Mr. Taco Jr. #2, now open in Tyler, serves authentic central Texas, Tex-Mex tacos served on homemade flour tortillas with a variety of breakfast and lunch tacos.

Caribbean Kitchen opens for Sunday brunch

The restaurant bringing the best of island cuisine to East Texas is now open for Sunday brunch. Earlier this month Caribbean Kitchen announced it changed its hours of operation to include Sundays.

The restaurant, which opened in 2021, offers menu items that are a true reflection of the island cuisines and are made fresh daily, according to owner Jennifer Blake.

“Our cuisine caters to our Latin and Jamaican Caribbean families — Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Cuba and Jamaica to be exact,” Blake said. “We are considered Latin American soul food which is always home cooked.”

When Blake saw a growing demand for brunch options, she made it happen.

“I decided to open for brunch on Sundays because we noticed a growing demand for a brunch option in our area,” she said. “Many of our customers expressed their interest in having a relaxing and delicious brunch experience on Sundays, so we decided to cater to their needs.”

Blake said she wanted to offer diverse brunch menu items that will be exclusive to Sundays.

“We will have a special menu for our Sunday brunch. We wanted to offer a unique and diverse selection of dishes that are perfect for a leisurely Sunday brunch,” she said. “Our menu includes classic brunch items such as chicken eggs and waffles, steak eggs and waffles, pork-chop and waffles, and shrimp and waffles; of course our delicious lemonade and a selection of fruit blended mimosas with more to be added.”

Blake explained that she hopes the Sunday brunches will be about more than just the food saying her restaurant has always been about family, friends, and gathering the community.

“We want people to know that our new schedule allows them to start their Sundays off at church getting their blessings and then come to the restaurant to get their nutrition with a delicious and satisfying brunch,” she said. “It’s a great opportunity for friends and families to gather and enjoy a leisurely meal together.”

“We believe that our Sunday brunch will become a beloved tradition for many in our community,” Blake added.

Brunch hours will be Sundays from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

“This will give our customers ample time to enjoy their brunch and still have the rest of the day for other activities,” Blake said.

Opening Sundays for an authentic Caribbean brunch wasn’t the only news Blake had to share. She went on to say she will soon be opening a food truck in the coming months.

“In addition to our Sunday brunch, we also have some exciting news to share. We will be launching a food truck in the near future,” she said. “While I don’t have the exact date yet, I can tell you that it will be within the next couple of months.”

Caribbean Kitchen is located at 1125 East Fifth Street and can be reached at (903) 630-3960.

Hours of operation are Tues. through Sat. from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sun. from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Fri. and Sat. closing hours may be extended depending on events and crowd.

For more information, visit the Caribbean Kitchen Facebook page.

New lube business bringing automotive convenience to East Texas

A new mobile lube business is bringing the convenience of oil changes and more straight to its customers.

5 Star Mobile Lube, owned by Rashard Smothers, opened in July and also offers general maintenance, roadside assistance, and more.

Smothers said he has always been interested in this type of work and after finding himself unemployed earlier this year, he decided to open his own business doing what he loves.

“I have always wanted my own ‘shop’ since graduating high school. I joined the military in hopes of gaining professional experience and an education. As for many people in life, things change, but I always had my eye on the goal in some capacity,” he said. “I found myself unemployed for the last time and finally decided to dive head first into making my dream become reality. I feel more passionate than ever about what lies ahead.”

Smothers said he hopes to change the perception of ‘mobile mechanics’ and renew the professionalism the industry has lost over the years.

“I would like to change the perception of those people who call upon mobile mechanics, and those who may be skeptical about the service. This profession takes a lot of skill and continued learning,” he said. “I intend for my work to give people a different avenue for their vehicle needs and I promote professionalism and values that our industry seems to have lost over the many years.”

Smothers, an Army veteran who is Automotive Service Excellence Certified, said he stands behind his work and is ready to serve the East Texas area.

“I have over seven years of professional experience in the automotive industry. My mission is to provide dealership and leading independent shop level service along with the convenience of a mobile shop,” he said. “I stand behind my work and put my personal touch, attention to detail, and pride into every repair. I take relief from the stress of having a broken down vehicle and also the burden of maintaining a vehicle off the shoulders of my customers.”

“I’m here to serve my community with the utmost respect,” Smothers added.

Smothers said after being used to working more hours than most, he feels the first month and half of his business has been a little slower but feels he is on the right path.

“I feel as though the business has started out slow from having worked 60-plus hours a week for the last two years but I am fully trusting in God and my faith that it will work in my favor with a little patience and diligence,” he said.

Starting his own business has given him freedom and peace, he said.

“I feel more free than I ever have in my entire life. I know from being exposed to several different perspectives that if you don’t walk in your purpose, you will have a huge burden to carry with you every day of your life,” Smothers said. “That burden has been lifted and I feel the wind behind my back where there was once a wall.”

Smothers said he services Tyler, Longview, Kilgore, Bullard, Whitehouse, Lindale and “all the little places in between” and hopes to soon add a shop to perform bigger jobs in addition to his mobile business.

5 Star Mobile Lube hours of operation are Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

For more information, visit the 5 Star Mobile Lube Facebook page or call 903-707-5303.

Mr. Taco Jr. #2 opens in Tyler

Mr. Taco Jr. #2 owner Emiliano Magallanez comes from a long line of serving up fresh, authentic Mexican food.

His father Bonifacio Magallanez and mother Rosa Magallanez took a chance almost five decades ago and opened the very first Mr. Taco in Lockhart.

“My father worked on the railroad and my mother in a sewing factory. My father convinced my mother to quit her job after seeing how my brother’s friends from school enjoyed eating my mother’s food,” said Magallanez. “They took a chance and established three restaurants in Lockhart, Luling, and Gonzales here in Texas and have been in business for over 45 years.”

“Our family is hoping to expand here and share the same food and traditions with Mr. Taco Jr. that were established by my family with Mr. Taco,” he added.

Magallanez, along with his wife Norma Rios Renteria, recently held the grand opening for the Mr. Taco Jr. Tyler location.

“The grand opening went very well and we are doing even better today,” Magallanez said. “We want the Tyler community to know that we take pride in what we do. It’s not just about the food but the service as well. It feels great to see how much the community enjoys the food we are accustomed to eating and selling most of our lives.”

Mr. Taco Jr. #2 offers authentic central Texas, Tex-Mex tacos served on homemade flour tortillas with a variety of breakfast and lunch tacos.

“Our fajita tacos, mini tacos, chips and queso, plus all the breakfast tacos are the most popular,” Magallanez said.

Magallanez explained they chose the location, in part, due to its unique design — a building with a cowboy hat on top.

“We decided to open at this location in part because of the uniqueness of the building,” he said. “The property stands out and driving from Bullard to South Tyler there aren’t many options for quick, homemade breakfast and lunch tacos.”

However, Magallanez said the look of the building isn’t the only thing that makes the restaurant stand out.

“I think the fact that everything we make is fresh not frozen, we don’t have any freezers in our restaurants, and that we can serve our customers almost as fast as McDonald’s and not miss out on quality or service makes us very different, plus we emphasize on homemade flour tortillas rather than corn,” he said.

After moving to East Texas to start a new generation of restaurants with Mr. Taco Jr., Magallanez and his wife opened their first location in Whitehouse in 2018.

“We did not want to open a physical brick and mortar but a food truck. The rules for food trucks were very different here than in central Texas. We realized it would be easier to open a physical restaurant and when we started looking, the location in Whitehouse kept showing up in our search,” he said. “We reached out in 2017 and it turned out there were some issues so we put things off. We received a call from the Realtor in 2018 asking if we were still interested so we decided it was a sign and just dove right in.”

Magallanez expressed gratitude for the communities that welcomed him and his wife and said he was excited to now share his passion with the Tyler community.

“We do as a family want to thank everyone in our community especially Whitehouse, Troup, Flint and Gresham for accepting us into their community,” he said. “Being strangers to the area everyone has helped us get us to where we are and we are thankful for them allowing us to share our passion for cooking and serving the best food we can.”

“And, now we are so excited to be bringing that passion to Tyler,” he added.

Mr. Taco Jr. #2 is located at 16551 FM 2493 in Tyler and can be reached at 903-202-7080. Hours of operation are currently Monday through Friday 5 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Hours will be adjusted after hiring more staff.

For more information, visit the Mr. Taco Jr. Facebook page.