A small stretch of South Fourth Street will be growing a little more vibrant this summer as The El Camino Inn prepares to open their doors. The venue is under the same management as next door neighbor Little Palace (as well as The Rossi and Club 185) and will feature taco-truck style tacos served up indoors.

“We wanted to do tacos, but keep it American,” explains co-owner Tina Corbin. “We’re going for a kind of San Diego 1970s-era tex-mex dive bar feel.”

The new bar/restaurant will open in a space that was formerly attached through an interior entrance to Little Palace and previously served as a private lounge where greek parties often hosted afterhours bellydancer nights. El Camino will have its own exterior entrance and will be roughly the same size as Dirty Frank’s, located two doors down.

“We’ve been working on a concept for the space for awhile, but haven’t been in any hurry to open,” says Corbin. “We’re still in the process of buying a lot of second-hand finishes for the space from vintage stores and off eBay, but we’re hoping to open in June at the latest.”

In addition to tacos, the El Camino Inn will feature an affordable selection of canned beers, a limited bar and a small variety of tequilas.

Corbin says that the success of Little Palace is what drove them to moving forward with opening a second Downtown restaurant.

“The area is growing and definitely has been successful,” she says. “The Columbus Commons is about to start filling in, but I also like this area because it’s not too congested right now.”