The family that’s bringing a new taste of tacos to Studio City has some big taco shells to fill, they know.
Cactus Tacos is replacing the popular Henry’s Tacos stand on the corner of Moorpark and Tujunga, and they’re planning to open on Friday morning after months of anticipation.
After more than half a century, Henry’s moved half a block away and reopened at the former Studio Sub location with head chef Omar Vega and his family taking over the “gringo taco” stand.
“We don’t want to seem like we are in competition with Henry’s Tacos, we love them,” said owner Marlo Tormel. “We are offering something different.”
The difference is coming from Tormel’s son, Marlo Tormel Jr. who will soon turn 22 and just graduated from the Culinary Institute in North Hollywood. He will be offering a bunch of different kinds of tacos and burritos—maybe some with an Asian flare, maybe some with a sort of culinary fusion taste. There will be daily specials and different soups of the day.
The younger Marlo plans to recruit some of his young chef friends in the new business, and he is excited about the prospect.
“I have been hanging out at the restaurants since I was 3 years old, I have always wanted to be a chef,” says Marlo. “My mother and father showed me everything. I knew it tasted good.”
Although he plans to stick with traditional Mexican traditions, Marlo wants to try new things. They will have traditional cheeses and fresh cilantro and onions, but cook only with canola and olive oil, no lard, and use kosher salt.
“People love Henry’s and they have a loyal following, we just hope they’ll try us too,” young Marlo said.
The family opened up a Cactus Taqueria at 4370 Beverly Blvd. about 23 year ago and a few years later at 950 Vine St. They’ve earned the moniker “the best tacos in town” by a few food reviewers while over the hill in the San Fernando Valley, Henry’s Tacos reined as a most popular stand.
Daddy Marlo, 47, learned how to cook at a catering school in Mexico and ran a restaurant in Tijuana before moving to Los Angeles. He met Martha Silva, and they also owned a coffee shop for a few years on Melrose and Vine. Then, they opened their taco stands in Hollywood.
The family lives in Valley Glenn. Marlo went to Valley View Elementary School in the Cahuenga Pass, and then to Milliken Middle School and later to Riverside Military Academy in Atlanta before landing in the prestigious local cooking academy.
Young Marlo has three sisters, Christine, who wants to go into business administration, Grace and Adrianna, who went to the school at St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church where the family still volunteers each year for their festival fundraiser.
When the Henry’s location became available, the older Marlo put in their two cents.
“We didn’t think we had a chance to get it, we weren’t sure they wanted another taco stand in the location,” Tormel said.
Sources said that the competition for the location included some major chains, like Starbucks, but also pizza, sandwich and other coffee shop inquiries.
“They came to our restaurants and tested our foods, they were very picky,” Martha said about the landowners and their representatives. Now, they are renovating the small space and trying to change it somewhat from the familiar Henry’s.
Martha Silva will be the cashier at the counter, and the face of Cactus Tacos/Studio City. She’s also the artist who painted the cactuses on the side of the building, and she’s the one who is making the salsa—a secret recipe from Marlo’s grandmother.
“A lot of our recipes come from my mother-in-law,” laughed the older Marlo.
“We marinate the meat, we have good fresh vegetables,” Martha added.
Looking over the floor plans at the Studio City location while seated at their Hollywood shop, the family explained how they revamped the kitchen and the outside slightly at the former Henry’s.
The older Marlo said, “We will make Studio City proud. We will have good things to offer, we will always have a good rating. I’ve never had a B rating in my life, always an A. That requires keeping the place clean and having everything the right temperatures.”
The younger Marlo added, “We know that people in the area are very conscious of what they eat, and we want to try things especially for the people in Studio City. There will be wheat tortilla, we will try soy chorizo and other sorts of things.”
Many of his colleagues in culinary school aspire to become five-star Michelin chefs. Marlo Tormel is thrilled that right after school, he will have a chance to add to his family’s traditional Mexican recipes and create his own taco.
He knows it will be hard work.
“My dad works very hard, I have always seen him work, and my mom, too,” he said. “We know what it’s like to run a good restaurant.”
Martha added, “And we are very excited to open in Studio City, to feed some of our old friends, and make many new friends.”
Stay tuned for more details about the Mariachi band and the specials planned for Friday, Saturday and Sunday this week.
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
