Meet the man behind Taco Wizard, Tampa Bay’s most talked about pop-up restaurant

ST. PETERSBURG — The night chef Michael Roberts decided to have a little fun with fried chicken, fans in the know showed up early.

A long line of people snaked around the building at Small Bar, the temporary wine bar and pop-up space attached to St. Petersburg’s Bandit Coffee Co., which was also Roberts’ makeshift kitchen for the evening.

Local diners know Roberts as the man behind Taco Wizard, a taco-centric pop-up restaurant that has garnered a solid following the past few years, setting up at coffee shops, wine bars and breweries across the St. Petersburg area. On this particular Spring night, however, foodie fans came for a special menu: crispy fried chicken, served several ways, plus caviar and oysters — all washed down with bubbles (sparkling wine or Champagne, depending on who was buying).

The evening was a big success, which is nothing new for Roberts, 39, who said he’s sold out every time since launching his roving restaurant three years ago. The concept, which Roberts calls a “nomadic taqueria,” hinges on tortillas made with heirloom Mexican corn that goes through a nixtamalization process, and a menu inspired by Latin and Asian flavors reminiscent of the late-night street food Roberts grew up eating in Los Angeles.

He’s made everything from crab tostadas topped with mangoes and a fermented aji amarillo and passion fruit hot sauce to smoky al pastor tacos roasted on a trompo (a vertical spit). One of his signature dishes is a “pho birria,” a mashup of the brothy Vietnamese soup and Mexican stew, made with braised oxtail and short ribs and served with melted Chihuahua cheese and griddled beef fat-fried tortillas, all topped with traditional pho toppings like basil, mint, cilantro, chiles, onions and lime.

The pop-up’s following is emblematic of an increasingly casual dining approach brought about by a culinary-inclined crowd more likely to throw back smashburgers and glasses of natural wine in a parking lot than shell out for a pricey fine dining experience. The brand has a heavy social media presence, with upcoming pop-ups posted to Instagram in the weeks and days leading up to the event.

For Roberts, Taco Wizard is just one part of what he hopes will be a lifelong career in the culinary field. One day, he hopes to have a brick-and-mortar restaurant of his own.

Roberts grew up near Lake Tahoe, California, and moved to Los Angeles in high school. It’s there, he said, that his culinary palate and appetite really developed. Roberts played in metal bands, eventually touring across the country. He got kitchen jobs along the way and fell in love with cooking.

It was nice, he said, “to find something that didn’t feel like work.”

After landing in the Tampa Bay area, Roberts rose up in the ranks at St. Petersburg’s Wild Child — starting as a line cook when the restaurant opened in 2020 and leaving about four years later as the spot’s chef de cuisine. He heavily credits his time cooking at the popular Grand Central District restaurant, and working alongside executive chef and owner Rob Reinsmith, for his culinary progression.

It was at Wild Child that Roberts first launched Taco Wizard. Last October, a year after handing in his notice, he left the restaurant to pursue the pop-up full-time. Since then, the concept has continued to grow. Roberts has teamed up with a long list of local food and beverage players, including Bandit Coffee Co. and Small Bar, Look Alive Coffee Roasters, Offset Sandwich Exchange, CellarMasters and Golden Isles Brewing Co., the latter of which has become the most reliable place to find Roberts’ cooking.

Often, Roberts is accompanied by his wife, Danielle, who runs front-of-house operations, and helps orchestrate events and catering jobs. Sometimes, there are chef friends that come to help out with prep, including Colin Reinsmith (Rob Reinsmith’s brother).

There are frequent collaborations with other chefs. When working alongside Franca’s, a popular local sourdough pizza pop-up, Roberts teamed up on a quesabirria pizza, a play on the popular Mexican taco but on a puffy Franca’s crust. It was topped with chile de arbol salsa, avocado salsa, pico de gallo, buffalo mozzarella and smoked Pecorino.

On every Taco Wizard menu, there’s usually something new to try. At his most recent pop-up, tacos came piled high with smoky, crispy beef rubbed in koji (a fermented rice mold) and topped with a creamy confit shallot kale and romaine Caesar salad, all showered in a Tajin crunch.

Roberts credits his musical background for fueling his culinary creativity.

“Creating a new dish is like writing a new song,” he said.

His past playing in metal bands is also evident in his pop-up’s branding, which includes edgy, metal-inspired typography and tongue-in-cheek references to the genre. And the food Roberts loves to cook most — Latin and Asian shoutouts to “L.A. street food” — are inspired by the dishes Roberts would eat after playing a show late at night.

“I grew up poor, eating pho and lengua tongue tacos out at 2 a.m,” he said.

Roberts said he’s cognizant of the cultural mashup taking place in his kitchen, and said the food is “all respectful.”

“It’s not anything that doesn’t make sense — culinary heritage means a lot to me,” he said.

Lately, Roberts has been thinking more and more about opening up a restaurant of his own. He envisions a small, hole-in-the-wall joint — an “omakase meets botanero,” a hybrid of the Japanese tasting menu concept and a Mexican snack shack.

There, he wants to serve both a sit-down multi-course tasting menu as well as a walk-up menu where a rotating list of snacks and drinks like ceviche, crab tostadas, empanadas, agua frescas, tepache and creative takes on Micheladas could be served.

Roberts has more than a few creative ideas up his chef’s jacket sleeve — concepts he’d love to see come to fruition in the future. But for right now, he’s happy building up the Taco Wizard brand, and seeing whatever else might come from it.

Recently, Roberts signed on to run the kitchen at a new restaurant concept — but he’s keeping that one under wraps for now.

Where to find Taco Wizard

Taco Wizard pop-ups, and other special dinners from Roberts, can be found by following @tacowizard69. The next pop-up, to celebrate Cinco de Mayo, will take place at Water Street’s Alter Ego on May 5.