A friend and I took off for a day of tacos in Fort Worth last month. By the end of the taco tour, we had visited three restaurants, one truck and one trailer. The trailer in question was Chile Pepper Grill in the Cowtown Chow Down food truck park.
What I noticed first about Chili Pepper Grill was the impressive menu. There was asada and tripe but also an alambre taco, meat with all the fixings. Choriqueso, a gooey hybrid of a taco, was another option. Huaraches, tortas, gorditas, quesadillas and burritos, each for six dollars, rounded out the available items.
For the sake of a general review and my stomach (the trailer was stop number three), I went with an order of suadero, carnitas and barbacoa.
All the tacos were saccharine selections. Actually, they had the identical—perplexing—level of sweetness.
The suadero lacked the typical crust—and beef flavor. Woody carnitas also disappointed. The barbacoa was an adequate, yet sopping wet, iteration unable to salvage the experience at Chile Pepper Grill. Fortunately, it wasn’t sad enough to reject a return visit.
I’d go back for the alambre alone.
When I do, I’m also returning to Tacos El Barrio, a junky rig in the Supermercado Monterrey parking lot at Northside Drive and Lee Avenue. The fajita and barbacoa I ordered there were hot, rich, requiring no supplemental seasoning and delivered in lightly crisped, chewy tortillas.
From there, I’ll head to a stretch of Hemphill Street that makes Oak Cliff look like a taco Sahara.
Chile Pepper Grill 1100 N. Main St. 817-908-9493 Tacos El Barrio 1300 Lee Ave.
The Taco Trail 
frowny face on the styrofoam – wish they’d use the red-and-white checked paper boats like the yuppie food trucks do