Vaquero Taquero - Downtown
Al pastor carved off an outdoor trompo and weekend carne asada over charcoal, at a Sabine Street room that is now permanently closed.1
Why go
You cannot. The Infatuation rated this address 8.2 in March 2022 and its page for 603 Sabine St now carries a permanently-closed flag.1 What the record preserves is what Daniel and Miguel Cobos built into the former Waller Creek Pub House when they opened it on 18 September 2021: a trompo outdoors for al pastor, a charcoal grill outdoors for carne asada on weekend nights, and hand-rolled flour tortillas brought back with a new dough machine.2 Raphael Brion's verdict on the result was short: their al pastor tacos off the trompo are excellent
.1 Unlike the West Campus original it ran a full bar and stayed open late, which was the whole design. Miguel Cobos: We want to be that taquería where you show up after the bar...you just walk to Sabine Street right there on Dirty Sixth to eat some tacos before you head home.
2
Order this / avoid
- What it was for: al pastor off the trompo,
excellent
in the reviewer's own word.1 - The rest of the fillings: bistec, mole, tinga de pollo and nopales, in tacos or quesadillas.2
- Avoid: planning a post-bar stop around it. The West Campus original at 104 E 31st St is the door still trading and it is a separate row.
What locals & experts say
- Raphael Brion, The Infatuation Austin, 8.2, page dated 16 March 2022:
their al pastor tacos off the trompo are excellent
.1 - The same page, now: the address is flagged permanently closed.1
- Rachel Rascoe, Austin Chronicle, 16 September 2021, quoting Miguel Cobos on what the room was for:
We want to be that taquería where you show up after the bar.
2
Good to know
- Closed. No closing date has been published, so none is given here.1
- Which branch: 603 Sabine St, off Dirty 6th and a block from Casino El Camino. Not the West Campus original at 104 E 31st St, which has its own review, its own inspection record and its own row.1
- Hygiene: no finding, and the rows do not mean the room is trading. Austin Public Health scored the kitchen 78 on 4 April 2025, 80 in January 2024 and 81 in August 2023 (603 Sabine St). Austin's failing line is 70 and nothing here is near it. The register is a rolling three-year window of past inspections and carries no trading-status field.4
Verdict
listed — This door is closed. The Infatuation rated it 8.2 in March 2022 and called the al pastor off the trompo excellent; its page for 603 Sabine St now flags the address permanently closed. What the room had that the West Campus original does not was an outdoor trompo, weekend carne asada over charcoal, and a full bar for a taco stop at bar-closing time. The West Campus door is the one still trading.