serves some seafood and chicken dishes that are less well-known. One of his favorites is camarones rellenos, which is jumbo shrimp stuffed with cheese wrapped in bacon. He said Taxco also serves enchiladas Mexicanas, which is an enchilada that doesn’t have melted cheese on top. “It’s a tortilla stuffed with meat, and topped with lettuce, tomato and avocado. It’s something that you’d see at someone’s house in Mexico, rather than at an American Mexican restaurant,” he explained. Romero is proud that his restaurant serves authentic Mexican food, and said that everything, from the beans to the vegetables to the cheese, is fresh. “I don’t like to do shortcuts. Our avocados for the guacamole are always fresh, and I go to Chicago once or twice a week to buy tortillas,” he said. And if a customer doesn’t like a meal, or if something is wrong with the dish, Romero wants to know about it, so he can fix it right away. “If someone sends a dish back, I need to know why. So the cooks and I taste it so we can figure it out,” he said. “I have very high standards. I tell my cooks that if they wouldn’t serve that food to their family, then don’t serve it to my customers.” Romero grew up in a “modest family” in Mexico and came to Chicago in 1991 when he was 18 years old. He visited Sycamore when his uncle invited him to see the restaurant. When his uncle offered him a job, Romero moved to Sycamore in 1992 and began working as a waiter, and later a manager, at Taxco. Prior to working with his uncle, Romero worked as a busboy and dishwasher in several restaurants in Chicago. Romero didn’t like living in Sycamore at first, but that changed when he met his wife, Stephanie, at Elleson’s Bakery. The couple has now been married for 21 years, and has two children, a 20-year old daughter, and a 14-year old son. “I wasn’t planning on staying here, I was just helping my uncle with his restaurant,” he said. “She was the reason I stayed.” Romero bought Taxco about 12 years ago when his uncle opened more restaurants in the Chicago suburbs. He said running the restaurant hasn’t always been easy. For the first few years, Taxco wasn’t as busy as he had hoped. Romero chalked that up to him not being as active in the community as he is now, and thought maybe some people weren’t as willing to try the authentic Mexican food that Taxco served. “We struggled the first few years,” he said. “I don’t think people were ready for real Mexican food. But once all the cooking channels popped up, and a lot more upscale Mexican restaurants began to open, it was more accepted.” As the popularity of authentic Mexican food grew, Taxco’s business grew. Romero said once the restaurant got its full liquor license about ten years ago, his profits soared. Prior to that, Taxco only served beer and wine. “Mexican food goes with margaritas, and when we couldn’t provide them, people would go somewhere else. So once we got the license, we were better able to compete with other restaurants,” he said. Once the word got out that Taxco could serve margaritas, people were lining up to wait for a table. Romero saw the need for more space as the original restaurant only had a dining capacity of 60 people. Luckily, he was able to buy the two adjacent buildings, which are now used as dining rooms and can accommodate larger groups. The dining rooms can now hold up to 125 people. Taxco’s popularity has expanded into a successful catering business as well. Romero said he averages about four to five jobs a month, and caters everything from small parties to large weddings.
DeKALB COUNTY MAGAZINE | 2015 | 35