Free tacos for veterans at La Taquiza — a veteran-owned spot in Winnetka, Highland Park — on Monday

One family-run, local favorite is serving up plenty of joy with their flavors on Veterans Day, Monday, Nov. 11.

From open to close (10 a.m. until 8 p.m.), veterans can stop by La Taquiza’s Highland Park location, 1960 1st St., or Winnetka location, 566 Chestnut St., for a free taco.

Kris Benitez, owner of La Taquiza in Highland Park, is a veteran herself and told The Record North Shore that she is hoping the Veterans Day initiative will allow her to build community and meet fellow veterans in the area. 

“I just wanted to connect and give back to the veterans, because I always take advantage of the freebies that day, and I love them,” she said through laughs. 

Benitez served in the U.S. Air Force from 2010 to 2016 and had her first son while stationed in Japan. She also served in South Korea and was stationed in Texas and Guam.

“Most people think veterans are older men, mostly, who served in the Vietnam War and stuff like that,” she said. “But, you know, veterans look like me a lot of the time. I’m 34 years old, I’m a Latina, I’m a mother and a small business owner. … With Highland Park specifically, I really want to connect with other veterans in the local area because I’m part of the community now.”

Benitez, who grew up on the North Shore and attended Glenbrook South High School, has been getting a lay of the land since opening La Taquiza’s Highland Park location this past February. 

She said she has found it somewhat difficult to meet other veterans in the North Shore. 

Last year, when Winnetka offered free tacos on Veterans Day for the first time, the turnout was lower than she anticipated. This year, she’s hoping they can spread the word and turn things around. 

“I put up a veteran-owned sticker on my storefront, so that has kind of helped bring up conversation, too,” she said. “Most people are like, ‘Oh, did your dad serve in the military?’ I’m like, ‘No, me, myself, and I’m the owner. And that always sparks up awesome conversations with people.”

On what it means to be able to have a space where veterans can visit, interact and perhaps build a community, Benitez shared that it is a source of immense pride. 

“The camaraderie is still there even if we served in different branches of the armed forces,” she said. “It still brings in conversations, memories, and stories.”

La Taquiza was opened by Benitez’s mother approximately 14 years ago, beginning with the first location in Northbrook off of Shermer and Willow roads.

She had previously opened a few formal, white-table-cloth restaurants in the city of Chicago before pivoting to a different concept near where her children had grown up. 

La Taquiza offers counter service a-lá express food but with a smile, as Benitez put it; the food, too, is authentic, unpretentious, no frills Mexican cuisine. 

The Glenview location opened in 2016 followed by the Winnetka location (by Benitez’s sister and mom) in 2020 and the Highland Park location this year. 

On Veterans Day, the taco options offered for free to veterans at Highland Park and Winnetka will be the same as those offered on Taco Tuesdays and Winnetka Wednesdays with select fillings (on a corn tortilla with onion and cilantro) and at a slightly smaller size. The limit is two tacos per veteran.

Every other day of the year, any time veterans or active duty military come into Benitez’s Highland Park location, she offers 10 percent off of their order. 

“I just love connecting with my customers coming in,” she said. “I like knowing their orders, I like knowing their faces and bringing a smile to them, honestly, as cheesy as that sounds. That’s one of the reasons why I opened this restaurant to begin with, with my mother, and switched my career field from legal. … This means so much more to me now. I’m so much happier in life knowing that my food brings [people] joy. It’s just so satisfying. It’s a different sort of satisfaction that I get. I love it.”

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