The owner of Maciel’s Tortas and Tacos plans to open a third location of the popular restaurant — with even more of an emphasis on tacos — early next spring. 

The 4,000-square-foot restaurant will be located at 3397 Summer Ave., where the variety store Summer Trading used to be. 

$10 Deal: Maciel’s Midtown is quintessential Cal-Mex on a budget

“We want to focus more on the taqueria style and do more tacos than we have right now,” owner Manuel Martinez said of the new eatery.

Martinez said the main goal for the taqueria will be to serve tacos, and most everything on the menu will be a taco minus a few other options. 

“We’re going to increase our menu on the tacos,” Martinez said. “We’re excited about creating a new menu to bring new customers in and also to give the people the opportunity to try what a real taqueria looks like.” 

Even though the restaurant will be open for lunch, the third location will also be open later and focus more on dinner. 

“We want to create an ambiance so that people looking for something good to eat after certain hours can find it at this location,” Martinez said. 

They will also offer a special brunch menu at the new location on Saturdays and Sundays. Martinez said that the food will resemble much of what people cook at home for breakfast, including pozole, menudo, huevos rancheros and, of course, breakfast tacos. 

$10 Deal: Pupusas at Pupuseria Anita

With a bigger parking lot, more seating and being something of a hot spot, Martinez said the Summer Avenue location was “very attractive” to him. Though the space only offers indoor seating right now, they may add outdoor seating in the future. 

And while there are many Mexican restaurants on Summer Avenue, that particular block doesn’t have any. 

He also believes Summer Avenue will be a good location to increase Maciel’s exposure within the local Hispanic community. 

“There are a lot of opportunities on Summer Avenue,” Martinez said. “We want people to consider Maciel’s authentic Mexican food.”