2009 Taco Tuesday Tour: 2009

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Official Rating: Urban Taco

And with this last official rating in, Urban Taco took 2nd place overall with 7.83 / 10 possible points.

Anonymous Comments:

"The shrimp and pastor tacos were excellent."

"Great taco selection, delicious chips and salsa, and great tacos. They even gave us separate checks. Can we go back?"

"Freakin awesome. Without a doubt, best experience of the tour. That's it, I'm done."

"Boo, Urban Tacblow."

"Great tacos! Very nice atmosphere! The Ahi Tuna and Barbacoa were delicious and I would also recommend the blanco beans."

"OVERrated....clap, clap, clap, clap, clap....OVERrated. A little too Dallas for me."

"Tacos were alright, but service was horribly slow. It wasn't even busy in there!"

And for all of our dedicated readers, don't blog on next week because we won't be eating any tacos.

Urban Taco

Endings are always bittersweet. Even though we have enjoyed trying new taco places around town, I have a feeling that most of us won't be eating tacos anytime soon. At least not together. JK...sort of :)

For our last stop we tried Urban Taco, a much more upscale and trendy taqueria located in Mockingbird Station. This place should definitely get points for ambiance since, unlike some of our past visits, Urban Taco has tables, chairs, and large cushy couches.

Urban Taco's broad menu offers many mexican dishes from traditional tacos to tortas (sandwiches). Their specialty tacos include the dos equis amber barbacoa, pollo con mole, and al pastor.

Here are our pictures:

Part of the menu

The 4 of us who wore our Taco Tuesday shirts

The other 4 who didn't

Chips and salsas

It says "Create an Urban Taco tweet, show one of our staff members and receive a complimentary churro con canela!"

Official Rating coming soon!

Urban Taco
5331 East Mockingbird Lane
Suite 125
Dallas, Texas 75206
214.823.4723

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Official Rating - Desperados

The official rating for Desperados is....

7.44 / 10 possible points

The Desperados Tacos

Anonymous Comments:

"The Desperados Tacos were delicious. I would recommend them. The beef was a little greasy, so if you're wanting to be healthier order the chicken. P.S. This was definitely the fanciest place we have been."

"Deduction on atmosphere because it is not a stand in the middle of a parking lot. Meal was yummy to my tummy. Loved the crunch."

"Eh, it was ok."

"Great fun! So, so taco."

"The brisket tacos left a lot to be desired."

"Though I have no point of reference, these tacos were yummy. Greasy but yummy. It was an honor just being nominated for a Tuesday invite." - From our guest judge :)

Blog on next week for our final stop on the 2009 Taco Tuesday Tour, Urban Taco!

Desperados

Today's lunch took us to a very familiar part of town for most of the SMU alumni. Desperados, located on Greenville Ave just a little north of University, has been around since 1976. The outside looks kind of like the Alamo as Mike pointed out.

Most of us ordered the "Desperados Tacos," their self-proclaimed most popular dish, which are just liked normal Tex-Mex tacos but with a crispy (semi-fried) flour tortilla.

Here are our pics:

Becky was the only one to wear her Quad T shirt today!

Celebrity photos on the wall

Their awards from the 90s

The large outdoor patio, if only it wasn't rainy and gross today

The front of Desperados

Desperados Restaurant
4818 Greenville Ave
Dallas, Texas 75206
214.363.1805

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Official Rating - Los Lupes

Official Rating - 7.21/10 points

Chicken fajita taco

Egg and potato breakfast taco

Anonymous Comments:

"The egg, potato, and bacon breakfast taco was the best taco I have had so far."

"Oversized tacos but bland. Clean and festive atmosphere. More gringos in one place than I've seen in all other joints combined. (Not a good sign.)"

"This place is a hidden gem! Very clean, friendly service, and delicious tacos. The egg and sausage breakfast tacos was one of the best I have ever had!"

"Greasy but good. The free chips and salsa, music, and ability to eat while seated made this a pleasant Taco Tuesday experience."

"mmmmm...mmm...good!"

"No corn makes me happy. Magic gumballs make me happier. Stew tacos make me sad."

Blog on next week for our visit to Desperado's on Greenville Ave!

Los Lupes

Today our lunch took us to Los Lupes Mexican Restaurant at the corner of Industrial and Cole. This place is only open for breakfast and lunch with a wide variety of breakfast tacos served all day.

In the large dining room (only open until 1pm), large chandeliers hang from the ceiling and bright colors adorn the walls. From the size of the room, I am guessing they get a ton of business on the weekends. I can image it being filled with people, tacos, and a mariachi band.

The tacos are made with soft flour tortillas which was a nice change after mostly corn on the tour. The breakfast tacos seem to be their specialty, but there were other traditional Mexican meals available to order. More reviews on Yelp.

Here are our photos:

Mike made a friend

Magic Gumballs?

Yum!

Los Lupes
1400 N Industrial Blvd.
Dallas, Texas 75207
214.939.3725

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Official Rating - Tacos El Guero

The official rating for the day of confusion...

6.32 / 10 possible points

Anonymous Comments:

"Does not paying attention when you place your order count as lack of atmosphere?"

"The menu here was very confusing. I think we were all wondering exactly what we were eating. The tacos were not the best I have tasted on this tour. They people there were friendly and you get a free taco when you walk in, so they got points for that."

"Mildly traumatizing. Saw meat being scraped from bones and accidentally ordered Cabeza tacos. The free sample tacos were decent...whatever those were!"

"The meat was fatty. The place was cozy and clean but small. They get a bonus for offering a free sample."

"Sir, if you think giving me free taco samples is going to influence my score...you'd be absolutely correct."

"The place was cramped, ordering was confusing and although one taco was great, the fat in the last one canceled it out."

"At this point all these damn tacos taste the same to me. However, the salsa at El Guero was damn good, so their overall taste rating was higher than normal. While I appreciate the free taco sample provided during my order, the language barrier proved too much for me and the chef. I was trying to order 'three tacos,' he thought I was saying 'beef tacos,' I was confused by the 'free taco,' and I think it's possible I could have left with 'Lee's tacos.' Net net, the tacos were good, but not the greatest."

Blog on next week for our visit to Los Lupes!

Tacos El Guero

The theme of today was confusion, because today's trek to Tacos El Guero ended up in much confusion. This tiny taco stand, located in East Dallas, is very clean and fast, but it was hard to order especially since staple items (chicken, beef fajita, barbacoa) were missing from the menu.

While the menu may be very traditional for a taqueria, items like tripas (intestines), cabeza (head?!), and lingua (cow tongue!), made most of us a little nervous...This was by far our most adventurous stop on the tour!

When you step into the cramped space to order, you are handed a complimentary taco to try, a bonus! Since I knew this was normal cow beef, I ate it up. The man behind the counter, who sounds like the owner from the Yelp reviews, was very friendly but there was still a language barrier. I think most of us are still wondering how ordering a barbacoa taco resulted in a cabeza taco.

They did have an entire wall of currency from far away lands! Egypt, North Korea, Mexico, Honduras, Bahamas, Cayman Islands, India, a US $2 bill - it was pretty cool to look at!

Here are our pics:

Tacos El Guero

The menu

Inside

Making the tacos

The money wall

Close up on the money wall

Rating coming soon!

Tacos El Guero
4500 Bryan Street
Dallas, Texas 75204
214.923.0394

Friday, September 18, 2009

Happy Friday!

Yesterday we received our 2009 Taco Tuesday Tour t-shirts! So we decided to wear them to work today.

Here is Cody modeling the back of the shirt:

Hope everyone has a great weekend! Tune in next Tuesday for our review of Tacos El Guerro.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Good 2 Go Taco Taqueria

Official Rating - 7.54/10 possible points

Anonymous Comments:

"I really liked these tacos! I had two that were the same (breakfast tacos with egg, bacon, and carrots) so I wish I had gotten to try another. This place gets high points for food quality, cleanliness, friendliness, and being green. I only deducted points because they didn't have any lunch tacos at 11:45am or a wide menu."

"Loved the flatbread tortillas! I could eat there for breakfast and lunch. Hangover please!"

"I'd definitely go back!"

"I literally had the chef explain the "Feed Me" option to me three different times and I'm still not 100% sure what it means. I know I asked for the Hangover Taco, which comes with Chorizo, cheese, and mashed potatoes. Not gonna lie, I've never had mashed potatoes on a taco and I wasn't too sure if I was ready for Thanksgiving inside my tortilla. However, the Hangover Taco was actually damn good. Unfortunately, the other half of the "Feed Me" meal was another mystery taco that was less than good. The seasoning tasted sour and there was absolutely no spice. I also felt a little odd eating my tacos in a c-store that sells organic on-the-go applesauce, organic dog food, and chlorine-free diapers."

"These were some FREAKING AWESOME tacos!!! (No, this is not Mike.) They were perfectly seasoned and cooked! There was absolutely no mystery to what I was eating...phew! I'd absolutely recommend this place to anyone looking for some delicious breakfast tacos. The only reason I didn't give this place a 10 was because we still have a couple more stops left on our tour, but this was by far my favorite place so far."

"Hangover Helper was dynamic! Would totally have helped my hangover the day before my graduation party."

Good 2 Go Taco Taqueria @ Green Spot

Even though we were all bummed out about La Parrillada Tacos being closed, we pulled together and decided to try a place featured on Daily Candy a few weeks ago. It ended up to be a huge success for our stomachs and the environment :)

Good 2 Go Taco Taqueria is located inside Green Spot Market and Fuels. An environmentally friendly gas station with food and drinks you would find at Whole Foods.

When we arrived, they were still serving breakfast and gave us the "Feed Me" option. "Feed Me" is basically telling them how many tacos you would like and getting whatever they give you. It was something done at the Green Room where both chefs previously worked.

Also, their plastic cups are made out of corn and the plastic utensils made from potatoes. Very green. Their news segment from NBC is below:

Here are our photos: