Category Archives: Texas

by | January 16, 2013 · 7:20 am

Chowing Down on Tesar’s Ipswich Clam Taco at Spoon Bar & Kitchen

Tesar and His Taco

Avocado, cream, salsa, dried corn, little bits of breading. These were on my fingers moments after I took a bite of the Ipswich clam taco on special last night at Spoon Bar & Kitchen. And it was pretty delicious. The heat from the jalapeño cream salsa and the pillowy but hefty clams laced the elements of John Tesar’s taco creation nestled in a flour tortilla that seconds earlier been removed from the grill. The result was a warm, papery tortilla. It was only then that I looked at my dining companion and driver for the excursion. He wasn’t nearly as messy but he was as thankful as I was for the opportunity that Tesar and his staff afforded us. I’m excited to try it again when the taco is added to the forthcoming lunch menu, which I was told would be rolled out sometime after Valentine’s Day. Until then, check out some of the photos I took.

Spoon Kitchen

Tesar Taco 1

Tesar Taco 2

Spoon Bar & Kitchen
8220 Westchester Dr.
214-368-8220

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by | December 27, 2012 · 7:13 am

E Bar Tex Mex

EBarCarnitas

Within seconds of being seated, our waitress at E Bar Tex Mex boasted, “our taco de carnitas is an award winner.” It won best taco at the Great Taco Run, a Luke’s Locker-hosted race with a parking lot full of taco vendors at the finish line, I was invited to judge.

The taco that day in September had the characteristic roasted flavors and seared edges of standard carnitas: non-traditonally prepared (read: not fried in fat). It was an approximate facsimile to the real thing, much like modern barbacoa (read: not pit smoked). The carnitas was given a shot of cheese, providing a pleasing pungency.

I was at the restaurant, which opened in August from Eddie Cervantes (Primo’s Bar & Grille), to determine if it held up to the honor my fellow judges and I unanimously gave it.

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Filed under Dallas, DFW, North Texas, Reviews, Tex-Mex, Texas

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by | December 20, 2012 · 6:15 am

Taqueria Burritos Locos

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With a name like Burritos Locos, I didn’t have high hopes for the Grapevine restaurant. Mentally ill donkeys, after all, seem better suited for a margarita-soaked refuge for co-ed buffoonery with a foundation of chile con carne than a restaurant offering solid tacos of suadero, trompo and hidago con cebolla. The latter being liver and onions.

I was pleasantly surprised by Taqueria Burritos Locos, not just because of the quality of the tacos but because finally I was able to enjoy liver and onions, mildly mineral in taste. The birria, however, was dominated by a metallic flavor. Continue reading →

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Filed under DFW, Grapevine, Irving, North Texas, Texas

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by | December 11, 2012 · 5:51 pm

Mesa for the Holidays

Mesa Front

Mesa/Facebook

As part of my tireless quest to get some of my favorite restaurants to offer tacos, I offer you the special holiday three-course dinner from one of the best joints in town, Mesa Veracruz Coastal Cuisine. The Oak Cliff eatery, owned by chefs Raul and Olga Reyes, is a pioneer of regional Mexican food in Dallas—and it’s going to be open Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve.

See the full menu below.  Continue reading →

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by | November 28, 2012 · 8:49 pm

DFW Trucks for Tots: Happy Bellies and Happy Kids

DFW Truck for Tots — On Saturday December 8, 2012 from 11:00 a.m.–7:00 p.m., 25 Dallas and Fort Worth food trucks are gathering at the corner of Elm Street and Gaston Avenue in Deep Ellum (2505 Elm Street, Dallas, TX) for a massive toy drive for the Dallas-Fort Worth Chapter of Toys for Tots. More than 20 United States Marines will be on hand to take toy donations and guests are encouraged to bring a new, unwrapped toy for a needy child. Pictures with Santa will be available in addition to live music, bounce houses and more than 50 vendors for holiday shopping.

In partnership with local schools including W.E. Greiner Exploratory Arts Academy and Lincoln High School, students will be encouraged to collect toys and bring them to the event with their family. There will also be a performance by the Lincoln High School Tiger Marching Band. More than 25 confirmed food trucks will be on-site, including Rock & Roll Tacos, Rockstar Bakeshop, Easy Slider Truck, Ssahm BBQ, Gepetto’s Pizza, Three Lions, The Gastro Bomber and more.

Guests are encouraged to ride the DART Green Line and get off at the Deep Ellum Station, which is across the street from the event. Guests coming from North Dallas can ride any line into downtown and transfer to the Green Line without worrying about the hassle of parking. This event is brought to you by DFW Food Truck Group, Dallas Area Rapid Transit, Deep Ellum Outdoor Market and other local sponsors. Continue reading →

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Filed under Dallas, Deep Ellum, DFW, events, food truck, News, Texas

by | November 27, 2012 · 6:44 pm

Urban Rio Cantina & Grill

Mark Miller is to New Mexico’s cuisine what Stephan Pyles is to Texas foodways. Each is a big shot in the Southwestern cuisine movement that swept the country in the 1980s and ’90s. Pyles opened his latest restaurant, Stampede 66, in early November. This summer, UrbanRio Cantina & Grill, part of part of an entertainment and culinary complex in the Old Downtown Plano Ice House, seated its first guests within sight of the DART Downtown Plano station.

In the run up to Urban Rio’s opening, Miller was brought in as the consulting chef by owners Nathan and Bonnie Shea, who also own the Urban Crust pizzeria in Downtown Plano. His involvement in what was being billed as “Next Mex” had me excited. Recipes in Miller’s cookbook Tacos, are some of my family’s favorite and are in regular rotation at Casa Ralat. His The Great Chile Book is a concise, reference book. Then there was the fact that I could take light rail to its doorstep. Man, I was down right jazzed for a seat in its contemporary Rio Grande Valley-inspired interior.

So off I went from Dallas to Plano to meet a friend and hit up a couple of hole-in-the-wall taquerías before capping our day exploring a suburban taco scene at a well-received newcomer nurtured by a renowned chef.

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by | November 6, 2012 · 6:21 am

Los Torres Taquería

I’m beginning to re-think my list of Dallas’ top taco joints, thanks to Los Torres Taquería , a family-owned spot that opened in June. The restaurant specializes in the cuisine of Sinaloa state in northwest Mexico, serving barbacoa roja de chivo (goat barbacoa seasoned with chiles), birria de chivo (a cauldron of chest-warming goat meat in an orangy-red broth) and chivo tatemado (the roasted equivalent of birria cooked in a large clay pot). They’re available as platters, by the pound as well as in tacos in handmade tortillas, if requested. Request them. Continue reading →

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by | October 25, 2012 · 9:51 am

El Pueblo Restaurant

Nearly two years ago, the corner unit at 525 E. Jefferson Boulevard, formerly a furniture store, had windows blocked by craft paper and a sign promising El Pueblo was coming soon. I watched for months as construction progressed until the restaurant was ready to serve customers and—for some unknown reason—waited a few more months to visit the restaurant. I shouldn’t have done that. I had deprived myself of a worthy addition to the east end of Jefferson, one offering marvelous carnitas tacos. Why I waited until now to write a review is anyone’s guess. El Pueblo is one of the few Mexican restaurants I patronize often and have made it a stop on a taco tour of East Jefferson joints, just for its carnitas.

Every bite of the pork fried in lard was crunchy, salty and silken, a sight to behold in soft, bumpy yellow corn tortillas fresh enough to make a destructive oil bath unnecessary. Staring down at the strips of mahogany, sienna and black coursing through the filling it was obvious, here was taco beauty. If only the tortillas were fluffy and irregularly shaped handmade rounds. Continue reading →

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by | October 11, 2012 · 11:35 am

Mi Fondita Restaurant

The yellow, peach and blue restaurant at Jefferson Boulevard and Tyler Street isn’t shy about advertising its daily specials, whether on the windows or a sidewalk board on which the deals are scrawled in permanent marker. Prominent among the announcements is that the flour and corn tortillas are made by hand—not in a press. By hand.

“Platters only,” the woman explained as she patted her hands back and forth demonstrating the method used to shape the tortillas. Unfortunately, I hadn’t ordered any entrées and she told me this nugget of critical information as I was paying my bill.

I knew I should’ve ordered the rajas con queso, I thought to myself. Better yet, another of the house specialties, like quail, grilled or fried with optional salsa roja. The pozole, a hominy stew believed to have originated in Michoacán state, the homeland of Mi Fondita’s owners, was also tempting.

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by | October 9, 2012 · 1:24 pm

What I Ate on National Taco Day: Tacos al Vapor

Street tacos come in a plethora of forms: pastor/trompo, guisados, chapulines, etc. While I’ve enjoyed those, I have been unable to sample until National Taco Day a hard-to-find variety in Dallas: tacos al vapor. These tacos are steamed treats sometimes listed as tacos de canasta (basket, referring to the vessel in which they are kept warm and steamed) and tacos sudado (sweated). But at the two taquerías I visited last Thursday, they were labeled as al vapor. Along for the ride was Alex Flores, the graphic whiz who gives this blog its visual appeal.

The tacos al vapor at Taco Rico on Clarendon are priced at a dollar a piece and available by cash only. We didn’t know what to expect. For that price, we could easily be presented with cold, gummy envelopes hiding sad fillings. What we received was a plate of iridescent pockets containing deshebrada de pollo, potato and frijol, each of which could be piled with cabbage and chopped tomatoes. Continue reading →

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