Terribly sad news today, at least for this ever-hungry writer, as one of the best restaurants in town has called it quits. Taking to social media, the family behind SoSL’s Taqueria Los Lee confirmed that continuing challenges had now forced their hand in a permanent closure. The business wrote:
“We are sure all of you know this, but we recently closed the restaurant. We will miss seeing all of you and are extremely grateful for the love, support and friendships we built through the four years. As you all may know, our dad kept on having health issues come up and it got the point that it was affecting all of us. We will not be deleting our social media because we hope to do something in the near future and hope to be able to see you all then. The restaurant now belongs to a relative but he decided to change the name and menu. The food is great and we 100% recommend you try it. If you decide to go we recommend carnitas tacos and rolled tacos, everything else is great too!”
With their closure, the state has definitely lost some of the very best gorditas money could buy. It was roughly around this time last year that I lavished praise on the family run spot. Never one to show restraint when happily stuffed to the gills, in this article about Los Lee I wrote:
“Despite the Taqueria moniker over the door, I found the star of the show the handsome gorditas – golden brown fried discs of masa, stuffed with whatever you like. The ground beef and potato gordita was a particular revelation, a further reminder that less is more. Beef, potatoes, dough, hot oil. Now shut up and eat. Just got dumped? Just got fired? Just watched your cellphone slow motion explode on the floor? Eat this. Your day just got better in that richly warming way only softened potatoes know how to fix. The seasoning is light enough to be entirely forgotten. A crunchy exterior, a yielding-pillowy soft innard.”
Per the family’s postings to social media, the business is now in the hands of a new relative. The new Emiliano’s Taco Shop will be open Monday through Sunday, 8 a.m. until 10.00 p.m. – and if Emiliano has only half the talent as those handing over the reigns, this should be some fabulous cooking indeed. I’ll be there soon and report back.
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Hi, I’m Stuart, nice to meet you! I’m the founder, writer and wrangler at Gastronomic SLC. I’m a multiple-award winning journalist and have written in myopic detail about the Salt Lake City dining scene for the better part of seventeen years.
I’ve worked extensively with multiple local publications from Visit Salt Lake to Salt Lake Magazine, not least helped to consult on national TV. Pause those credits, yep, that’s me! I’m also a former restaurant critic of more than five years, working for the Salt Lake Tribune. I’m largely fueled by a critical obsession with rice, alliteration and the use of big words I don’t understand. What they’re saying about me: “Not inaccurate”, “I thought he was older”, “I don’t share his feelings”.
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Was a huge fan of Taqueria Los Lee, unfortunately Emilio’s really isn’t a continuation at all.
The food is very reminiscent of the dozens of other fast food all night taco places throughout the Wasatch Front in fact the menu the last time I was in had the same items as other places.
Sad to see Los Lee go, if was a gem of Salt Lake!