The moment sophomore Cam Kormylo heard there would be a space for food sales in Dunne Hall, he knew he had to transfer into the new dorm and open his own snack shop.
“I went to those initial meetings for the new dorms, just to check it out, see what was up and they said they were going to have a space food sales,” Kormylo said. “Honestly, within a second, I knew I had to do it. That’s really the main reason I moved into Dunne Hall.”
Kormylo has worked on creating a location with “different kind of food sales” in the new dorm since last December. The final result: a taco stand.
“I was working on all my recipes over the last year and really trying to perfect them this summer,” he said.
Admittedly, Kormylo said he did not know he wanted to do tacos right away, but after getting some feedback from friends and family, he thought a taco shop would be the perfect addition to Notre Dame dining options.
“I kind of went back and forth with quite a few ideas, but I really kept on coming back to tacos,” he said. “Once we settled on it, I mean, we just started cooking immediately. It was a lot of work.”
Kormylo said he started gravitating towards tacos after working with a Top Chef champion, Stephanie Izard.
“Her general manager owns a taco bar and it really felt like a good move,” Kormylo said. “It was working with a lot of things I was comfortable with — what I knew — and you know, everyone likes tacos so that worked out really well.”
Despite the generally positive reception of the taco idea, Kormylo said he wanted to make sure he covered his bases and had something for everyone.
“We have gluten-free tacos, vegetarian tacos, vegan tacos,” he said. “We really are aware of allergens and the like. It’s important to us that people like and eat our food.”
Kormylo worked with fellow sophomore Ryan Green to open up the shop, Dungeon Tacos, in the basement of Dunne Hall.
“We just did a test run last week, just to see how it would go,” Green said. “Honestly, it went great and the tacos were turning out fantastic.”
Dungeon Tacos officially opened its doors Thursday evening — within 20 minutes, the duo had sold 73 tacos.
“We’re super busy already,” Green said shortly after opening. “It’s been a great response, I’m really excited that we’re doing this.”
Kormylo took a break from flipping tortillas on the grill to look around the kitchen, and said he was pleased with how things are going.
“I mean, they’re really going well,” he said. “We had a line that was all the way from the stairs to the chapel in Dunne, which is really great.”
Green said it was far more people than he thought would show up.
“We had about 65, I mean, at least 65 people in line,” he said. “That was insane."
The shop sold out of tacos at about 10:15 p.m. Thursday night, after selling about 250 tacos, according to Kormylo.
“We actually bought food for the whole weekend,” Kormylo said. “Yeah, so it was a good night.”
The steak tacos and potato tacos have been the most popular, Green said.
“We started with more of both those, but they’re just flying off the grill,” he said. “It’s great that we’ve been getting the response we’ve been getting.”
Additionally, Green said people have been going for their meal deal.
“Essentially it’s just any two tacos and a drink for five bucks,” he said. “It’s a great deal.”
