{"id":2361,"date":"2019-05-03T12:26:43","date_gmt":"2019-05-03T16:26:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/?p=2361"},"modified":"2019-04-23T12:33:17","modified_gmt":"2019-04-23T16:33:17","slug":"syracuse-eats-xo-taco","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/?p=2361","title":{"rendered":"Syracuse Eats: XO Taco"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Samantha Leader<\/p>\n

Photos by Steven \u00a0J. Pallone<\/p>\n

Christopher Bily used to be a lacrosse coach. But the three successful restaurants he\u2019s opened downtown since leaving that behind \u2014 Modern Malt, Original Grain and this month\u2019s Syracuse Eats feature XO Taco \u2014 would suggest a career switch was the right move.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Though he originally planned to start a food truck, the idea didn\u2019t pan out. The demand for food trucks were lower in Syracuse, making that plan harder than expected, according to Chris.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cOnce that idea didn\u2019t work out, Matt Gardner, one of my best friends and current business partner, and I ended up connecting with a bunch of guys and starting Modern Malt,\u201d Chris said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"
Tacos, from left: Hot Chix, Achiote Beef, Carnitas, Redfish, Shrimp<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Modern Malt was Christopher\u2019s first crack at the restaurant business. It was the first time he was able to write a menu, cocktail menu, design a space, pick out the d\u00e9cor, and have a big influence on the restaurant.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cOriginal grain came two years after, and then XO Taco in 2018 to 2019,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

After selling his shares in Modern Malt a year after opening, Chris did some traveling to Los Angeles and New York City, looking at different concepts in these areas.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cWe picked up that fast cash, quick service restaurants has become superhot and were trending, but we wanted to put a few different trendy foods together in one restaurant ,which led to Original Grain,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

XO Taco came about once Chris\u2019s real estate agent found the building that was for sale in an area that was quickly growing in Syracuse.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cWe asked around to our friends what they wanted to see in a new restaurant, and many of them answered with \u2018good Mexican food,\u2019 which led to this restaurant taking off,\u201d Chris said.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Pillow Talk Margarita<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The name came from an early dish at Modern Malt.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cA dish on the first Modern Malt menu was called xo taco, and always stuck in my head, so when we decided on Mexican, I knew I could put together a cool branding with the name XO Taco,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The atmosphere of the restaurant comes off as a sexy, cool, and fun taco bar, with dimmed lights to attract all ages of people, from college students to workers. The walls have eye-catching d\u00e9cor, making it perfect for pictures and social media.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

XO Taco holds many events such as bridal showers, corporate happy hours and weddings, and the restaurant has live bands on special occasions.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cWe will put out a taco spread for the corporate happy hours and offer drink specials like buy one get one drinks, this allows for a fun atmosphere with employees,\u201d Chris said.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Macho fries<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The menu has all the Mexican food favorites such as tacos, guacamole, salsa, queso, churros, nachos and much more. They hold specials every day of the week, including everyone\u2019s favorite Taco Tuesday.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cA few of the favorites here are Macho Fries, the Hot Lips Margarita, and Shrimp Tacos,\u201d Christopher said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

XO Taco is open for lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and dinner 4 to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 4 to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Samantha Leader Photos by Steven \u00a0J. Pallone Christopher Bily used to be a lacrosse coach. But the three successful restaurants he\u2019s opened downtown since leaving that behind \u2014 Modern Malt, Original Grain and this month\u2019s Syracuse Eats feature XO Taco \u2014 would suggest a career switch was the right move.   Though he originally…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2362,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[102],"tags":[175,832],"class_list":["post-2361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food","tag-syracuse-eats","tag-xo-taco"],"gutentor_comment":2,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/IMG_1933.jpg?fit=5489%2C3791&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2853,"url":"https:\/\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/?p=2853","url_meta":{"origin":2361,"position":0},"title":"SYRACUSE EATS: Syracuse CoKitchen: Creating community through cooking.","author":"Staff","date":"March 2, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"By Sarah Tietje-Mietz Photos by Steven J. Pallone \u00a0 Coworking spaces like WeWork, Impact Hub and, locally, Syracuse CoWorks, provide professional environments for those not working out of traditional offices. Members have access to the benefits of standard offices, like meeting rooms, communal workspaces, and unlimited WiFi, all at an\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Featured"","block_context":{"text":"Featured","link":"https:\/\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/?cat=99"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/IMG_0855-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/IMG_0855-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/IMG_0855-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/IMG_0855-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/IMG_0855-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2814,"url":"https:\/\/www.syracusewomanmag.com\/?p=2814","url_meta":{"origin":2361,"position":1},"title":"SYRACUSE EATS: Oh My Darling!","author":"Staff","date":"February 3, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"By Larry Stansbury Photos by Steven J. 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