Author Archives: Taco Trail Jose

by | September 26, 2011 · 11:07 pm

Go on the Lamb at Birrieria Aguiñaga

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.
Wednesday last, I had the opportunity finally visit one of those “one day” joints, Birrieria Aguiñaga, a set-back restaurant on a cracked parking lot flanked by decrepit (abandoned?) businesses, on a taco-loving stretch of Northwest Highway. 
To the left of the main entrance a window counter sits below an enchanting sign “Ricos Tacos $1.00.” A modest dining room awaits those who venture inside. At the tables, workers, small families and the curious suck down Mexican Cokes and maws stuffed with tacos.
Chief among the tacos is the birria, the restaurant’s specialty (birrieria refers to an establishment serving birria, a meat stew originating from the Mexican state of Jalisco). In the case of Aguiñaga, the protein of choice is lamb.
And it did flabbergasting acrobatics, springing from cheek to cheek. It was smooth with hints of sweetness imparted by the malleable corn tortillas. The stew’s liquid was restrained by the tortillas and the rapidity with which I enjoyed the taco.
Next, I munched on a lengua taco, chopped not cubed. It had a similar consistency without the grin-inducing kinetic talents of the birria
The carnitas, not a DFW strong suit, teetered on the edge of dry with a pleasant crunch and the buoyant moistness of minced tomatoes.
However, the tinga (this one of chicken) saw the dehydrated cliff and went for it with the gusto a college freshman has for cheap beer and whiskey.
With only one disappointment, Birrieria Aguiñaga deserves further patronage. My appetite ponders the elements of the pastor and fajita tacos washed down with an agua fresca.
If Aguiñaga was so good, what does the rest of the Northwest Highway have in store for me? Most of the taquerías on the aforementioned list are located there.

Now, go read the review of Birrieria Aguiñaga by my friends at Taco Sense.

Birrieria Aguiñaga
2829 W Northwest Hwy., Ste. 325
214-353-2773

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by | September 24, 2011 · 2:51 pm

Tiffany Derry Wants to Open a Taquería

Image: Courtesy of Strauss Marketing Public Relations

“Do you know something about me?” Tiffany Derry asked me, laughing, as if I was privy to a secret. I had inquired about the tacos possibility of seeing on the menu of her delightful restaurant, Private Social, open to the public today. It was Friday afternoon and the staff of the new Uptown eatery, which was to hold a red-carpet grand opening that night, was electric with camera crews, the last-minute rotating of vases and a kitchen staff supplemented with Top Chef alumni. 
Chef Derry, though, was ebullient as ever. After the formal interview I presented in my capacity as a writer for another media outlet, I raised the taco question. Her answer was straightforward: While it hasn’t been finalized, there will be a taco section on the lunch menu.
That wasn’t the kicker. Derry offered more bits.
“I have a love for tacos,” Derry said excitedly. “I want to open a restaurant built around tacos.” She hinted at possible offerings. “Mmm…lengua. And you don’t see nopales around here. You have these places that do tacos but they don’t make their own tortillas. Why? I have fantastic ideas about tacos.”
If Derry’s tacos are anything like her pork buns, an appetizer I’d like to crawl inside of for nap, then there is promise (there is certainly room in the DFW market) for more specialty tacos.

No timeline for the new project has been set.

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by | September 22, 2011 · 9:53 pm

Good 2 Go Taco Downsizes (Taco Sizes, That Is)

The SoCo breakfast taco—heck any taco—at Good 2 Go Taco is an investment in time and gastrointestinal real estate.

So, when I saw the East Dallas specialty taqueria’s Facebook page announcing a smaller-scale option then confirmed by TG at Pegasus, I was elated. Great to see them branching out. 
And here I thought they couldn’t get any better.
Good 2 Go Taco   
1146 Peavy Rd.
214-519-9110
http://www.good2gotaco.com

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by | September 21, 2011 · 9:45 pm

Dallas Observer Gives Some Taco Love in 2011 Best Of Issue

The annual Dallas Observer Best Of issue was released today. In the Food & Drink section there was some major taco props spread all around Dallas.

Taco El Guero, which I have profiled for City of Ate more than once and serves the best tacos in town, garnered Best Taqueria.
Cool & Hot Tacos was awarded Best Street Tacos.
Good 2 Go Taco was given a nod for Best Menu Expansion. More than one SoCo breakfast taco and your waistline will expand.
Best Breakfast went to The TacoJoint‘s The Great Gordo.
Ssahm BBQ was showered with praise as the Best Food Truck.

Check out the rest of the superlative tipples and eats here.

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Filed under Best of, Dallas Observer

by | September 14, 2011 · 1:58 am

Is Chi’Lantro BBQ Coming to Dallas?

My favorite Korean taco truck in Austin, Chi’Lantro BBQ, will be rolling out a truck in Dallas sometime next year, according to SideDish’s food-truck maven, George Lewis, who tacked on the claim at the end of his weekly truck schedule post.

This is a surprising but welcomed development, as Chi’Lantro owner Jae Kim told me in a July 13, 2011, correspondence that a Dallas truck was a goal, a long-term goal. “We would love to go to Dallas but we have been busy here in Austin. We think Houston will come along before Dallas, but serving at Dallas would be awesome someday!” (Chi’Lantro had a presence at last year’s Art in October Block Party.)
Anyway, taking Lewis’ bait, I reached out to Kim, who confirmed the news. “Our plan is to open up in Dallas next year sometime in the middle of the year,” he noted. Kim and company believes there’s room in the Metroplex’s fusion-taco sandbox for Chi’Lantro, alongside Ssahm BBQ, Kor-BQ and Goghee to Go. “There’s an opportunity for us to share our food with people in Dallas.” 
I’ll put that opportunity in my mouth.

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by | September 12, 2011 · 11:16 pm

Lockhart Smokehouse’s Brisket Taco: Texas, Two Ways

The aroma saturating Lockhart Smokehouse is like the sweetest of dreams brought on by the coolest of pillows. And I dream of Lockhart Smokehouse. When a lunch date is arranged, my impulse is to recommend Lockhart. If friends mention dinner plans, I lust after the mammoth Shiner Platter sampler.

Opened in February 2011, the Bishop Arts District barbecue joint has a gilded pedigree. Co-owner Jill Grobowsky Bergus is the granddaughter of Edgar Schmidt, owner of Kreuz Market, after he purchased it from the Kreuz family, in Lockhart, Tex. (His sons run it now.) With co-owner/husband Jeff Bergus, pitmasters Tim McLaughlin and Will Fleischman and the rest of the staff, Grobowsky Bergus has helped stoke a BBQ renaissance in Dallas—brisket taco included.

But the brisket taco offered periodically at Lockhart isn’t just griddle-topped sliced brisket, devoid of much flavor aside from that imparted by a seasoned cooking surface. No, it’s Lockhart’s signature oak-smoked Black Angus brisket spilling over the edge of the flour tortilla. There’s a little smoke ring, here. There’s some crust, there. Damn fine stuff.

The flour tortilla certainly had the substance required to conduct the snack to my hungry maw. However, it also had splintered hard edges and a tepid center. Those drawbacks flitted away each time my palate encountered filling edged with crust. Salt and smoke were cushioned by tortilla, cilantro and a peppery, rough-chopped house-made salsa, uniting Texas culinary traditions to a quiet delight.

The brisket taco at Lockhart would be improved not by a better tortilla, by definition an unpredictable flatbread with a house fly’s lifespan, but with a sibling: a taco of ground Kreuz sausage cooked in egg and blanketed in yellow cheese, much like the breakfast favorite.

Until that happens, stay tuned to Lockhart’s Twitter feed and Facebook page for brisket taco updates.

Lockhart Smokehouse
400 W. Davis St.,      
214-944-5521

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by | September 8, 2011 · 5:19 pm

Taco Ocho Is an Experiment in Tradition

The irregular vibration you’re feeling is the sound of a thousand food blogs jonesing for the next fix, regardless of the comestible, drinking the salsa, before the new, bigger “it” comes along. More often than not, that “it” is enveloped in a tolerable tortilla stamped with the moniker taco.

One of the latest taco joints to open is fast-casual, specialty taquería Taco Ocho, which opened in May in Richardson. It’s a humdinger of a restaurant, beginning with a reading of Taco Ocho’s menu.
The options illustrate how owner Mani Bhushan and executive chef Rodolfo Cardoso have chosen to straddle tradition and modernity to a hunger-inducing end. Tortas like the Cusco (Peruvian stir-fried steak, potatoes, sautéed red onion and cilantro) and tostadas like the Puebla (hummus, shredded cabbage, corn pico, queso fresco and chipotle ranch) line the pages, but the marquee names here are the tacos.
 The Latin Love’s threads of salt-tinged beef led into the sweetness provided by slice of fried ripe plantain, heightened by smear of refried black beans drizzle of salsa verde and a sprinkle of cotija. The peeling corn tortilla withstood the heft of the fine contents.
The Smoked Chicken Elote takes the oft-uneven chicken taco and sends it plowing through a wall of elote, the street corner snack of corn generally seasoned with mayo and chili powder. The effect is a pleasant one. The smoked chipotle poultry filling dotted with grilled corn lightly that snaps under the pressure of teeth. Its simple garnishes nothing more than cotija and cilantro, turn this taco into a smashing success along with its sister in protein, the Latin Love.
Unfortunately, the Cabo Fish fell short of the imagined greatness. The beer-battered cod (also available grilled) was a sticky mess. The chipotle crema, thick as toothpaste squeezed from a tube (though it was not!), was an unfortunate adhesive that imparted what little flavor was expressed accompanied by the garnishes. The cod, which should have burst with salinity, was crushed under the batter. Better to go with the grilled application upon ordering, something I will certainly do during my next visit to Taco Ocho.
Yes, I will return. I will return to gobble up the Beef Colorado braised with ancho and beer. I will return to nosh on the grilled shrimp with shredded spinach and a pico de gallo with a plantain base. I will return to tussle with a torta Cubana with pork three ways, jalapeños, spicy mustard and queso Oaxaca. 
And it will be done in a clean dining space of white tables and a popping orange and yellow color scheme. An image of the Metropolitan Cathedral in Mexico City stands as a welcoming signpost, again expressing the restaurant team’s playful dedication to history. Perhaps I’ll sit at the 20-foot communal table gazing upon the mural while the tacos hopefully dance a cumbia on my taste buds, for that is what any food, whether “authentic” or novel, should do.
930 E. Campbell Rd., Ste. 109
Richardson
972-238-8080 

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by | August 2, 2011 · 3:08 pm

Tacos For Shannon Stone: A Fundraiser

August 14 is going to be a big day. That’s when Pecan Lodge and Lockhart Smokehouse will co-host the Shannon Stone Memorial Fundraiser. The event is another local effort to help the family of the firefighter Shannon Stone who fell over a railing at Rangers Ballpark while attempting to catch a ball for his six-year-old son.
As a father myself, I was doubly heartbroken for the Stone family but delighted to see the close-knit Dallas restaurant scene come together for a great cause. As such, I have donated a $30 gift card to the northern Mexico-style restaurant Taco Ocho in Richardson to the Shannon Stone Benefit. It’s the least I could do. 
Other food bloggers and writers have contributed more than I. Alice Laussade, Dallas Observer‘s James Beard-nominated Cheap Bastard, is offering the opportunity to lunch with her. Daniel Vaughn, BBQ connoisseur is also offering a meal with himself, plus four others.
The dinner will be held at the Dallas Farmers Market Saturday, August 14 between 6:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Sponsors include Dallas Farmers Market, Texas BBQ Posse, Il Cane Rosso, Edible DFW, CraveDFW, Deep Eddy Vodka, Lone Star Beer, Dirt, and US Foods. 

If you have the time and money, please consider attending (tickets are a scant $30 and include a BBQ dinner). 
Complete details can be found here.

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by | July 14, 2011 · 7:20 pm

Ssahm BBQ is Near Perfect

Since the Korean taco craze came to Dallas with Kor BQ, diners’ choices have been expanding. Goghee to Go opened in earlier this year in the former Burguesa Burger space. The latest, Ssahm BBQ, gives the style, a locally new spin—that of the truck. And you have probably gone nuts for it. While I’ll walk a mile in 100-degree heat for their tacos—and I have—the tortillas leave me wanting.

My first experience with Ssahm’s fare was at the Arts District Summer Block. The fillings, like the earthy knots of kalbi beef, were a delightful chemistry of spicy, creamy and toothsome. The tortillas were bewildering.
With fusion tacos, the wrapper takes a supporting role to the creativity within. Unfortunately, the owners and cooks of Ssahm managed to produce schizophrenic tortillas on my initial visit. Each of the six tacos my party ordered suffered the same fate. They were warped, crunchy at the sides and near translucent at the center/bottom. Successive, overall happy visits, have earned me wavy, confusing tortillas, intermittently moist and dehydrated. The proteins, however, and the accompanying garnishes, were glorious. Crunchy here. Kicking there. Marvelous between the sheets.
The kalbi holds up against the sweet sesame soy vinaigrette salad its cohort, caramelized kimchee. The cilantro and onion were restrained but their presence was apparent periodically, furthering the delight.
The pork (daeji) was sweet with hints of orange that aided in its concealment among the equally sweet salad. Still, once the heat from the salsa comes from behind, ricocheting across the tongue and the sides of the mouth, the pork proves it the equal of the kalbi.
Also on Ssahm BBQ’s taco menu are spicy chicken (ddak) and tofu (dubu), neither of which I have had the pleasure of sampling. Stepping away from the tacos and entering a realm of the unexpected is the quesadilla, made with a flour tortilla.
Spot on, its slight snap at the edges gave way to a softening shell that in the center that was hot, tender and when chomped into pulled away in threads of cheese hugging beef.

If Ssahm had a tortilla maker on staff, I’d walk further than I’ve had to for their food and pay double the three-dollar price tag for the tacos. It is all that is lacking from an otherwise superb culinary offering in Dallas. If you need to walk for tacos, Ssahm is the way to go

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by | June 6, 2011 · 2:55 pm

Taco Trail Has Gone Indie

Hello, all, and welcome to the new online home of Taco Trail, formerly of the Dallas Observer‘s food blog, City of Ate. On this blog, I will catalog my journey through the taco landscape in Texas and beyond.

A look back at previous installments of Taco Trail can be found here.

Thanks for reading. Adelante!

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