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Lou Williams … aka
Taco Lou
Michael Jones
If you’ve been around the neighborhood,
you gotta know Lou … “Taco Lou.”
Along with Ernie and C.J. he’s one of
the fixtures around Powelton and he’s
worth getting to know! Maybe you’ve seen
him carrying stuff in and out of the Lambda
Chi fraternity at 34th and Powelton, or working
his food truck outside the tennis courts on
34th Street. He’s the guy with the hat
on his head and a smile on his face. Did you
know that the guys of Lambda Chi think so much
of him that they made him a brother in the fraternity?
Did you know he lives at 40th and Filbert and
sends his kids to University City High School?
Did you know he’s President of the University
City High School Home & School Association,
despite all the work at the new restaurant and
late nights at the Truck?
Lou Williams started working in Powelton 25
years ago after buying a food truck. He didn’t
have a plan for the truck, until one of the
guys from Lambda Chi gave him a burrito and
told him it would sell. From that point on he
became “Taco Lou.” The truck started
out at 33rd and Market until Lou discovered
that “the money” was actually to
be made late at night, on the weekends and in
the neighborhood. That’s where the truck’s
been since. Maryann Brown’s kids worked
for Lou through High School, well Zack and Rachel
did anyway, Zeke would come hang out, though
he helped Lou paint the façade of the
new Restaurant.
Just as the truck wasn’t planned, Lou’s
new restaurant on 33rd Street wasn’t planned
either. The idea had just been “floating
in the back of his mind.” He ran into
the owner of the former Express café
one day and one thing lead to another. Soon
he and partner Colleen McClenaghan were planning
a nice little restaurant for the space, a place
where the community could come together over
good food in a comfortable atmosphere. Lou makes
it sound like they opened overnight, but there
were meetings for community approval, electrical
work that had to be done and redone and endless
adjustments demanded by our City Bureaucracy.
The result was worth the wait! The sunny décor
is one of the hallmarks of the successful collaboration
between Lou and Colleen. She picked out the
colorful dishes, the floor tiles and fixtures.
He picked the wall colors and counter tile to
complement them. She had a friend who did the
bathroom sink … and Lou says word of the
sink has spread so much that some folks head
straight for the bathroom when they come in.
Lou says the response has been “Great!”
The menu was planned to be more upscale, in
keeping with the décor, and Lou is thrilled
to see all the community people coming in. He
has adjusted the menu since opening, so students
are now finding more of the food they expected
to find at “Taco Lou’s,” at
prices they can afford. Lou’s full of
praise for his student servers who do more than
their share to make the restaurant work. You’ll
find Lou’s Restaurant on 33rd Street between
Powelton and Pearl. My advice, go check it out
… and while you’re there, say hi
to Lou.
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