After brutal few years, dedicated Phoenix family reopens viral birria shop

“This is like deja vu. I feel like I broke in here and I’m not supposed to be here,” says Ilse Jazmin “Jazz” Valenzula Sears while looking around the dining room of her restaurant, AZ Taco King.

The slate tile floors and brick walls of the former Pizza Hut on Camelback Road and 21st Avenue are the same as when she and her husband, Samuel, opened AZ Taco King there in 2020. The couple took their food truck to a permanent location after going viral for birria ramen.

AZ Taco King took off, Sears says, not only because it was among the early purveyors of now ubiquitous birria but also because their birria is a little different. Sears’ grandmother taught her the recipe, and she added her secret ingredient, an additional type of chile, to the pot of ruddy red braised beef. Those tender chunks of meat go into a tall cup with a brick of ramen noodles, which are topped with a savory, spicy broth and garnished with cheese, cilantro and onions. AZ Taco King also packs its popular birria into tacos, tamales, taquitos, pizzadillas and other bites. 

Now, fans can get the craving-worthy dish once again. AZ Taco King is making a comeback at its original home.

“We’re ready to get back here and feed our community again,” Sears says. 

A rocky move to Glendale

Throughout the four years that the Sears family operated AZ Taco King in Phoenix, customers frequently pulled into the parking lot an hour before the restaurant opened. Serving hungry fans as fast as they could, the kitchen would often rack up an hour-long wait and would regularly sell out of food. 

“We were expanding and we were going viral,” Sears says, “and it’s not very big here.”

These were good problems to have, but they also occasionally led to annoyed customers. The aging building also posed challenges. Outfitted for a former pizzeria, the hood couldn’t keep up with a stove packed with pots of birria. Sears and her staff would pull open the doors, but that would let the heat in. The plumbing would back up, and they’d have to close the bathrooms. 

Sears sought out a second location, opening in Avondale in 2023, followed by Glendale in September 2024. While the expansion helped with demand, they struggled to keep all of the restaurants staffed. That same month, Sears made the difficult decision to close her original restaurant on Camelback Road. It was a decision that would prove life-changing.

By October 2024, AZ Taco King operated only from its Glendale location at 43rd and Olive Avenues. With a liquor license and a drive-thru window, the West Valley cantina seemed like the best bet.

“It was such an amazing building,” Sears says, “but the clientele was not there. It was good for a little bit, but it wasn’t consistent.” 

The restaurant owner banked on her devoted clientele driving the nearly seven miles northwest. As much as she tried to spread the word about the move on social media, she believes some customers figured the restaurant simply closed its doors. The birria spot was only busy on the weekends. Instead of fretting about not having enough food, Sears was throwing out uneaten dishes.

By the spring of 2025, the couple was racking up debt. Samuel warned her they were on the brink. They pawned their food truck to try to cover bills. Then, their cars were repossessed.

The couple closed AZ Taco King in June 2025.

“It was very depressing this last year after we closed Glendale. It felt like somebody died in our family. We were grieving,” Sears says. “It just felt like the end.”

Staging a return in Phoenix

Samuel and the couple’s two sons, who worked at AZ Taco King, had to find other jobs. But Sears knew she couldn’t give up on her dream.

She was able to get the food truck out of pawn on a payment plan. She popped up around town and hustled catering gigs.

“We would sell out in two hours,” Sears says. “(Customers) were showing up, but it wasn’t ever enough to keep a business afloat.”

Sears continued expanding the food truck’s hours, but challenges persisted.

One day, Sears got in her truck to find that thieves had stolen her generator. It was a disastrous morning, she recalls, but as she was figuring out what to do, her former landlord contacted her. He made a game-changing offer.

None of the restaurants that had come in after AZ Taco King had stuck, he explained, and he wanted the Sears family to come back. 

The family agreed to walk through the building. The landlord had fixed the plumbing. There was a better range hood. And the building now has two air-conditioning units to cool the space. The tables and chairs they’d bought for the restaurant were still sitting in the dining room. For Sears, ideas of making a grand return started to swirl. Maybe the space that once attracted droves of customers could once again.

The offer from the landlord “feels too good to be true,” Sears says.

“We live and learn, and now we’ve got the opportunity to come back,” she says. “The lessons that we learned while we weren’t here really helped us appreciate what this building has done for us.”

In the days before reopening, Sears’ family bustled in and out of the restaurant to get things ready. Sears found black booths that now flank the edges of the dining room, hauled their pots back into the kitchen and started plotting to get AZ Taco King back on the sign overlooking Camelback Road.

As of Wednesday, the restaurant is officially back. To kick off the return, the restaurant will offer daily specials through Saturday. They’ll soft-open with limited hours this week, from 2 to 9 p.m. The menu is slightly slimmed-down to tacos, quesatacos, quesadillas, loaded fries and plenty of birria options, including taquitos, nachos, pizzadillas and the internet-favorite birria ramen.

Sears is already thinking about how they can continue to gussy up the space and aims to secure a liquor license in the coming months. She plans to offer beers, micheladas, palomas and frozen soft-serve margaritas to offer a cool contrast to the steaming hot bowls of spicy birria ramen. Sears also hopes to start small-business markets featuring other local purveyors.

The last two years have tested the owners’ family, financially, mentally and physically. But Sears never lost faith in their food, and what their standout birria and tacos could build.

“I feel like God has things that are meant to be, and this is one of them,” she says. “Nobody could shut the door on something that’s supposed to be there.”

AZ Taco King

2030 W. Camelback Road