Want free tacos for a year? Head to Mansfield early Saturday

R. Taco, the Dallas-based street-taco chain that began life as Rusty Taco, has been making a westward move and will open its first Tarrant County location on Saturday at 1520 E. Debbie Lane in Mansfield.

And yes, that opening comes with a gimmick.

The first 50 people in line for the 7 a.m. opening will receive free tacos for a year. There is, however, a limit to how many free tacos they can have. The way it works, the winners — who must be 18 or over — will get a coupon book with vouchers for three tacos and a side every week for a year.

It’s worth noting that street-style tacos are smaller than, say, the overstuffed variety you get at Torchy’s. And of course, it is likely to be cold at 7 a.m., although not as cold as last Saturday when 1,000 people lined up for hours to buy one of the first bottles of straight bourbon from Fort Worth’s Firestone & Robertston Distillery. And they didn’t even get free tacos.

Interestingly, no purchase is necessary for you to be eligible for free tacos.

In October, R. Taco announced that it will open a Fort Worth location in the former Pegaso Mexican Diner space on Blue Bonnet Circle south of TCU. A location is also scheduled for Ridglea Village in west Fort Worth. Both are expected to open in early 2017.

According to a Nov. 1 Dallas Morning News story, the Ridglea location will be at 3206 Winthrop Ave., off of Camp Bowie Boulevard. Several other restaurants have been in that location, including The Wild Mushroom Steak House & Lounge, Ray’s Prime Steak & Seafood and, long ago, Aventino’s, which has relocated to Lovell Avenure, also in west Fort Worth.

The News story says that Hurst and Grand Prairie locations are also planned.

R Taco’s menu features 13 tacos, including the namesake Rusty Taco, which features achiote pork with pineapple, onion and cilantro. There is a vegetarian black-bean taco that with its chipotle black beans and toasted pumpkin seeds sounds a little better than the “we just threw grilled vegetables in here” kind of vegetarian taco. And, for dessert, a fried fruit taco.

According to “The R Taco Story” on the chain’s website, the chain was founded in 2010 in Dallas by Rusty Fenton and Steve Dunn. It now has locations in Denton, Mesquite and Plano as well as in Colorado, Nebraska and Minnesota.

This story was originally published December 12, 2016 at 4:52 PM with the headline "Want free tacos for a year? Head to Mansfield early Saturday."