Michael “Mico” Rodriguez, pictured here at Mesero in 2016, spent decades at the helm of several notable Tex-Mex restaurants.
Brandon Wade/Special Contributor
Michael “Mico” Rodriguez, who was born into the Dallas Tex-Mex restaurant business and co-founded Mi Cocina, died on Oct. 1, confirmed three of his colleagues. The Dallas Morning News could not immediately confirm the cause of death with his family members. Rodriguez was in his late 60s.
As a charismatic and commanding restaurateur, Rodriguez had a hand in guiding the evolution of Tex-Mex in Dallas for decades. He also had a turbulent career, cycling through leadership positions in Dallas restaurant brands Mi Cocina, Taco Diner, the Mercury, Mesero and Doce Mesas.
His mother and stepfather, Ana and Butch Enriquez, founded Mia’s Tex-Mex, an icon on Lemmon Avenue, in 1981. Perhaps he was destined to make a career in Dallas restaurants, as his mother and stepfather managed El Chico, another legendary Dallas Tex-Mex brand, when Rodriguez was a child.
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In 1991, Rodriguez partnered with a group of friends and opened the first Mi Cocina at Preston Road and Forest Lane in Dallas. They started with less than $100,000 — hardly enough by 2026 standards, when restaurateurs often spend millions of dollars on design, talent and branding.
Mi Cocina caught on, particularly because of the location in Highland Park Village, which remains busy today. Mi Cocina grew to about a dozen restaurants in its first decade while Rodriguez worked as its CEO.
Rodriguez helped create Mi Cocina’s Mambo Taxi, a potent swirl of frozen sangria and margarita that has become a signature cocktail of the city. The Mambo Taxi is one example of how Rodriguez excelled at capturing customers’ attention.
He was both a complicated boss and a creative genius, several people who worked with him have said.
Mi Cocina’s Mambo Taxi is a frozen alcoholic beverage that has become iconic in Dallas. Michael “Mico” Rodriguez was proud of it.
Ashton Guevara
Rodriguez “fought personal demons for most of his life,” Dallas Morning News columnist Cheryl Hall wrote a decade ago. A 2009 article in D described years of food, alcohol and drug addiction. Rodriguez was eventually ousted from Mi Cocina.
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“I’m sorry he had such difficult times in the last few years, but his legacy in the Dallas restaurant scene will live on,” said Ray Washburne, who co-founded Mi Cocina with Rodriguez, alongside North Texas entrepreneurs Dick Washburne and Bob McNutt.
Michael “Mico” Rodriguez opened Doce Mesas near Walnut Hill Lane and Central Expressway in Dallas in 2022. After COVID-19 lockdowns, he was eager to get back in front of customers.
Jason Janik/Special Contributor
After Mi Cocina, Rodriguez worked with Tex-Mex brand Mesero but was removed as CEO.
He was behind Mr. Mesero on McKinney Avenue, near Knox Street, which he transformed into a different Tex-Mex restaurant called Doce Mesas in 2018. When Rodriguez caught another wave of creativity post-pandemic, he expanded Doce Mesas to Walnut Hill Lane in Dallas in 2022. The restaurant then expanded to a third location on Maple Avenue in Dallas in 2024.
Rodriguez’s latest project was a former furniture store repurposed as a food hall on Maple Avenue in Dallas. Food Nation offered quick-service counters with barbecue, pizza, Tex-Mex and more.
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Mariano Martinez, founder of Tex-Mex restaurant Mariano’s and creator of the frozen margarita machine, said a decade ago that Rodriguez managed to reinvent himself again and again — perhaps one of his greatest skills. Martinez said his journey was “awe-inspiring.”
“He was a genius,” Martinez reiterated the day after Rodriguez died. “He had a joy for living. He cycled many times, being at the bottom and getting up and getting back on top.”
The Rodriguez family has not announced funeral plans yet. We’ll update this story when we know more.
Dining and Cooking