If you grew up in Dallas, you know Desperados. The original Greenville Avenue location has been there since 1976 — founded by Vietnam War veteran Jorge Levy, who opened the doors with two partners and built something that outlasted trends, recessions, and the rise and fall of a hundred restaurants that came and went around it. A second location followed in Garland in 1994. And now, nearly fifty years after that first tortilla hit the comal on Greenville, Desperados is crossing into Collin County for the first time.
The new location is at 5960 W. Parker Road, Suite 210, in Plano’s Willow Bend Market — near the Dallas North Tollway and Parker Road, taking over the 4,000-square-foot space that was most recently an On the Border. The timing is no accident. The opening coincides with the restaurant’s 50th anniversary, and the Levy family — Jorge’s sons Jacob and Michael, along with catering manager Ameet Somaney — chose Plano deliberately. “Plano felt like the perfect place to continue our legacy,” the family said in a statement. “A community that values tradition, relationships, and local restaurants that stand the test of time.”
What Plano is getting is the real thing. The Desperados menu is the menu that made the original famous — tacos, enchiladas, flautas, fajitas — cooked with the same recipes that have kept three generations of Dallas diners coming back. Jorge Levy has long claimed to be the first in Dallas to serve ceviche, back before it showed up on every menu in town. The steak Argentina, the Terlingua champion chili, and the signature Desperados tacos are all coming north with the move. So is the guacamole, which has won its own set of fans over the decades.
The restaurant has also catered for some names you’d recognize — the Dallas Cowboys, the Texas Rangers, the Dirk Nowitzki-era Mavericks, and radio legend Ron Chapman among them. They’ve represented Dallas at Super Bowl XLV and the 2018 NFL Draft. This is not a chain that borrowed a name. It is the original.
For Plano diners who’ve been making the drive to Greenville or Garland for years, the wait is over. For anyone who hasn’t tried Desperados yet, this is the right time to start. Call ahead or check the website for current hours as the new location settles in.
