I had to try another one. Just a couple blocks away from the Taco Shack on Medical Parkway, I found a completely different looking one on North Lamar across from Central Market. While the first was rather small and eclectic, this one looks pretty much like a normal fast food place. The tacos however were identical in construction. One mistake here, they wrapped them in foil together. The added heat steamed off more juice, making them both a bit soggy. Otherwise, for a 99 cent taco, tough to beat.
The taco is the perfect food. All nutritionist will tell you to eat a well balanced variety of foods and use the food pyramid as a guide. Even the United States Government agrees with that.
To refresh your memory, the food pyramid starts wide at the bottom with grains, then next is nearly equal parts of veggies and fruit, then meat and dairy and at the pointed top, a sparing amount of oil and sweets.
The taco is all of these. -The shell is coarse ground corn taking care of your body’s need for grain products. Better still, it’s “whole grain”. -Tomatoes are really a fruit and lettuce is the vegetable, and a good source of "ruffage" which everyone will tell you to have in your diet. -Of course meat is meat and cheese is obviously dairy. Even if it's goat cheese. -Tasty ground meat will always have a little fat or oil. With properly drained meat, a little fat is what you should get.
There you go, the perfect food. Except for the sweet, so you can complete your meal with a Mexican praline or one of those little green and white mints.
Next time you munching down a taco, feel good about yourself. You're living healthy!
One of six family owned restaurants, the Taco Shack, wedged into a corner on Medical Parkway with one picnic table outside, is truly a to-go only place. Six adults inside and the place is packed, but what tacos! Wrapped in foil to keep them warm and with two little containers of salsa, these are some of the best little tacos you’ll find. Not heavy on the veggies, they were stuffed with finely grated cheddar and Monterey Jack and well drained meat. By the time I got to my second taco, it was a little soggy. Being wrapped in foil, it was due to a little fat sweating out of the meat. Still good. No beer, that’s expected for a to-go place (TABC rules and all), but the service was friendly and my tacos were out in undertwo minutes. The stars say it all.
The Texican at Lakeline was my first blog, but with this experience, I had to write another. I've been cooking a lot at home lately, so the other night my daughter surprised me with my favorite meal…..two tacos. She stopped by the Texican and picked up a take-out order. What a surprise and what a thoughtful daughter. The meal came neatly packed in the typical Styrofoam take-out container and unassembled! No worries about ending up with soggy tacos by the time you get home; I could put them together any way I liked. There was an abundance of lettuce, tomato, cheese, and beef. Enough that I could actually make three tacos! The convenient to-go bag was topped off with a large bag of their crispy chips and a huge container of Texican’s spicy salsa. A cold Pacifico out of the frig, and I was good-to-go. Texican has brought take-out to a higher plane and it was really a nice experience. Try it.
Tucked away in a corner at 29 Doors shopping center, Santa Rita is a friendly enough of a restaurant, but if their tacos don’t get better, they’ll go the way of Tres Amigos, the restaurant they replaced. My usual order came out extremely quickly, unfortunately too quickly. Not much lettuce, I don’t recall any tomato, and I had to search for the cheese. But it was the meat that did it in. The texture was almost too creamy to be ground beef. It was like they ground it down into a flavorless mush. At least the beer was cold and the lime fresh. I heard the owner is a nice guy and does some great catering, but if these are his normal tacos it'll be no more Santa Rita for me. I miss Tres Amigos.
Tired of Mexican restaurants, but still need you tacos? You can make them yourself and here's how (in several parts).
In order to make a taco, you need a taco shell, which is nothing more than a fried corn tortilla shaped like a "U". There are three options for taco shells:
• First, you can buy them pre-made in a grocery store, at least in Texas you can. I’m not sure if you can buy taco shells in Minnesota or New Jersey • If you can’t find tortilla shells, you probably can’t find fresh corn tortillas, which is the second option for taco shells. • Okay, can’t find fresh tortillas, then you’ll have to make your taco shells from scratch.
Here’s how to make your own tortillas.
Corn tortillas can be simple enough or very difficult. If you can find course ground Masa Harina (corn flour), you can make them the easy way. If Masa is not available, you will have to resort to the more difficult method, which due to it’s complexity will be covered in a later posting.
This is all you need: 2 cups corn flour 1 1/3 cups warm water A pinch of salt A teaspoon or so of lard is optional
Mix the flour, water, and salt together, forming a soft dough. Knead it a few minutes and let it rest under a damp towel for about an hour so the water is completely absorbed. Have a Pacifico while you're waiting.
Pinch off a bit dough the size of a pelota or a little larger than a golf ball.
Get your tortilla press….on second thought, if you have your own tortilla press, you wouldn’t be reading this. Get a heavy flat object (bottom of a cast iron pan) and press the ball of dough into a very flat circle. It should be about one-sixteenth of an inch thick and seven to eight inches in diameter.
Heat up a griddle or cast iron skillet, which is also known as a comal. If you call your cast iron skillet a comal, again you wouldn’t be reading this. Carefully place a couple tortillas on the dry hot skillet. Cook for about 30 seconds or until a few bits of corn burn. Flip over an cook the other side the same.
While you’re cooking up the rest, you can keep the cooked tortillas under a warm damp towel.
Part of another trio of Mexican restaurants (why are Mexican restaurants coming in threes?), the original Mesa Rosa offers good food and good service. This is probably one of my most dined restaurants. The tacos come buried under a mix of Monterrey Jack and cheddar, with shredded lettuce and tomatoes. You almost can’t find your taco. The ground meat is finely ground and nearly drip free. Mesa Rosa’s salsa is outstanding. It’s not so spicy as to make you sweat, but had a good flavor and just the right amount of cilantro. The onions and tomatoes are chopped large enough to where their flavor isn’t lost in the sauce. Everything on thier menu is good. Another place where I've never had a bad meal or a cold dish that shouldn't be. Being a family run and owned restaurant the service is always prompt and attentive. Even though they are always busy, there’s nearly never a wait. Mesa Rosa is high on my list as a place to go back to.
One can expect Texas to have great Mexican food and Austin Texas to have an abundance of eclectic Tex-Mex restaurants. I’ve always hated long menus and straining through the fine type many have. So in Mexican restaurants, I found the solution and that was to just order two tacos, al la carte, no beans, no rice. Always crispy, always corn tortillas, mostly beef.....good Tex-Mex! If they offer you flour tortillas, you’re getting burritos.
You can’t go wrong with tacos. They will define a Mexican eatery. Good tacos, everything else is good too.
I live in Austin Texas, this is where I eat
: The more somberos the better the tacos. : The more pepppers the better the salsa, not just in 'heat' but in flavor as well. : Approximate price per pair (One dollar sign per dollar).
Share your experience
Share your taco experiences. Remember, two tacos, however you like them. Write up something yourself or just let me know what you thought of the food, the salsa, the service, the cost.
: The more somberos the better the tacos.
: The more pepppers the better the salsa, not just in 'heat' but in flavor as well.
: Approximate price per pair (One dollar sign per dollar).
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