Earlier this month we reported that it looked like a new Mexican restaurant, Jalisco’s Cocina y Bar, was being planned for the former Triple Taproom/Hacienda/BBC space on the city’s East Side. Now, license applications filed with the city confirm that, yep, Jalisco’s Cocina y Bar is indeed being planned for the East Side location, 2018 E. North Ave.
The proposed opening date for Jalisco’s Cocina y Bar is March 1, 2026. All license applications must be approved by the city’s Licenses Committee and the full Common Council.
Ruben Herrera is listed as the sole owner of the proposed Jalisco’s. Ruben Herrera is the sibling of Miguel Herrera, who runs another Jalisco’s location.
“At Jalisco’s we are a family owned business since my parents opened its first restaurant on 16th Street in Milwaukee on Cesar E. Chavez Drive,” Miguel Herrera told us earlier in January. “My mother still owns that location, and I have opened Jalisco’s Cantina on 1st Street in the Lincoln Warehouse. The new location on North Avenue is a business another sibling is opening.”
The Herrera family also ran the former Jalisco’s at 2124 N. Farwell Ave. That location was purchased by employees and transformed into Judy’s On North in 2019. Judy’s On North closed in 2023 due to a fire, and eventually relocated to its current location at 2124 N. Farwell Ave., where it’s now known as Judy’s Cantina.
The new license application notes that Jalisco’s Cocina y Bar projects 60% of its sales to come from food, and 40% from alcohol. Proposed hours are 9 a.m. – 2 a.m. Mondays through Wednesdays; 7 a.m. – 2 a.m. Thursdays through Saturdays; and 9 a.m. – 12 a.m. on Sundays. Sidewalk dining is proposed from May through October.
The storied North Avenue bar and restaurant space has been vacant for nearly six months. Hacienda Beer Co. opened there in 2019. It rebranded as Hacienda Taproom & Kitchen, then Triple Taproom, and closed in August 2025. Before that, the space was the longtime home of G-Daddy’s BBC. The BBC closed in April 2017. During the 1970s, the space was occupied by a Mexican restaurant, El Matador.
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• Mexican restaurant possibly coming to former Triple Taproom / Hacienda / BBC on East Side