The Flying Taco serves 'first-class' Mexican meals in a vintage plane | Bartell's Backroads

In the middle of California’s Central Valley — miles from the nearest airport — an airplane sits grounded in a Tulare parking lot, but it’s not collecting dust. It’s dishing out tacos.

The Flying Taco is a one-of-a-kind Mexican restaurant built inside a refurbished 1950s Convair 240 aircraft. The brainchild of co-owner Victor Hernandez and his sibling, the eatery has served diners for more than five years.

“It’s different. It’s unique,” Hernandez said. “I’m sure nobody’s ever had a taco inside a plane, first class. So, let’s be the first to do it.”

With seating for 20 passengers, or 22 if you count the pilot and co-pilot chairs, the aluminum-fuselage diner gives patrons an aviation-themed meal experience unlike any other. There’s no boarding pass required, but tipping your flight attendant is encouraged.

Customers don’t need to like flying to enjoy the food. Customer Marcelino Silva summed it up: “I don’t like planes and I don’t fly, but on the ground I am OK.”

Before it was the Flying Taco, the same aircraft was known as the Aero Dog — a hot dog stand with its own theme song. The plane's current home came to be through a chance encounter between local builder Don LeBaron and his friend Mike Schoenau at the Tulare post office.

“So, from that idea at the post office, he and I partnered up. I bought the property. He found the plane,” said LeBaron.

In 2001, the duo found the old airliner at a scrap yard in Palm Desert and purchased it for $8,000. The biggest challenge? Hauling the aircraft 200 miles, disassembling and reassembling it, and getting permits to turn it into a functional restaurant.

“Nobody had been able to do it. Well, in our little town we did it because it was a community effort,” LeBaron said.

The sense of community continues today. Over the past two decades, the site has hosted everything from fundraisers to local festivals and school events. While its name has changed, the airplane has remained a beloved fixture.

Even kids — sometimes nervous to step aboard a plane that appears ready for takeoff — quickly warm up to the experience.

“The kids are a little intimidated at first because they think it’s going to take off,” said Hernandez. “But once they’re in, it’s a good time.”

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