PORTAGE, MI – The two cousins started out with a taco truck.
Then more taco trucks. Two years ago, they opened a Mexican restaurant in Roseville, a Detroit suburb, and then a second restaurant in Wyandotte.
Now, Luis Diaz and Eduardo Cavala have come to Portage, opening Tequila‘s, a Mexican restaurant and cantina near The Crossroads mall.
While the Kalamazoo area has a number of Mexican restaurants, “we think you need more authentic Mexican food,” Diaz said. “Our tacos are like what you would find in (Detroit’s) Mexicantown. It’s like going to a taco truck” in the heart of Detroit’s Mexican community, where Diaz and Cavala have lived for years.
Indeed, theirs is award-winning fare, Diaz said.
Over the years, starting with their taco trucks, the cousins have taken numerous awards for best tacos and best margaritas at Taco Showdown, an annual event at the Detroit’s Eastern Market, he said. Most recently, their cucumber and cilantro margarita won the Taco Showdown’s 2025 best margarita award
When the two were looking to expand their restaurant business, they decided to pick a location outside of metro Detroit and settled on Portage, even though the two have no ties to the area. A big reason was finding a restaurant building for sale in a good location, said Nancy Diaz, Luis’ wife.
Tequila‘s is located across the street from Portage’s Celebration Cinema and across a parking lot from Blain’s Farm & Fleet.
The Tequila’s building housed Brann’s Steakhouse for years and most recently was Shaking Crab, which closed a year ago.
Nancy Diaz said her family has largely kept the restaurant interior intact, outside of painting and adding Mexican-inspired decorations. Tequila‘s officially opened this week and has the same menu as the Tequila‘s restaurants in metro Detroit.
Among Tequila‘s specialties, Luis Diaz said, is its birria, a flavorful dish made of tender, slow-cooked beef simmered in a rich broth of chilis. Diaz and Cavala are from the Mexican state of Jalisco, where birria originated.
In addition to birria tacos, customers can get a birria sandwich, a traditional Mexican sandwich comprised of three flour tortillas stacked with birria, rice, beans and cheese ($12.99) and birria eggrolls, stuffed with birria, onion, cilantro and salsa ($12).
The birria eggrolls have been a big hit, Diaz said, and another popular appetizer is the macha chicken wings, which are baked and fried wings basted with chili oil.
In its Detroit-area restaurants, Tequila‘s most-popular entrees include Fajitas Pina ($23.99), where the fajita meat and vegetables are served in a carved pineapple, adding a sweetness to the ingredients, and Molcajete ($34.99), a stone bowl filled with thin-cut steak, grilled chicken, chorizo and a quesadilla and served with green salsa, rice and beans.
Regular fajita options include steak and chicken ($18.99 each), shrimp ($20.99) or vegetarian ($14.99), a mix of broccoli, cauliflower, Mexican squash, cabbage carrot and bell pepper.
Tacos are $3 each for corn tortillas and $3.50 for flour. Filling options include steak, pastor (marinated pork with pineapple), chicken, chorizo, pulled pork, campechano (mixed meats), shrimp, fish and birria.
The tamales are homemade and are $3.50 each, $12.99 for a half-dozen or $19.99 for a dozen.
Tequila‘s also offers breakfast entrees at $10.99 each, including chilaquiles (homemade tortillas cut into quarters and lightly fried with onions and served with salsa); eggs chilaquiles, which adds tomato, bell peppers and eggs; huevos con chorizo, which is eggs scrambled with homemade Mexican sausage; huevos rancheros (two sunny-side up eggs covered in ranchero sauce); huevos a la Mexicana (four scrambled eggs with tomatoes and jalapenos) and breakfast burritos with eggs and ham or chorizo.
The lunch specials are $9.99 to $10.99 and options include a tacos, tostada, quesadilla, burrito, chimichanga, flautas and enchiladas, served with rice, beans, salsa, guacamole and sour cream.
Following the example of its Detroit restaurants, Tequila‘s in Portage will have happy hour drink specials Mondays through Fridays from 3 to 6 p.m. and on Tuesdays, tacos will be $1.99 each.
Planning is in the works to offer live mariachi music on Friday evenings, the Diazes said.
“We want people to come by to enjoy authentic Mexican food that’s from our region,” Nancy Diaz said. “We want them to enjoy our atmosphere, our service, our music. We want to let people experience our food and our culture.”
Tequila‘s is located at 700 Martin Luther King Drive in Portage, just west of JCPenney at Crossroads mall. Hours are Sundays through Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Fridays and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.
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