Gringos Tacos Takes Over the Kitchen at Mercury Cafe

"You don't have to have a ticket to get our food now," says Travis Nicoletti, co-owner of Gringos Tacos, which has moved into the kitchen of the Mercury Cafe, a longtime community gathering place at 2199 California Street.

In 2020, Nicoletti was the general manager of Biker's Jim's. Because business was slow during the pandemic, that restaurant was closed on Tuesdays, so Nicoletti launched a taco pop-up series. In 2021, he and co-owner Chris Carey launched Gringos Tacos as a food truck.

Soon they'd scored contracts to become food vendors at some of the city's busiest venues, including Red Rocks, Coors Field, Fiddler's Green, Empower Field and Ball Arena.

Mercury Cafe, which was founded in 1975 and moved to its current location more than three decades ago when former owner Marilyn Megenity bought the building, has long been known as a place for more than just food — it regularly hosts a variety of events, from open-mic nights to dance lessons, poetry slams and live music.

In 2021, after Megenity made the decision to retire and sell the business, the stars aligned as Danny Newman, who'd led a family buyout of legendary watering hole My Brother's Bar in 2017, stepped in to take it over. "We're just going to continue running and operating the place as is while observing what's great and what's key, and then make little tweaks here and there," he told Westword shortly after the sale was finalized.

True to that sentiment, many things have stayed the same at the Merc. But recently, there have been some changes. On June 30, longtime chef Jeff Massingill retired. Even before news of his retirement came down, some staffers had been working to form a union, an effort that will be put to a vote on August 22.
With Massingill's departure, Newman began looking for someone else to take over the kitchen operations. "We let the inner circle at the Merc knew what was going on," he says. "When we didn't have any internal takers, we opened it up to the community for ideas, submissions, leads."

A mutual friend connected him with Nicoletti and Carey, and "it was such a fast, easy fit," Newman notes. "It was exactly what we were looking for. We got some really interesting submissions from folks that are home cooks or looking to start their first thing —  that's truthfully who we thought we were looking for. But in reality, having a group that has experience but still is on the newer side, it's such a perfect fit."

Gringos Tacos opened at the Merc on August 2 and celebrated with a grand-opening party on August 15. "The food is absolutely fantastic and totally delicious," Newman says. "Everyone's had tacos of varying deliciousness, but these are something special."

"I learned from [Biker] Jim that you've gotta be unique and set yourself apart," Nicoletti says of the Gringos Tacos menu. "We're unique in what we do. We're like the pirates of the kitchen."

The most traditional taco on the Mercury menu is birria, but Gringos Tacos is serving six other creative taco creations as well as nachos, elotes, two tortas and a weekly taco special. Options include the Sicario, with Korean-style braised pork belly and a gochujang sauce, and the Machete, with braised barbacoa, chicharrones, cotija, cilantro and raspberry hot sauce.
It's a big culinary change from the type of food the Merc served previously. When it was founded, "Marilyn was taking the best of that era — healthy, organic, local — and she really revolutionized that space and brought that to Denver," Newman says. "A lot of places looked to her in being one of the early pioneers. We kept that up until Jeff retired."

The hours have changed — brunch is no longer offered, for example — and the style of service is different, too. While the previous menu was geared toward sit-down dining, Gringos Tacos is able to serve up food faster, making it easier for people to grab a bite before or after an event. "It's a great new direction for us," Newman says.

"It's a little chaotic taking over and moving into a kitchen with new systems," Nicoletti admits, noting that his team is now primarily running the back of the house while the Mercury crew is still operating the front of the house. "We're really excited to be there, and we're grateful to the Mercury for having us there, he adds.

Nicoletti also found out that his family has a special connection to the Merc. "My dad's second date with my mom was there like forty years ago," he says. "It's a pretty unique place. It's something different every day; it's wild."

Gringos Tacos is located inside Mercury Cafe, 2199 California Street, and is open from 5 p.m. to close Tuesday through Sunday. For more information, visit mercurycafe.com or gringostacosdenver.com.