You’ve driven past it. Everyone has. And that was what everyone on the Saturday, March 10, taco walking toursaid as we turned the corner onto Ross Avenue. One of the three taco joints the tourists and I hit up that rainy day, Chupacabra’s, is part gas station, bodega, ice cream parlor and restaurant named after the mythical beast reportedly preying on cattle and goats (chupacabra is Spanish for goatsucker) in Texas and parts of Latin America.
Along with the usual taco fillings is cabrito (baby goat). If it hadn’t been available, I would have been sorely disappointed. (How could an establishment named after the cryptozoological beast not have goat on the menu?)
My order included a taco al pastor as well. It presented scant adobo seasoning, but it came in a delightfully chewy and irregularly shaped, handmade corn tortilla.
Both tacos were decent renditions of classic preparations but nowhere as good as the lot from Tacos La Banqueta. That being so, the tacos at Chupacabra’s were leaps and bound better than nearby joints—with the exception of La Banqueta, of course. If you’re in the neighborhood, Chupacabra’s is where you’ll get your taco fix.
The Taco Trail 