DALLAS, Texas — Michael “Mico” Rodriguez, founder of Mi Cocina and creator of the restaurant chain’s signature Mambo Taxi margarita, has died at 68.
Rodriguez grew up working in restaurants and started bussing tables and chopping vegetables alongside his mother at Mia’s Tex-Mex on Lemmon Avenue. He said he knew from an early age that he wanted to build a career in the restaurant industry.
“I was 5 years old and I knew that was what I was going to do,” Rodriguez said in a 2025 interview.
A disagreement with his mother eventually prompted Rodriguez to leave the restaurant. His brother followed him and told him, “Mico, you’re gonna change history.”
Rodriguez later launched Mi Cocina with $82,500 in investments from some of his customers. He initially operated the restaurant with 12 tables in a partly vacant shopping center and did not serve liquor.
He eventually introduced margaritas, using his father’s recipe and a sangria recipe that a Spanish priest had given his father. The combination became the Mambo Taxi, which Rodriguez described as one of Dallas’ most recognizable drinks.
One of Mi Cocina’s longtime customers, Juanita Miller, encouraged Rodriguez to open a location in Highland Park Village. Her support helped the restaurant expand, and developers across North Texas later sought out the brand.
Rodriguez said the Highland Park Village location “took us into another plane of existence.” Mi Cocina eventually grew into a restaurant group generating more than $200 million in annual revenue.
Struggles behind the success
Rodriguez also faced personal struggles during the growth of his business.
He said he reached about 450 pounds at his heaviest and later underwent weight-loss surgery. He subsequently returned to drinking alcohol and described the period as a relapse.
His marriage ended, and he sold his shares in Mi Cocina before leaving the restaurant business.
“I was disconnected and I felt so isolated,” Rodriguez said. “Instead of managing that and looking for help, well, the self-destructive behavior came in.”
Rodriguez entered rehabilitation programs more than once and credited them with helping him regain control of his life.
“This is a disease of relapse, and you have to really manage it, and I surrender every day,” he said.
Returning to his Dallas roots
After stepping away from Mi Cocina, Rodriguez returned to the restaurant and entertainment industries with projects tied to the Dallas neighborhoods where he grew up.
One of his ventures centered on a former furniture store near Maple Avenue and the Medical District. The Quintanilla family had built the property in the 1960s, and Rodriguez saw an opportunity to turn its struggling food hall into a gathering place featuring local restaurants and talent.
He worked with vendors he already knew and developed the concept as a combination of food, entertainment and community space.
The project later evolved into Food Nation, which included plans for entertainment programming, a soundstage and a bar next to the food hall.
The project held particular meaning for Rodriguez because he grew up nearby and once delivered newspapers in the area.
“It means a lot to me to be able to do that now,” he said.
A legacy of reinvention
Rodriguez acknowledged that his leadership style changed over the years. He described himself as “dictatorial” early in his career because he feared failing at the restaurant business.
Later, he said he became more understanding and took on a mentoring role with his daughter and younger restaurateurs.
“I’ve nurtured or founded 14 brands and not all of them worked, but it was the process of being able to do that,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez described himself as a survivor who valued the opportunity to rebuild his life and career.
“Don’t be afraid,” he said.
From Mi Cocina and the Mambo Taxi to his later Food Nation project, Rodriguez built a career that connected his restaurant work with his roots in Dallas.
