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First Coast Foodies: Murray Hill Tex Mex shop offers veterans discount for Memorial Day weekend

Schwartz opened the local hotspot located along Edgewood Avenue last year.

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Scotty Scwartz is the owner of El Jefe, a Tex Mex cuisine restaurant in Murray Hill. 

In honor of Memorial Day, he’s offering veterans and active duty military 20 percent off.

Schwartz opened the local hotspot located along Edgewood Avenue last year.

“I loved to cook and it was something that was always a hobby of mine," Schwartz said. "It was something that I grew up doing with my mother.” 

Schwartz recalled the first time he tasted Tex Mex cuisine, which happened when he was seven-years-old while visiting his uncle at Lackland Air Force base.

“Back then I don’t even think we had Taco Bell’s in Atlanta, and so were like okay that’ll be something new, something fun and I had my first nacho and I fell in love," he said.

Before opening up his brick and mortar store in Murray Hill, Scwartz traveled back to Texas seeking out the best Tex Mex recipes. 

He traveled from Houston to San Antonio to Austin.

“Any of the places that we saw we needed to stop at on the way at these little small towns and stuff like that we pulled over because we wanted to get a taste of Texas,” he said.

A popular item on his menu are the puffy tacos.

“It’s where we take the raw maza and we drop it straight into the deep fryer which allows it to puff, the air bubbles form and puffs out and that’s what gives the puffy taco it’s classic shape and texture,” Scwartz said.

It’s then filled with your traditional taco fillings.

However, if your watching your waistline and looking for something on the lighter side the Street Corn Salad is just for you.

"This dish includes corn, Mexican cheeses, cilantro, mayonnaise and what we do is we make a compost salad out of that," he said. "Then we put it on greens with all of the traditional accompaniments and actually top that with a piece of Mexican Street corn on the cob straight off the grill. It’s one of the crowd favorites."

Also popular on the menu are the sizzling fajitas, with tender meat seasoned to perfection.

“Skirt steak, brisket, chicken, shrimp and it is unbelievable," Scwartz said. "We actually make our own flour tortillas in-house so they are hot and fresh fluffy and it is by far one of the crowd favorites."

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