the restaurant’s total investment.
The filing’s March 31, 2027, completion estimate is a construction milestone, not an opening announcement. Cuantos’ website continues to identify its current operation at 1108 E. 12th Street, and the future status of that location has not been established here.
For now, the Justin Lane project gives a physical shape to Robledo’s next step: room to welcome people indoors, a patio and a bar, with the trailers still doing what made people line up in the first place.