Metro Detroit: Brighton’s El Arbol Taqueria

While it is a relatively minor holiday in Mexico, in the United States, Cinco de Mayo has evolved into a commemoration of Mexican culture and heritage, particularly in areas with large Mexican-American populations. Today, many people mark the occasion with parades, parties, mariachi music, Mexican folk dancing and traditional foods such as tacos and mole poblano. I guess just like on St Patrick’s Day, everyone becomes a little bit Irish . . . on Cinco de Mayo we all tend to become a little bit Mexican and this week we are doing it in Brighton at El Arbol Taqueria.

Contrary to popular belief, Cinco de Mayo is NOT the celebration of Mexican Independence. Mexico’s Independence Day was September 16, 1810, which was the beginning of Mexico’s revolution against Spain. Cinco de Mayo, is the date of a very important battle, on May 5, 1862, when Mexico defeated France at the Battle of Puebla, during the Franco-Mexican War. So we all got our learn on today!

What is a TAQUERIA? I admit it, I googled the difference between a Mexican restaurant and a taqueria. Here’s the explanation I liked the best: “Fast food places like Taco Bell are known for selling tacos (especially Americanized versions of them), but the word taqueria is usually used for places considered to have more authentic Mexican cuisine, especially small, independent, family-owned restaurants or stalls.” So now you got double your learn on!

Having recently explored the Downtown Detroit Mexican town food scene we can appreciate the difference between a Taqueria and a traditional Mexican Restaurant. We were immediately drawn to this building due to the colorful, fun and zany “Day of the Dead” mural painted on its exterior walls. It made us want to check it out. After doing some research we found out it was painted by students form Brighton High Schools Art Dept.

El Arbol is located at 140 W Main Street in the location that housed the Yum Yum Tree Ice Cream Parlor for 35 years before closing in 2018. The name El Arbol means The Tree in Spanish paying homage to the building’s previous occupant. A lot has changed, when it was an ice cream parlor the 2nd floor was used as an apartment, but El Arbol has turned it into a 2-story restaurant with 2 kitchens, 2 indoor dining areas and a walk-up taco take out window.

El Arbol was opened by Father & Daughter Steve and Lauren Pilon in 2019. Steve Pilon was to owner of another popular Brighton restaurant, The Wooden Spoon, which closed its doors in 2021.

The taqueria restaurant and bar takes up both floors of the two-story building. Their menu focuses on classical Mexican street food-inspired dishes, including several kinds of tacos, tortas, and house made salsa and chips. The food at El Arbol is not Tex-Mex — you’ll have to find your enchiladas and burritos elsewhere. El Arbol strives to offer authentic Mexican street food fare, and that means individual tacos served on a double corn tortilla, elote (grilled corn on the cob with spicy mayo and shredded cheese), pozole, torta and the like. Check out this handy guide, on the difference:

The menu is gluten-free, with the exception of the churros (bummer!) and the quesadilla (corn tortilla substitution available on request). Vegans and vegetarians will find options as well. Ingredients are local sourced, whenever possible. The corn tortilla chips are from La Michoacana, a very popular family owned bakery in Detroit’s Mexican Town since 1940…Right next door to another favorite of ours Armando’s. Everything we had here was delicious. The chips and salsa, while not free, are fantastic and worth the few dollars they charge. We had a variety of tacos, some chips and salsa and of course a Dos Equis Amber to wash it all down. The flavors are fresh and everything is made to order. We can’t wait to go back and try some other items on their menu.