After reading my review of his restaurant, Velvet Taco co-owner Mark Brezinski sent me the classiest response to bad press any restaurateur could. If only all restaurants and chefs comported themselves as Brezinski did. Read it for yourself. It’s reprinted below. Continue reading
Filed under class-tastic responses, Knox-Henderson
“Like most things on Henderson, it seems to be getting a little used up, or loose,” said a friend about Velvet Taco. Indeed, Dallas’ latest specialty taqueria is past its prime and revealing itself for what it really is: mediocrity wrapped in hot looks dry humping immaturity, months after its premier on the boogie Big D taco stage.
My first experience at the shop, housed in a former Church’s Chicken presaged his pronouncement.
I stuttered when the young cashier at Velvet Taco asked my name. It’s a common occurrence among those with speech impediments. She giggled while I struggled, neck muscles straining. Continue reading
Filed under Knox-Henderson
I live within walking distance of the old Taco King (the subject of the first Taco Trail), reported closed by my friends at Taco Sense last February; however, during an early morning bike ride, I saw that strange things are afoot in the old space.
The windows are covered in butcher paper while the periphery of the property advertises pozole, breakfast tacos and all manner of meat-related goodies from La Norteña. There may or may not be food available for sale inside the freestanding structure in the Little Five Points region between the Lake Highlands neighborhood and the affluent NorthPark area. Actually, there isn’t. Continue reading
Filed under first bite, Lake Highlands
That stud muffin at right is Chef Joey Crowell, a friend who surprised me yesterday when he gave me a Ranch Hand taco from Good 2 Go Taco. I was attempting to get some work done before my gluttonous day.
“It’s a Frito pie in a tortilla,” he proudly explained. Indeed, that’s exactly what the combination of asparagus, potato, spinach, tortilla strips, rice, huevos rancheros and cheese (kicked up with bonus chorizo) went down tasting. Continue reading
Filed under National Taco Day
While covering Austin City Limits Festival in September, I crashed with family friends living near El Chilito—if you can call a walkup window/kitchenbox surrounded by sticky picnic tables a restaurant.
Each morning before ACL, I’d stop at El Chilito (now absent the mustache seesaw), the middle child of owner Carlos Rivero (El Chile, Red House Pizzeria) and business partner Orlando Sanchez, with the same order. Eating there was cheap and staved off the rumblings that would require the consumption of overpriced, sub-par pabulum at the Austin Eats food court.
While the pleasantly chewy flour tortilla absorbed the vermillion grease released by the chorizo, on one occasio, the liquid, as delectable as it was, could have been reduced by cooking the egg with the chorizo. It was too messy. Still, it was a zippy means of starting my day. On another visit, the chorizo was browned to a muddy hue, extracting all but the slight alkalinity. It wasn’t bad. It was just disappointing considering that on my third visit the chorizo and egg was spot on.
The barbacoa had humble, earthy notes. Chunks of beef, interspersed with threads of stewy meat separated into threads themselves. It was of consistent quality and warmed my insides, preparing me for the onslaught of tens of thousands of music fans, the crowds I so dislike.
For the final day of ACL, I included a bacon, egg and cheese taco and a cochinita pibil in my order. The soft eggs revealing crunchy fragments tied together with sharp cheese increased my enjoyment of the chorizo and egg.
The pibil was a respectable example of the style. The achiote-stained meat offered no resistance to my bite. As a matter of fact, I was oblivious to how quickly I ate the taco. The onions, as plentiful as they were, skirted acridity, adding bit without inducing a wince, while the corn tortillas stayed out of the way, imparting no punchy sweetness.
Indeed, the pibil taco did its job well. Isn’t that more than I could ask for? I patronized El Chilito for expediency and nourshiment and found food beyond the necessary.
El Chilito 2219 Manor Rd., Austin 512-382-3797
Filed under Austin, breakfast tacos
While its origins are steeped in as much mystery as the provenance of that “pork” inside the roach-coach taco, National Taco Day (Tuesday, Oct. 4) is just a cheap opportunity for Mexican and Tex-Mex eateries to make an extra buck, much like Christmas and Coke, albeit one that makes for a great excuse to eat the world’s most perfect and versatile comestible.
I reached out to a slew of area taco joints in an effort to collect the information in one place. What I found out is below. Continue reading
Filed under DFW, National Taco Day
CBS DFW published my best North Texas taquerías list. It includes a far-flung, eclectic selection with some hidden gems—and rarities.)
Check it out and let me know what you think?
Filed under Best of, DFW, North Texas
When the day job told me I was going to cover the 2011 Austin City Limits Festival, the first thing I did was scour the music and culture happening’s edible options. Smack dab in the middle of the list were the tacos from Garrido’s and Maudie’s Tex-Mex. Continue reading
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| Jorge’s tacos but not the breakfast tacos |
Filed under Arts District, breakfast tacos, events
There are taquerías I pass again and again, always thinking, “I gotta check out that place.” Name, address (if I can see it from the passenger seat of my wife’s car) and cross street are quickly jotted down in my pocket notepad.
Life takes over at that point—and POOF. I don’t make good on my statement. Continue reading
Filed under Uncategorized
The Taco Trail 