Michael "Mico" Rodriguez, who co-founded the Mi Cocina restaurant chain and spent decades shaping Tex-Mex dining in Dallas, has died. He was 68, according to several Dallas news outlets.
The Dallas Morning News reported that Rodriguez died Oct. 1, citing three of his colleagues. The family had not announced funeral plans, the paper said.
A restaurant family
Rodriguez grew up in the business. His mother, Ana, and stepfather, Butch Enriquez, managed El Chico restaurants when he was a child and later founded Mia's Tex-Mex on Lemmon Avenue in 1981, according to the Morning News.
In 1991 he and a group of partners, among them Ray Washburne, Dick Washburne and Bob McNutt, opened the first Mi Cocina at Preston Road and Forest Lane in North Dallas, the paper reported. The chain grew into a fixture of Dallas dining, and its frozen Mambo Taxi, a blend of sangria and margarita, became one of the city's best-known drinks.
Rodriguez was also an original partner in M Crowd Restaurant Group, CBS News Texas reported. He later parted ways with Mi Cocina and went on to lead or help launch other restaurants, including Taco Diner, the Mercury, Mesero and Doce Mesas, as well as the Food Nation food hall on Maple Avenue.
