Monthly Archives: November 2011

by Taco Trail Jose | November 30, 2011 · 10:36 pm

La Norteña Food Mart

“Awesome!” the thought swims around my mind as the cabeza taco’s qualities continue to swim in my mouth. Awesome! But the cabeza, cooked for six hours, isn’t the only phenomenal taco at La Norteña Food Mart in Five Points. The pastor and carnitas options are fantastic. The beef guisada (thick stewy delight), when available is a gem. Heck, even the chicken is good.

The market/taqueria is an oasis in this rough and tumble section of Lake Highlands, a couple of blocks east of Greenville Avenue, and the subject of a previous story. Since that first post, I have returned several times to snack on tacos and for chats with the good-natured owner, Baldemar Martinez. Continue reading →

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Filed under Lake Highlands, one of the freaking best

by Taco Trail Jose | November 30, 2011 · 2:40 pm

Taco Lady

The opportunity to munch tacos outside Dallas while on a camping trip with family friends and fellow taco enthusiasts, the Thompsons of TacOCliff, would not go missed. So, after breaking camp at Ray Roberts Lake State Park – Johnson Branch Unit, we stopped for lunch at Taco Lady, owned by legitimate taco lady, Luz Briseño, in Denton. Continue reading →

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Filed under Denton

by Taco Trail Jose | November 29, 2011 · 6:14 pm

Chi’Lantro Sets Houston Roll-Out Date

Chi’Lantro/Facebook

Better than a scrumptious taco from my favorite Austin Korean taco truck, Chi’Lantro BBQ, is news about said truck. Yesterday, Chi’Lantro BBQ’s Iris Han dropped me a quick note. In it, she wrote that a Houston Chi’Lantro truck will be serving kimchee fries, burritos and its signature tacos mid-February 2012. Continue reading →

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Filed under Austin, food truck, News

by Taco Trail Jose | November 23, 2011 · 4:41 pm

Tacos Make for Easy Meals During the Holidays

What’s the holiday season without tacos? I don’t want to know is what. Carolyn Knight, who recently wrote a guest post for the Taco Maven blog, feels the same way. She takes a turn on the Taco Trail. Please welcome Carolyn and try your culinary skills with the appetite-whetting, vegetarian-friendly recipe below. It sure beats the hell out of dried-up bird. Take it away.

It’s been proven that the taco is food perfection. The delicious tortillas make them portable, and the combinations of ingredients you can put inside are endless. OK, so no one has actually shown tacos to be perfect, but they’re the food closest to it from what we can see. With the holidays coming up it might seem like time for a taco break, but they still make for easy meals no matter the time of year.

El Camote

If our Spanish is right (and there’s a good chance it isn’t) we’re talking about sweet potatoes. What says holidays better than this tasty, starchy treat? In most families, you’ll get this holiday dish all sugared up and covered with marshmallows. You can stick that gooey mess into a corn tortilla shell if you want, but we’d rather mix it up a little bit. Our version has a kick and includes a nice corn salsa, to boot. Continue reading →

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Filed under Guest post, Recipes

by Taco Trail Jose | November 8, 2011 · 3:34 pm

The Tacos of Traders Village

My wife was not surprised that I found a taquería, a food stand, really, within fifteen minutes of arriving at the Dallas-Fort Worth outlet of the flea-market theme park chain Traders Village. “Three tacos with rice and beans for six bucks,” I enthusiastically related after returning from my scouting mission. (There might have been some arm-waving and pogo-ing performed by someone not my three-year-old son nor my patient, age-less wife.) “Huaraches. Barbacoa de borrego, pambazos, too!” Spanish exclamations followed, and when our family friends, the Estradas, joined us, we dug in. Continue reading →

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Filed under Grand Prairie

by Taco Trail Jose | November 4, 2011 · 8:57 pm

Meet and Eat: Velvet Taco’s Mark Brezinski & John Franke

“Meet and Eat” is a series about adventures and discussions with food writers, chefs, restaurateurs and others orbiting the food world.

In response to my not-so-favorable review of Velvet Taco, co-owner Mark Brezinski invited me to tour the restaurant and spend some time chatting with he and chef John Franke. I accepted Brezinski’s offer and last week visited Velvet Taco before the lunch rush.

Highlight of the tours included stuffing of my maw with the new Weekly Taco Feature (WTF) special, The Blue Pig (slow-roasted pork, avocado crema, fire-roasted salsa, custom pico, Danish blue crumbles and pickled Fresno chilies). The liberal application of blue cheese meant I picked out chucks of it, but the pork butt was moist. Continue reading →

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Filed under Knox-Henderson, Meet and Eat

by Taco Trail Jose | November 3, 2011 · 4:01 pm

Galindo’s Mexican & Seafood

The combined power of tacky cartoons and cracked white paint can be resisted for only so long. Galindo’s packs that powerful one-two punch and it successfully lured me in one gloomy afternoon.

My dining companion and were instructed to sit wherever we’d like in the empty L-shaped and chose a booth across from the kitchen’s swinging doors, the better to see the goings-on. But nothing. The doors were opened twice while we were there: once after the waiter took our order to the kitchen and then when our order was brought to the table.

Before receiving the onslaught of tacos, we had a chance to peruse the menu. Aside from the typical Mexican fare, including accessible tostadas, barbacoa and tortas, there was an abundance of Tex-Mex selections. Among them, crunchy chicken tacos and a chimichanga. Continue reading →

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Filed under Lakewood

by Taco Trail Jose | November 1, 2011 · 6:46 pm

Good 2 Go Taco Getting Fitted for Wheels

Good 2 Go Taco, yarn bombed. Via Facebook

Good 2 Go Taco was planning a taco truck, I wrote for City of Ate in 2010. Shortly thereafter, owners Jeana Johnson and Colleen O’Hare shuttered the specialty taqueria counter inside the Green Spot market and gas station. Plans for the mobile venture were put on hold.

Months went by before the taqueras’ fare, like the popular Hotlanta and the joyful heart attack from Dixie, the SoCo, would be served commercially, but when they were—Ave, Maria!—Johnson and O’Hare gave us, their dedicated fans, reason to celebrate. We came in droves to the Peavy Road storefront furbished with reclaimed elements and throwback cafeteria tile.

It was good. It was glorious. Continue reading →