Plomo Quesadillas originated in a small Arkansas shop, but Dallas’ Knox-Henderson neighborhood was where owner Omar Kasim found the right place to expand his quesadilla vision.
“We love where we are, the people in the community and our neighbors,” he says. “There’s so much this area offers.”
The concept of Plomos originated out of Kasim’s first restaurant, Con Quesos, an eclectic taco shop in Northwest Arkansas. Although the place specialized in tacos, Kasim noticed chicken quesadillas were one of their top selling items.
In addition to Con Quesos, Kasim owned a small juice bar in the entertainment district of Northwest Arkansas. The juice bar closed at 7 p.m. every night and inside the bar was a kitchen they never used.
At the time, Kasim needed additional revenue to help pay his rent. Since quesadillas were a hit at his first restaurant, he decided to open the kitchen doors to serve pickup quesadillas to people throughout the night on weekends.
Once the pandemic hit, the grab-n-go cheesy goodness grew in popularity. From that moment, Kasim had a vision to close the juice bar in order to provide a full space for customers.
Through customer feedback and observing how much people loved the food, he realized that his snacky side hustle was something that had the potential of becoming bigger.
Kasim knew that in order to succeed at selling only one item, he needed to create the best quesadillas in town. He got to the kitchen and worked to develop a menu full of gourmet offerings.
Plomos’ greasy quesadillas have become a Knox Henderson late-night staple, with lines stretching out the store door most weekend nights.
But for however good the food is after a few drinks, it’s just as good, if not better, when sober, Kasim says.
The quesadillas are more than melted cheese and toasty tortillas. Ribeye steak, chopped brisket, Caribbean jerked chicken and even butternut squash make up the quesadilla repertoire.
“I always say that at Plomo we’re essentially glorified pantry chefs … we just like to execute a simple product really, really well and then put our unique spin on it,” he says. “That makes us different, taking an item like a street taco, how can we elevate that and do it in our own way?”
The restaurant’s most popular quesadilla, the Escobar, is layered with cheese, steak, pickled red onions, homemade chipotle crema, avocado and elote, all tucked into a tortilla. Each order is served in the restaurant’s signature quesadilla holders, which Kasim says are great for transporting a quesadilla out to the next bar, on a walk home or in an Uber.
It was important for Kasim to create something that people could enjoy daily. Each order is made from scratch no matter the hour, and he believes the quality keeps customers coming back for more.
“We take the time to provide a culinary experience that you would receive from a full service restaurant, even though it’s in late hours,” Kasim says. “Just because people are coming from the bars or doing something, like coming back from a concert, that doesn’t mean that they don’t crave a superior product.”
Kasim says the food sells itself, but opening a restaurant in Dallas’ competitive food scene had its obstacles. He compares the restaurant opening to getting a plane off the ground and in the air.
From Plomos simple start out of the back door of a Juice Bar, Kasim says moving to Dallas was a big step in expanding the restaurant. He had his doubts, but through the constant business and positive feedback, he’s confident that bringing Plomos to Knox-Henderson was the right decision.
“If we can make it here you know, we can make it anywhere,” he says.
