Milwaukee chef and restaurateur Justin Carlisle, who has been a James Beard award finalist for the last two years, is planning to open a taco restaurant on South 1st Street in Walker’s Point.
The Laughing Taco will be located on the first floor of Trio MKE, 1033 S. 1st St., a new three-building, 120-unit apartment complex developed by Tim Gokhman of New Land Enterprises.
Carlisle and his wife, Lucia Munoz, will operate the restaurant together. Munoz, a native of Monterrey, Mexico, will oversee the restaurant, which will focus on Northeast Mexico-style tacos, Carlisle said.
“It’s going to be an extremely-basic Taqueria with literally just tacos, beer and tequila,” Carlisle said.
The restaurant is slated to open March 1 and will be open 11 a.m. to 10 a.m. Tuesday through Saturday, according to a license application with the city of Milwaukee.
Carlisle also operates the acclaimed fine dining restaurant, Ardent, located at 1751 N. Farwell Ave. and Red Light Ramen in the same building. He is planning a casual sit down/deli in a 13-story mixed-use tower on Farwell Avenue on Milwaukee’s East Side. The Farwell Avenue building is currently under construction.
“I’m in no hurry on those plans,” he said. “That project is at least two years out, this one (in Walker’s Point) is going to move a lot faster.”
