“You know when you wake up and you’re just devastated?” Nano Wheedan, the owner of Taco Heart, asks me. The feeling is all too familiar—from accidentally sleeping in until 1 p.m. on a schoolwork–designated Sunday, to checking the weather app and seeing that it’s going to be yet another 30–degree day in the middle of February—there are too many ways that a morning can start off on the wrong foot. Like all of us, Wheedan has experienced these feelings and offers a piece of advice for morning mourners: “You need a good breakfast to keep you going.”
Good breakfast is easy to come by when taking a stroll through South Philadelphia. All you have to do is keep an eye out for children commuting to George W. Nebinger Elementary School, grasping their moms’ hands as they stare in amazement at the pink and blue hues decorating the Taco Heart storefront—in true Philly muralistic fashion.
Combining the artistic visions of Austin muralist Kevin Muñoz and Philly’s own Emily White, Taco Heart is an eye–catching explosion of color and design. Like a beacon of light to the psyche (likely made ravenous by a few hours of South Street shopping or a busy week), Taco Heart welcomes people in with its hand–painted hearts and the wafting smell of peppered scrambled eggs seeping out through the open glass door.
Upon entering, you will find that Taco Heart is not only visually appealing. The yellow laminated menu holds a multitude of dishes and ingredients, made more plentiful by the recent addition of lunch tacos. The question becomes: Where should I even start?
“It starts for me with the Migas Maximum taco, which is crushed tortilla chips in scrambled eggs with tomato, onion, cilantro, cheese, and avocado,” Wheedan says. Taking his advice, this is exactly where I begin.
After years of living in Austin, Texas, Mount Airy native Wheedan strove to bring a Tex–Mex eatery back home to Philly. In 2022, Wheedan opened Taco Heart in Passyunk, bridging the gap between his two favorite places.
Ten minutes later, my long–awaited breakfast taco is ready to eat, blanketed in gold foil. I’m met with the fresh smell of flour tortilla; it’s simple but so perfect. The first bite is a rocket launch for the taste buds—fresh avocado mixed with crunchy tortilla chips sprinkled atop a nostalgic scramble, packing a flavorful punch.
I demolished my first taco, and I’m ready for more. Wheedan advises Taco Heart rookies to order one taco as a snack or morning pick–me–up. But two tacos will do wonders for the beast that is the growling stomach.
My next pick is a chicken fajita lunch taco with generous seasoning seeping into the crunch of the cooked onions. The tanginess of the tomatillo salsa meets the tortilla and peppers in a moment of perfect harmony.
Then, I get an itching for sweet potato and glance at a friend who is about to dig into the vegan "Yanet’s Fave" hoping for a bite. Any customer's palate would be more than satisfied with this vegan take on a lunch taco, filled to the brim with a mix of flavors, ranging from cauliflower and classic black beans to cashew chipotle crema mixed and guacamole.
To wash this all down, a Mexican Coke from the cooler or the Burchata, a delightful mix of cold brew with sweet and spicy horchata, will do just the trick. Then, convincing yourself you may need a midnight snack to stay awake at the library, you take the BECA (bacon, egg, cheese, avocada) breakfast taco for the road.
On the way out, make sure to glance behind the glass counter near the ordering kiosk; this is where you’ll find the heart of Taco Heart or, in Wheedan’s words, “the bread of Texas.” Floured dough puffs upwards like balloons before deflating down to the magical tortilla. This in–house science experiment is all part of the Taco Heart experience: “Everything I’ve done, especially aesthetically, is about trying to awaken that little kid inside of people,” Wheedan says.
When daily breakfasts as a college student are often grab and go, consisting of a few two–week–old strawberries leftover from a Trader Joe's trip or an everything bagel grabbed as a souvenir from Class of 1920 Commons dinner, the meal becomes far less exciting. I find myself daydreaming about the meals my parents would make me as a kid—pancakes with fresh blueberries topped with sweet maple syrup, salted eggs, and crispy sizzling bacon that crunches when you bite into it. My breakfast at Taco Heart transported me back to my favorite memories of breakfast when it felt slow and whimsical.
While Taco Heart is for everybody, Wheedan appreciates when Texans in Philly discover Taco Heart. He hopes that when people visit Taco Heart, they are reminded of home and the meals that live there. “Being able to offer a little bit of home to people who are missing it is so meaningful,” Wheedan says. During my visit, he achieved this goal.
Home is not only found in the food at Taco Heart; the 19–person staff functions as a family, too. Wheedan acknowledges the difficulties of living in a country where it can be a struggle to find work. “So many people need stability, and stable work is so hard to come by in this world,” he says. “It means so much to me to do that for the immigrant community and for people who have grown up in Philly.”
With this in mind, Wheedan strives to create a workplace where people feel represented and heard. He likes to think of Taco Heart as a “bilingual restaurant,” where Spanish and English are both used in the workplace to terminate the language divide that Wheedan has experienced in other restaurant environments.
“We all win, we all succeed, or we all fail together. It’s very much like a sports team,” Wheedan says. He then pauses for a second. “Or, actually, I think it’s most like theater. The audience comes in, you put on the show. Something goes wrong, happens every night. But, you aren’t supposed to quit after something goes wrong. In a play, if someone messes up a line, or there is a wardrobe malfunction, you learn from the mistake. You go home, and then you come back the next day and you do it again.”
On the way out, Wheedan guides me to a corner with hoodies and baseball caps and hands me a green Taco Heart baseball cap that matches my shirt. And, just like that, I became a part of his production.
TL;DR: This much-loved taco spot packs in the flavor and soul necessary to keep your stomach and your heart full all day.
Location: 1001 E Passyunk Ave.
Price: $
Hours: 7:30 a.m.–2 p.m. on Tuesdays–Fridays, 8 a.m.–3 p.m. on Saturdays–Sundays, closed on Mondays
