As an old Tampico fan, I had a friend tell me that they were doing their "soft opening" today, and tomorrow at 10-2, and I had to go.

A few quick notes, and my laptop has deleted my last 2 copies, so I will make it brief:

This is the new STANDARD for Mexican/Spanish-influenced food in our area. WOW!

2 CIA chefs in the kitchen=AWESOME flavors!

Don't do looking for cheap, greazy cheesey Mexican food. You will be disappointed. If you want fresh, perfectly prepared food, you gotta go.

I tried 7 items ad loved them all. Try the Pinchos and the Ceviche.

Go and try new food, and don't cry for the old food, because I have eaten both, and the new is not even in the same arena as the old. Sorry.
CMac

[This message has been edited by CharlieMac (edited 4/10/2010 3:10p).]

Where is it?

It's on Commerce Street in Bryan. It's also very nicely decorated.

sounds good.

Very cool. Can't wait to go try it out.

I'm going again today. No shame..

Molé on the menu?

Still awesome today!

No mole, momlaw.

drat, will try the other offerings per your suggestion

hours?

Call ahead. The hours are not set.

Thank you CharlieMac for the very nice review. Howdy everyone in Aggieland. Allow us to introduce ourselfs. Chef Debra Rizzo & husband Chef Rinaldo Anthony here. We are the new owners of Tampico Del Barrio Cafe in Bryan, Texas located at 1011 Oliver Ave at the Corner of Commerce and Oliver. Yes, we are in the middle of the neighborhood and parking is street side like it has been since 1947 when the original Tampico opened.

Chef Debra - My grand father started the cafe back in 1947 selling pork skins, pork lard and cold beer. My mother ran the cafe for 26 years and now my husband and I are back from our world travels as private chef to, like they say, "kick it up a notch!"

My husband is a business school graduate from Texas A&M, class of 99 and we are both graduates of the world renowned Culinary Institute of America. In saying that, don't let that scare you away from coming to our cafe. We can do fancy food, but that is not what our cafe is about. The cafe is about coming back to our roots, the spirit of sharing food, wine & friendship and family.
The menu is moderately priced and small lunch-tapas dishes start at $6.95. The cafe is Nuevo Latino with infusion from Mexico, Spain, Carribean, South America and China. Hence, our new name, Tampico Del Barrio Cafe, Nuevo Latino Tapas Cafe & Bar.

Both my husband and I have our hands in the cooking. We make the food, so if something is not right we want to know. This is our passion. When you come to our cafe, you are coming to our house. If there is something that you would like to see on the menu let our front of the house manager, Lana Derr, know and we will see if we can add it to the menu. If you want to be a little more personal just come up to the kitchen and let us know, The kitchen is open and you can see everything going on. Like I mentioned, this is our passion and we take food seriously and what our customers say about the cafe and the food is important to us. We want to know how to make your customer experience better.

Thank again to everyone that came this past weekend. We had a great turn out and we hope to see you all again. The cafe is open Wed thru Fri from 11 to 2 and on Saturday & Sunday from 10 to 2. We will be open on the first Friday of every month for Tapas Night from 5 to 9.

Bienvenidos a nuestra casa, Bienvenidos a nuestro cafe, Bienvenidos a nuestro barrio!

Welcome to our home, Welcome to our cafe, Welcome to our neighborhood!

Chef Rinaldo Anthony

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Chef Rizzo:

Is Big Q involved in your restaurant?

Which Big Q are you referring to. There are alot of people in my wife's family that we call big Q. The cafe in now owned and operated by Debra & Rinaldo Rizzo.

But what is your passion?

The food shows your passion.

I'll probably bring more people on Saturday and Sunday, because of your passion!
CMac

What is our passion? Our passion is the love of food and the love for cooking for others and seeing their enjoyment and pleasure they get from our food. That is one reason we kept the open concept kitchen. This passion is based on our cultural backgrounds. Debra is Spanish and I am Italian. Two cultures that put family and food at the forefront. We cook as if we were planning to have guests come over for dinner. We want everything to taste great and we want everything to be in place. You are coming over to our house to eat because we live right above our cafe. As one of our previous employers, a very famous publisher, said, "Debra and Rinaldo cook with love! The love of food and the love of sharing and cooking for others and they will go to great lenghts to make sure everything taste and looks great. Two ingredients that are hard to find!" Like Julia Child's said to us when we met here, "To be a great chef you have to love food and love cooking for others. You have to put your best foot forward everytime because people only remember their last meal."

At our cafe, at the end of a shift, we have family meal. All the employees sit down and we eat and discuss that day's service. Debra and I want to know the good with the bad because we want to know why a customer liked or disliked our food.

Thank you for the question

Chef Rinaldo Anthony

Sounds AWESOME.

So you're only open on Saturday and Sunday? I'll have to come by on Saturday and check it out. Great way to avoid the Parents' Weekend crowds at all of the normal hot spots!

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Here's a map.

http://www.mapquest.com/maps?city=Bryan&state=TX&address=1011+Oliver+Ave&zipcode=77803-3076&country=US&latitude=30.670102&longitude=-96.382343&geocode=ADDRESS

Did you hear Tampico Del Barrio Cafe is now open Wednesday thru Friday from 11 to 2 for lunch and Sat and Sun 10 to 2 for Brunch

[This message has been edited by chefrizzo (edited 4/28/2010 11:29p).]

chefrizzo - can you post a menu for us?

Mimi, they seem to have several of their menu selections mentioned on their Facebook page...

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bryan-TX/Tampico-Del-Barrio-LP/117894948226968?v=wall

I can't wait to try this place! We used to go to the old Tampico all the time back in the day.

Thanks Tailgate. All of their items sound delicious. I can't wait to try it out.

Yes, we will soon post a menu, we are working on a webpage and we are posting items daily on facebook. We are taking customers suggestions and comments about their favorites and what they miss from the old Tampico.

[This message has been edited by chefrizzo (edited 4/29/2010 11:29a).]

I look forward to trying it!

Got lost trying to find this place. If you miss it, you end up at the T intersection at Beck Street. That was the quickest U turn and probably illegal. I'll be a wuss and take CharlieMac for a body guard with a FREE meal of course.

For those of you who have never been to Tampico Del Barrio, the cafe is in the middle of a neighborhood. Hence, the name Tampico Del Barrio Cafe. Tampico the original cafe was started back in 1947 and everyone who lives around the cafe is a relative or family member. My wife's aunt lives right across the street, her mother lives right next store, her brother lives next store, her cousin lives three houses down. Her other brother lives across the street in the other direction. I could go on, but hopefully you understand. It is not a bad neighborhood, it is a working class neighborhood with hard working husbands and wifes that do the blue collar work at A&M and Bryan Gas & Utility and most of the neighborhood is Latino. My wife's family as lived in the same house next store for 6 generations. Like we mentioned, my wife and I have worked all over the world as chefs and we have worked in New York, Dallas, Houston, Spain and China and I could think of alot worse neighborhoods than Commerce and Oliver. The city of Bryan has budgeted in the up coming year to revitalise the area with new sidewalks, lights etc because it is now included in the downtown area. The construction on Holt street, one street over from Oliver, is starting in the coming months. For anyone that gets lost, my wife and I live above the cafe with our daughter from China and you can call us anytime for directions at 822-6178. Sorry you got lost, please call and we would be happy to direct you to the cafe.

I forget to mention, the T-intersection at Beck St. and Commerce looks like a war zone right now because the city of Bryan is replacing all the water and sewage lines and they have been digging up the sidewalks and streets as they work in the area.

Chef Rinaldo Anthony

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Let's give a round of applause to Mrs. Maria Castro, age 65, who worked at the original Tampico for 27 years as the tortilla maker, who has decided that she wants to come out of retirement and come to work at Tampico Del Barrio Cafe. She is scheduled to start work this coming Wednesday. Mrs. Castro came by Tampico Del Barrio Cafe today and started to cry because she could not believe how beautiful the grounds were with the Spanish fountain in the center of our courtyard the bubbling fountain in the corner of the rose garden. Mrs. Castro smiled and cried as she told my wife and I how glad she was that someone in the family decided to put so much love and attention back into Tampico. She had so many memories of the great times with family and friends while she worked at Tampico. Debbie and I, which we did today, along with the staff, would like to "Welcome Mrs. Maria Castro to Tampico Del Barrio Cafe! We wish her at least another 27 years of great memories at Tampico Del Barrio Cafe!"

Chef Rinaldo Anthony

[This message has been edited by chefrizzo (edited 5/3/2010 10:27a).]

To get there definitely do west on W. 29th Street and UP Commerce Street, rather than west on Beck and down Commerce.

Just as soon as my hubby gets home, I plan to be there with bells on. That is if I can wait that long.

I will not let the sun go down Sunday night without dining at this place!

People who have panic attacks when they accidentally drive near Beck Street would have a coronary if they entered the Detroit city limits.

Boo!

Is it just open for lunch right now? Is it tapas style for dinner too?

[This message has been edited by pattybrhg (edited 5/1/2010 7:41a).]