Smashburger House & Wings Takes Over Former Taquizas Valdez In Irving Park

IRVING PARK — A restaurant serving smash burgers and wings is now open in Irving Park.

Smashburger House & Wings owners Jose Garcia and Rosa Ruth Flores opened their restaurant June 29 at 3038 W. Irving Park Road, offering a variety of freshly made smash burgers with “flavors from around the world,” Garcia said.

Menu items include a traditional smash burger served with American cheese, grilled onions, pickles with a burger sauce and garlic aioli; a Hawaiian smash burger with Swiss cheese, teriyaki sauce, grilled pineapple, bacon, onion, tomato lettuce and garlic aioli; and the popper smash burger, served with American cheese, jalapeño cream cheese, cherry bacon jam, grilled onions and garlic aioli.

This isn’t Garcia’s first restaurant: He worked at his sister’s restaurant in Las Vegas, Cilantro Taco Grill. That led him to open his first taqueria in Las Vegas — Chicago Style Taco Shop — in 2016. He opened another taqueria under the same name in suburban Lombard in 2020, Garcia said. 

“With a taqueria, you get to … use all these different types of flavors,” Garcia said. 

Though the format for a smash burger is more limiting, Garcia said he likes the challenge of working within that framework to come up with new burgers for the restaurant using fresh, not frozen, beef. 

“I’m looking at an al pastor smash burger or one with chorizo,” he said. “Working in a taqueria gives you that knowledge that you can mess around with flavors, because Mexican food is so flavorful.” 

The menu also features wings as well as tacos, burritos, loaded fries and hot dogs. 

Garcia met Flores in 2022 at his Lombard restaurant, where she was an employee. They became friends, and he was impressed with her entrepreneurial spirit and work ethic. So when he started looking at opening a smash burger spot, he wanted to bring her on as a partner, he said. 

“Working together, we make a good team,” Flores said in Spanish. “And the food we’re making now has a real explosion of flavors.” 

Garcia and Flores signed a lease for their spot — formerly Taquizas Valdez — in April. They did light renovations to get their restaurant ready for a summer opening, they said. 

That included painting the walls and adding new murals, they said.

“It was going to cost us over $2,000. But after thinking about it, I ran across a TikTok of someone using a projector to paint something on a wall,” Garcia said. “I went out and got a projector and we started with the logo, and we just kept going.” 

The duo spent more than 80 hours painting the interior. And when it came time to redo the outside awning, they decided to do it themselves as well, Garcia said. 

“We tried to keep it modern and urban at the same time. Nothing too crazy or too flat,” Garcia said. “We were just were adding to it little by little to make it look clean. Everybody that’s come in has liked it so far.” 

Garcia and Flores have had a few neighbors slowly become regulars. One customer who previously lived in California said the burgers remind him a little bit of In-N-Out, the popular California burger chain, Garcia said. 

“It’s a good feeling and a sense of personal pride to know that people enjoy our food and we get to meet all these wonderful people that live around the business,” Garcia said. “And hopefully they’re not just customers, but they turn into family as we get the same people coming back. We want to get to know them on a first-name basis.” 

Smashburger House & Wings is open 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday-Saturday and 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Sundays.  

For more on Smashburger House & Wings, visit the restaurant’s Facebook and Instagram.