Tacos in Wisconsin

The Eldorado Grill
Madison, Wisconsin
8.5


Yo, I'm on a business trip so anything is better than room-service, right? Six of us went last night for dinner to the Eldorado Grill on Williamson Street. The food is "an eclectic combination of Tex-Mex, Southwestern and Mexican cuisine with an upscale twist". Two of us opted for some ribs, two went for the Lobster/Shrimp/Crab Enchiladas, one had fajitas. I was the only bitch who ordered tacos. Chicken tacos, to be exact. ($10.29 - expensed)

After eating a nice large helping of freshly made chips and salsa and a blackberry margarita ($7.49 - expensed), I could have skipped dinner. However, my plate of tacos soon arrived and I set about cleaning my plate. The dish consisted of two corn tortillas topped with chopped (marinated and grilled) chicken, cheese, corn and pico de gallo on a bed of red rice and black beans with a dollop of sour creme. I just about cleaned my plate, rolled back to my hotel room and spent the rest of the night in a coma, watching that freak Charlie O'Connell on "The Bachelor".

taco hell

Due to unforseen circumstances I have to get off the taco wagon for a while. But I'm sure these other fine people will eat my share. So in an effort to keep the taco subject going, I was surfing the net only to find that Taco Bell is holding a "Starving Student Contest."

The rules?
"Submit a photo that best proves you are a starving college student. Photo must not contain any identifiable persons other than you."

No other identifiable persons other than you. What does that mean? That if I happened to take a picture of me and Biz Markie arm wrestling over a cup o'noodle, that wouldn't qualify? Now that's just absurd. I should win hands down for that photo, don't you think?
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Qdoba: big burritos, tasty tacos.

So, I generally avoid chain restaurants, but Qdoba is the exception for a perfectly good reason - it's freakin' good. I generally get my lunch on with their chicken mole burrito, which features a sauce that's so perfect I can't believe it's from a chain, but I decided to switch things up today by picking up some shredded beef taco action.

It was beyond good. Nice, fresh shells that crunched handily, properly shredded beef that was marinated, some salsa that actually made my mouth burn in a good way, and O M G the guacamole. I would punch a dude in front of his own mama for their guacamole, which is fresh-made every day.

Qdoba gets a solid 9, and that's not a 10 just because the container made two of the shells get a little soggy on the brief walk back to my office. They should use boxes instead of plastic, that's all I'm saying.

It's Mighty

Mighty Taco
Williamsville, New York
7.0


Mighty Taco is an institution in the Buffalo, New York area. It's technically fast food - cheap, but really good and not greasy. Nowhere close to Taco Bell, I swear. Mighty has a website and it's own profile on Friendster, and I invite you to check out the testimonials from loyal fans.

I'm a big fan of the new taco joints around town that serve 'fresh' style tacos and burritos with rice and beans and all sorts of fillings, but once in a while I go for the old favourite that is Mighty Taco - it's been around for as long as I can remember. It had been about a week since my last trip to Mighty, so I stopped by for lunch yesterday. Mighty Taco has 16 locations in Western New York but I only frequent a few - the one on Sheridan Drive in Williamsville and the one on Transit in Lockport. Close to work and close to home, just the way I like it.



I ordered my usual - a garden burrito (beef/beans/cheese/lettuce/tomato) with a side of nachos (just chips and melted cheese, really) and a medium loganberry. Not too fancy but sometimes the fancy bores me. Plus, lunch cost a grand total of $4.41, and you can't beat that.



Other menu favourites include the Mighty Taco, the El Nino Burrito and the Layered Bean Dip. They have delicious and spicy chili in the winter. Most locations have a drive-thru and they almost never screw up your order.

Yum!

Don Cuco

Toluca Lake, CA
9.0

During my trip home, I went to Don Cuco's in Toluca Lake (Burbank) - a place I'd go to sometimes cuz it was really close to my office...when I worked...out there. They have great Mexican food, and they even give you sour cream with your chips and salsa. YUMMY! I ordered the beef taco and chicken enchilada combo, and even had a margarita to go with it!! That was weird cuz I never drink in the day time, but my friend V. said she'd have one if I did, and she looked like she needed one (this was her lunchbreak from work!)!! Anyway, I guess I was too hungry or too into my conversation with V., cuz when I told Shiz I had Mexican food, she asked me if I took a picture of my taco, and I said, "Oh no! I forgot!!" But I can tell you that it was really good, cuz I ate everything on my plate - even the rice and beans. I don't have a picture, but here is the link to the website: http://www.doncuco.com/frame.html. Maybe if you're ever in Burbank, Glendale, Simi Valley or Acton (who goes there?!), you'll want to try it!

"Boca Grande" - wasn't that by Gerardo?

Boca Grande
Cambridge, MA
8.0

So, tacos from Boca Grande. As you can tell by their menu, this is a pretty bog-standard taqueria for the Boston area, running neck and neck with Anna's in the mind and hearts and tummies of the public. They do have quite a few more options available and pride themselves on their freshness, which is a sensible approach because they do a fine job with their condiments and ingredients used.

Kristin and I decided to share an order of the Tacos Boca Grande, which features chorizo, diced tomato, onion, and cilantro mix with a light dusting of queso fresco to finish it off. You get three of these suckers for $3.95, which is about the same as Anna's tacos al pastor (offered by Boca Grande as well, I should note.) I have to say that while the chorizo was well made and toothsome, I would have appreciated more spice in it. I'm the sort of person who wants their nose to run while eating Mexican and while I understand they have to sling their wares at the general public, a bit more oomph would have helped a bit.

This quibble aside, the quality of the goods at Boca Grande is very high and you can do a lot worse than this by going to Taco Bell and letting them unleash their culinary hell upon you. The only possible advantage a run to the border can net you is a gallon-sized container of sweet, sweet Dr Pepper action, but I can simply say "Jarritos!" as a response. Bostonians who eat at Taco Bell will earn nothing but scorn from me going forward.

Surf's up

Baja Cantina
Marina del Rey, CA
7.5

This is an old MDR institution. Somehow they've changed their menu, and half of it isn't even Mexican food at all, and I ask, why bother? But, if you stick to familiar food, you'll do just fine.

It really did make you feel like you were in Baja, large open wall/windows, tons of surf decor, boards on the ceiling, the whole bit. Also lots of alchohol and a location right by the beach. Or, maybe it's the statue in the corner of the bikini-clad woman with giant boobs, which my friend described as "so offensive." Who knows.

My favorite part? They stick Mexican flags in EVERY DISH. Just in case you didn't realize what country the food originated from.
"This Belgian guacamole is to die for! Oh wait, there's the flag of Mexico, my bad."

Actually, the guacomole was excellent, really fresh, and chunky. I have a thing about guacamole, I love it, but it has to be done RIGHT. Let's just say that Tito's gets an "F" for guac. If watery green goo is your thing, yay for you, but that is the nastiest sh*t I have ever seen, and people still order it by the gallon.

Back to Baja, I ordered the chicken taco, which came with rice and beans. The rice and beans I could've done without, as they were pretty horrible. But the taco was crispy and there was plenty of nicely grilled chicken.

Good taco, bad side dishes and bad decor.
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Tuna Taco. Cue Jenn's Gagging.

Quite possibly the best Mexican restaurant I've ever been to, Ay! Caramba on Cape Cod serves up a tasty tuna taco among their robust, if seemingly-limited selection. The rest of the meal was more "authentic," with an excellent chicken mole (Kryptonite as far as I'm concerned) for me and Kristin getting something reddish before switching with her mother to have the jalapeno tamales. I was drinking a Flaming Duck from their selection of fine margaritas, so I was pretty immune to any heat that was being generated by the food. Nothing could stop me.

Anyway, as this is a taco blog, we will focus on the appetizer that I ordered. As you can tell by this picture, it arrives flat and with a pile of greenery on top. Let's see what's under it and get on with our proper tasting, OK? You can see that's quite a nice hunk of our favorite finny friend on there, with some greenery obscuring it. There's also a nice creamy and spicy sauce that added a nice punch. Personally, I wish the tuna had been cooked a little less - I like it seared on both sides and raw as fuck in the middle, but I am a bloodthirsty savage.

Once it's all folded up, you can see that it makes quite a nice package. It's only about four or five bites, but they're high quality and recommended without reserve, if you like tuna or other fish tacos. This is from ages ago, but now that I've bullied Jenn into making me a full-time member of this thing, I'll be updating this weekend, certainly.

Post U2 Concert Dinner

Too tired to elaborate. Concert Rocked. Shiz Hungry. Shiz & T went to Titos.

Desperate for a taste...

So I came into LAX around 11pm tonight. My sister was picking me up and when I landed, she was already at the airport. Darn. I was going to ask her to pick me up some Tito's before she came! By the time I got my bags, it was past 11:30pm - when Tito's closes. We got home and she says, "I have these leftover Tito's chips and salsa - from last week. Do you want to eat it?" I said, "Hell yeah!" I've been craving the taste of Tito's for WEEKS now, so anything from there would do! She got Tito's on Sunday last week. The salsa wasn't as red as I remember it, but she said, "isn't it always that color?" Needless to say, my stomach hurts now.

Damn, I need some FRESH Tito's pronto.

Ocho monitos

El Indio
Redondo Beach, CA
7.0

A Redondo Beach haunt, El Indio. The tortilla factory, baby.

This place is always crowded, and the bars on the windows make you feel like you're in a Mexican jail. The waitresses have that same mean-ness that you find at Tito's, although there's no heavy glass separating you, so they could jump across the counter and kill you if they so desired.

The food is a little on the greazzy side, but so yum. And they have lots of different kinds of things, not just tacos.

The tacos are nice and crisp. I might say they're better than Titos, but I value my life. The salsa is no where near as good as Tito's that's for sure, probably cause there's not a bit of crack in there, darn it.

Here's a secret, I actually like taquitos more than tacos. I know, sacriliege, but I am hard pressed to resist anything with "-itos" on the end of it, "-itos" as in MINI. Like "monitos=little monkeys". Aw, seriously, it's cute right?
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