It’s mid-August in Birmingham, but the balmy weather hasn’t slowed down one of the city’s busiest intersections: 20th Street and Second Avenue North. Local restaurateur Jesús Méndez Jr. gazes out the window of what will become his fourth business in the city: Salud Taqueria, a quick-service eatery featuring authentic Latin cuisine. Up the road, the wildly successful cocktail bar he co-owns, Adiós, is preparing for an evening pop-up with many of the items soon to grace the Salud menu. The new restaurant was still in the construction stage the day we spoke, but plans have been in the works for quite a while to serve tacos, burritos, quesadillas, and tortas prepared with the recipes of Méndez’s family and heritage.
Méndez and his father, Jesús Méndez Sr., launched their first Birmingham taco spot four years ago after the two men noticed the Pizitz Food Hall was sorely lacking a taqueria. Méndez was already a partner at The Louis, a centrally located cocktail bar inside the food hall, and the time seemed right for another venture. The new spot, Unos Tacos, opened during one of history’s most awkward moments: March 2020. “I’m glad we survived,” Méndez candidly remarks. “It was one of those things where we realized we had support from the community. People knocked on the door, we served curbside, and it kept us alive.”
By 2021, Méndez decided that Birmingham could support a second location of Unos Tacos – but fate seemed to have different plans. After meeting local mixologists and reflecting on recent trips to Miami and New York City, an upscale cocktail bar, rather than a restaurant, seemed to be the best next move. Adiós opened its doors in 2022.
“We didn't have a Latin cocktail bar in Birmingham, and I felt like we were ready,” he says. “We’re Mexican, and we proudly work there and represent our culture.”
**
Jesús Méndez Jr. came to the United States as a child in 1992. Two years prior, his father had departed Tabasco, Mexico, staked out a life in Alabama, and returned to gather his family. Méndez and his parents settled in the town of Arkadelphia, but those early years were not easy – the young couple worked to make ends meet, and Méndez was often left on his own. “They were never home,” he says. “I got dropped off at school, got the bus to drop me off at our apartment or mobile home, and didn't open the door until they returned. We had no money for a sitter.”
But an easier childhood may not have yielded the early confidence that led Méndez to his first job at Margarita Grill in Pelham. By that time, his biological mother had returned to Mexico, and his father, estranged during his teen years, was edging back into his life. Following a too-young marriage and divorce, Méndez decided to relocate to Birmingham, and after a stint at Cocina Superior – working his way from bartender to server to manager – he landed a plum position working with Frank Stitt at Highlands Bar and Grill. “That was one of my career highlights,” he says. “They polished me up.”
By 2018, Méndez had partnered on The Louis cocktail bar at the Pizitz – a role that surfaced, he says, thanks to a blossoming network of contacts in the restaurant industry.
“I do something new almost every year,” he muses. “Opportunities open up, and you have to take them – or someone else will.”
**
When discussing plans for Salud, Méndez points out that the Magic City needed a fast-casual restaurant with authentic Latin cuisine, particularly one located in a spot with plenty of foot and vehicle traffic. The restaurant will serve folks who have one hour (or less!) to grab a tasty lunch during the workday – menu items will come out of the kitchen in about eight minutes.
Despite its speed, this isn't fast food—every taco and burrito will be made intentionally, using Méndez's recipes from Tabasco and Puebla, Mexico, where Méndez’s stepmother, Christina, grew up.
“In Puebla, there’s a lot of seasoning and marinades,” he says. “They are known for molé, a red sauce made of dried peppers and cooked in multiple ways. They're also famous for pastor, a shoulder cut of the pig, which we’ll have on a spinning broiler. And my dad will be on the grill.”
Though a DACA recipient, Méndez points out that his childhood forced him to get creative about his future. Without college, two obvious answers were construction and restaurant work, and he chose wisely. Family dinners, he says, have been his inspiration since the beginning. “When we started Unos Tacos, we wanted it to be like our family gatherings,” he says. “The idea of the restaurant business has always been to have meals with loved ones.”
“Family is a big influence for me,” he continues. “I was angry at my dad for not being around when I was a teenager, but that helped me figure life out on my own. Now, they are my biggest supporters.”
“Opportunities open up, and you have to take them – or someone else will.”
“The idea of the restaurant business has always been to have meals with loved ones.”