Reavely Bell is mixing his Los Angeles street-food roots with New Orleans hospitality and creating a food experience that has gained a legion of fans. Tacos Para La Vida is a popular Mexican American pop-up that serves unique takes on classic Mexican food.

Roxy Eve Narvaez and Reavely Bell of Tacos Para La Vida. Photo courtesy of Tacos Para La Vida.

Bell was born and raised in Los Angeles and spent time in Mexico as a teenager. Here, he developed a taste for authentic Mexican food and built a passion for cooking.

Photo courtesy of Taco Para La Vida.

“In Los Angeles, tacos are one of our main things; that’s what I grew up eating,” he said. “I traveled to Mexico throughout my childhood and lived with a host family there for three months as a teen. I fell in love with the food and people of Mexico, and I’ve continued to travel there throughout my life.”

He relocated to New Orleans 12 years ago, managed SoBou on Chartres Street, and worked at cocktail bar Jewel of the South on St. Louis Street.

Three-and-a-half years ago, Bell and his partner, Roxy Eve Narvaez, started Tacos Para La Vida serving the Mexican food that Bell was raised on. Their goal was a late-night taco pop-up, an integral part of Los Angeles culture. Tacos Para La Vida first popped up at the Black Penny, a bar on North Rampart Street, and served food from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights to customers that were looking for delicious food to soak up their booze buzz.

Just as the pop-up was taking off, the COVID pandemic caused Tacos Para La Vida, as well as other restaurants and bars throughout the city, to shut down. Bell pivoted into a taco delivery service in the form of “build your own” taco kits for those who needed their taco fix.

When food businesses were allowed to be operational again, Tacos Para La Vida began branching out into bars throughout the city. Bell’s menu consists of Mexican-inspired comfort food that is accessible and affordable.

He explained, “We’re trying to sell the same kind of food that I grew up eating, like handmade tortillas, slow-braised meats and birria [braised meat inside a corn tortilla that’s been pan-fried]. It started out as something we wanted to do as a side thing, and now we’re doing it full-time.”

Although Bell pops up all over the city, he considers Pal’s Lounge his pop-up’s home base because of his connection to the community and the Bayou St. John neighborhood.

“Pal’s has always been our community,” he said. “We live in the neighborhood, and I was old friends with [late Pal’s owner] Rio Hackford—we grew up in Los Angeles together. After Hurricane Ida we created a community gathering center for people at the bar and we cooked for people in need.”

Tacos Para La Vida’s menu has some familiar favorites made with Bell’s unique twist. Of course, there are tacos made with a choice of Ground Beef Picadillo, Birria, Chicken Tinga, Vegan Macha Mushrooms, and Shrimp Sauteed in Macha Butter.

Other selections include a Quesadilla, a handmade flour tortilla filled with melted cheese, a choice of protein and salsa, onion, cilantro, and served with crema, and Double Decker Tacos, handmade flour tortillas with melted cheese around a crunchy corn tortilla, a choice of protein, lettuce, cheese, crema and choice of hot or habanero salsa.

Two of the menu’s most unique items are customer favorites, Wrapped-Up Crunchy Thing and Birria Pizza. The former is a take on a Taco Bell menu item packed with your choice of protein, nacho cheese, a crunchy tostada, lettuce, tomato, sour cream, and hot or habanero salsa. The latter is big enough to feed three people, is filled with a half-pound of Birria, and comes in a pizza box.

Photo courtesy of Taco Para La Vida.

“Roxy’s guilty pleasure is Taco Bell, and I would come back from the pop-up, and she would Uber Eats a Taco Bell Crunchwrap,” Bell explained. “I knew I could make one better. For her birthday, we were popping up and I made the Wrapped-Up Crunchy Thing as a one-off just for that night. Everybody showed up, standing six feet apart waiting to order, and I knew I was going to end up making it forever.”

As for Birria Pizza, it’s what has drawn in new customers from all over the city.

Bell said, “It’s a gigantic, double-stuffed quesadilla that’s filled with a half-pound of shredded beef, all of our salsas, chipotle crema, onions and cilantro and served with a side of consommé, which is made with the beef fat from the cooking process, so you can dip your pizza in it.”

Like Bell’s food, he wants the pop-up’s vibe to be all about nostalgia and fun, and he hopes to open a brick-and-mortar sometime in the future, although he’s in no rush. However, when he does, he wants his restaurant to be a relaxing spot where people can gather and enjoy breakfast, lunch and dinner.

“It’s going to be like a Mexican-American Waffle House,” he said. “We want to provide a fun, nostalgic space where people in the community can work, eat and meet each other.”

Most important to Bell is for Tacos Para La Vida to be a business where not only his customers feel provided for but his employees as well.

“It’s important to take care of the people that work for us and their families,” he said. “We want to create something that’s different from what we’ve dealt with over the course of our careers. Being a part of the community and taking care of people is the happiest part for us.”

Tacos Para La Vida pops up at Anna’s at 2601 Royal Street, on Tuesday through Friday from 6 p.m. to 12 a.m. Pal’s Lounge at 949 N. Rendon Street on Tuesday and Wednesday from 6 p.m. to 12 a.m., and at Second Line Brewing at 433 N. Bernadotte Street on Thursday from 5:30 p.m. to close.