A pioneering icon in Wynwood celebrates 10 years — and thousands of tacos

Miami Herald

28-03-2025

Ten years ago, when Miami's first Coyo Taco opened, the Wynwood landscape looked a lot different than it does now.
There were no luxury restaurants from London or New York. No valet parking, either. No towering developments on every street, and no maddening traffic or tourists. There was graffiti art, and there were restaurants like Joey's and the now-shuttered Wynwood Kitchen & Bar, Panther Coffee and the alluring, messy funk of Gramps, a locals bar now synonymous with the neighborhood.
What Wynwood also didn't have was a robust police presence, according to chef and co-founder Scott Linquist, who opened Coyo Taco with partners Alan Drummond and Sven Vogtland in 2015. He wasn't quite sure the taco shop could lure Miamians to park on streets known for car break-ins.
'It was a kind of weird situation when we first opened,' he says now. 'It wasn't a very safe place. The only good news is I never paid for parking at the meter because back then, they would never enforce it.'
The chance of a broken window wasn't a deterrent, surprisingly. The crowds were big and immediate, drawn by the siren song of authentic Mexican street food and the effortless cool of Coyo's hidden speakeasy.
High-profile celebrities started showing up. Gabrielle Union booked a birthday party for Dwyane Wade during Coyo's first week of operation, luring LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra. Later, Will Smith was spotted picking up orders, and David Beckham dropped by the speakeasy for a party. In 2018, former President Barack Obama came in for tacos and guacamole, causing what can only be described as mass hysteria.
Now, with Wynwood in the middle of another dramatic transformation, Coyo Taco is celebrating its 10th anniversary with a huge party in its parking lot on Friday, March 28. Longtime Coyo supporters Walshy Fire and Diplo will perform. Tacos, it goes without saying, will abound.
'It feels like a Miami classic already,' marvels Linquist of the brand, which is named for Drummond's hometown of Coyoacan, Mexico, and has restaurants in Coral Gables, Brickell, South Miami and Fort Lauderdale as well as Lisbon and Medellin. 'And we're still doing very well in this location. That's the beauty of having opened 10 years ago. We became a Miami staple.'
Ten years may not seem particularly historic, but Wynwood years are dog years, especially with the neighborhood changing so much over a period of time.
Linquist credits a lot of the success to Drummond and Vogtland, veterans of Miami's nightlife and DJ scene who understood how to create a space Miami wanted to experience. Coyo's back bar isn't particularly big, and there's no cover charge to get in. Entry is resolutely democratic: It's first come, first served, with no velvet rope in sight, the antithesis of the swanky clubs of the 1990s.
'We don't look people up and down to see if they look good enough to come in,' Linquist says.
Drummond, however, who with Vgotland is part of the team behind Wynwood's vinyl listening bar Dante's HiFi and the Asian food hall 1-800-Lucky, says the food was a huge part of what kept Miami coming back.
'Though there was some presence of Mexican food in Miami, nobody had really gone full authentic, with hand-pressed corn tortillas,' Drummond says. 'Our product was such high quality. And we're also a lifestyle brand, in the music we're choosing and the our staff. We took our time to handpick everyone who was going to work there, and it felt like family.'
The immediate success was thrilling, but it meant insane work hours. The kitchen was too small, so the partners had to lease a commissary kitchen. Linquist arrived at 7 a.m. to prep for the opening at 11 a.m., making tacos with two other cooks until they could finally kick everyone out at 3 a.m., then clean and reset and start all over again.
'It was crazy,' he remembers. 'There I was in my 40s banging out tacos by the thousands for 15 hours a day. It was rough, and that lasted for months.' The partners eventually hired Oscar Vides, formerly chef de cuisine at Ritz-Carlton South Beach, as Coyo's corporate chef, which means Linquist doesn't have to oversee daily operations anymore.
The menu has remained fairly consistent, with the carne asada tacos being the bestseller to this day. Chicken and shrimp tacos are popular too, as are the birria tacos.
Items that were too difficult to execute, like the foodie-driven octopus taco, were taken off the menu, but you'll still find tacos with duck confit or tender roast pork cooked in a banana leaf for 12 hours. You can still order burritos, tortas and salad bowls or one of the many quesadilla choices (we recommend the al pastor, which may be the best quesadilla we've ever had).
The combination of good food and irresistible nightlife have helped Coyo weather the changing culture of the neighborhood. Coyo has managed to flourish despite the disappearance of art galleries and craft beer bars and even withstand the Great Wynwood Taco Onslaught, which began several years ago when small taquerias seemed to spring up overnight.
'Last time I counted, there were around 16 in Wynwood,' Drummond says. 'But people know us. We've had a loyal customer base, and they haven't been steered away from us.'
That local loyalty is the key to Coyo's success, he says.
'What some people do in Miami that is a mistake is that they cater to tourists only,' he says. 'I don't think that's the the key to longevity. We take care of the locals, too, and so they still come in the summer.'
Coyo's popularity, of course, is not foolproof protection against soaring rent, labor or food costs or a neighborhood that once prided itself on its laid-back, artsy vibe but now is rapidly welcoming a seemingly endless series of high-end, out-of-town restaurant concepts. Upscale restaurants have to adjust to economic issues, too. But faced with more expensive products, they can add a few dollars to the price of a menu item without guests noticing.
But you can only raise the price so high on tacos. At the moment, Coyo's tacos range from $9 for two plantain or cauliflower tacos to $13 for two duck confit tacos, with most of the other choices costing between $10-$12.
'It's been a challenge,' admits Linquist, who is preparing to open Xico, a new Mexican restaurant in Asheville, North Carolina, this spring. 'People expect tacos to be cheap. It's hard to keep quality standards and maintain price points.'
'I don't want to badmouth Miami, it's my home. But that's part of the reason I'm opening a restaurant in North Carolina. It's impossible to be successful in a restaurant in Miami these days. Costs are astronomical, rents and leases and construction costs and permits for grease traps.
'It costs millions of dollars to open a restaurant these days, and with all the competition it's way over-saturated in every category. I don't wish anyone ill and I don't want any restaurant to close, but someday the bubble is going to burst.'
Coyo Taco Wynwood
Where: 2300 NW Second Ave., Miami
Anniversary party: 6 p.m.-2 a.m. March 28
More information: www.coyo-taco.com or 305-573-8228