Photography by Kevin A Roberts
Rock Star Taco is finally coming to the city. After continued success in St. Charles' New Town, the popular taco joint is opening a location on The Hill, at 4916 Shaw, the space previously occupied by J. Smugs GastroPit. The space is also the home of Gaslight Studio STL, a working recording studio that's visible to customers through two giant bay windows in the back, appropriate for a music-themed restaurant.
The interior includes 35 seats, as well as an additional dozen at the bar. While the food side is in the final stages of development, the bar is fully operational and currently open to the public from 5 p.m.–midnight. Rock Star Taco's already started hosting trivia nights on Tuesdays. (Last week’s prize was a bottle of bourbon and a $25 gift card). The tacos and nachos are expected to start flowing in a week or two, with the kitchen accommodating the late-night crowd until 11 p.m.
Musicians Wil Pelly and Matt Arana opened the original Rock Star Taco location in 2019 in a 10-by-10-foot building at the edge of New Town's amphitheater. Pelly boasts a lengthy discography’s worth of chef and cooking experience. His greatest hits include Sandrina’s, Sanctuaria, Café Ventana, Sugarfire Smoke House, and Nudo House. As executive chef at the original Diablito's in Midtown, he also didn't shy away from reinventing the taco. When Pelly isn't on stage or in one of the Rock Star Taco locations, you’ll likely find him slinging his tortilla-wrapped medleys at the mobile Rock Star Taco cart that's often seen at Urban Chestnut Brewing Company, concerts, and other local events.
For anyone crying party foul over a taco joint on The Hill, the menu has already embraced fundamental elements commonly found in the neighborhood. “I’ve got a toasted ravioli quesadilla called the Hill 'Em All, like the Metallica album” says Pelly. Other notable menu items that differ from the original location include crab rangoon and Cuban sandwich quesadillas (or, as Pelly calls them, QuesaDios, after the late metal singer Ronnie James Dio) and a fish taco named Fish You Were Here, after the classic Pink Floyd album. “I spend a lot of time being goofy with the names," Pelly admits.
He's previously credited chef Marco Pierre White and his book Devil in the Kitchen as inspiration in the kitchen. Asked what musician has similarly inspired him in his culinary career, Pelly didn't hesitate to invoke the name of the enigmatic Frank Zappa: “There’s beauty in everything, and it doesn’t just have to be four-on-the-floor and pop music. It can be kind of crazy, too. Kind of like the tacos up in this joint."
