Tacos Michoacan, Chino, CA

A couple of years ago I drove out to Chino and bought a whole hog for Christmas.  On the way back stopped by this place for a bit, yes tacos before 8am.  They were delicious.  As we have decided a whole hog is the way to go again this year, I knew I had to come back.  Breakfast tacos are great, at least these kind are.  They are just like lunch and dinner tacos only you get to eat them for breakfast.  Cilantro, onions, meat, salsa and tortilla.  I remember this place being so good, I remembered correctly.  I'll spare you the picture of the hog I'm smoking, but if you are doing the right thing and following the Order of the Taco on Instagram, you've already seen a photo.

Place has like 5 different names.  I stuck with the name on Yelp so you can find it when you are in Chino.  There are a few places that look good, but this place wreaks of street credit from the outside and I had a great Tacographic Memory from last time.

Kitchen is small and unassuming.  They produce what they need to.  The service is second to none.  The guys working there were crazy nice and cool.  They really invited us into their place and treated us like family.  Zacatecas maps and literature over the walls.  It is that awesome sense of pride that people have of their heritage that I love to see.  It is so cool to have and hold on to that pride.  They had different roasted salsas which are traditional to that part of Mexico.

Here is a picture of the menu at an angle.  Simple and sweet.  They don't make a ton of different meats, but hit some good varietal highlights.  I did see a couple of burritos go out and they looked solid.  Enough with the small talk, lets get to the ratings.
RATINGS:
CHORIZO: 2, sad, sad.  Mine was OK, really a 3, but my brother's was burned.  It was not tasty at all.  I have to go 2 for the inconsistency.
CABEZA: 2, I did not care for this.  I thought that it should have been cooked a little bit more.  It was almost barbacoa like, but not great.  I thought it lacked flavor and could have cooked just a bit more.  This is coming from someone who likes steaks extra rare.
PASTOR: 4, I loved it.  Hit heavy with spices and seasoning.  Some might think it to be too much, I really thought that it was on point.
POLLO: 4, this is really good.  Really damn good chicken.  It was not overpowering, but well seasoned.  Not overcooked, but obviously cooked all the way through.  Juicy, tasty, nicely done.
CARNITAS: 4, texture could not have been better.  It was a bit crispy, but soft.  Very flavorful meat here.  It is some good stuff and you should try it.
ASADA: 3, this is some solid stuff.  Really good, but nothing that goes above and beyond.  I enjoy the flavor, I enjoy the taste, texture was on point.
SALSA: 4, this was so close to a 5.  If it had some heat, just a bit of a kick I would have bumped it to a 5.  Tasty stuff though.  Nice smoky flavor, but not overpowering, good flavor from the chilies, I just need the heat.  They did have two other salsas, they both fall under the same rating and explanation.

I enjoyed that instead of radish on the plate, they went cucumber.  It was refreshing and tasty.  Don't get me wrong, I love the radish, I enjoy the radish, but a cucumber change was nice for this trip.  I love when there are different salsas and they pair them with the appropriate meat.  It is such a nice touch.  They give you the option, I obviously told them to go for it.  They take pride in their food.  It did take a little longer, but was worth the wait.  They really want to make sure that it comes out the proper way.  The meat here is fresh people, it is obvious.  I was caught off guard by the chips and salsa that they brought out.  Didn't expect them and they were pretty stellar!

Thank you to everyone for reading.  Thanks for sticking around.  Please continue to tell others and share in the adventures.  I hear that the Order of the Taco might go Wings as a group.  Yeah, sounds pretty epic to hear we might go rogue for a day!  Stay tuned, I'll keep ya posted.  Don't forget to find us on Instagram and Twitter.  There are some delicious taco pictures that make it on there.  Well those and some of the crazy antics that I'm up to.

Today's gratuitous, goodbye photo is of the sign above the restroom.  Really love this sign.  I remember seeing it last time and have seen it before, but it just makes me laugh.  Hope you enjoy!

Stay Excellent!

Cinco De Mayo, New Brunswick, NJ

The look of excitement on Matt's face says it all.  We needed this trip.  We needed to go Tacoteering.  This place came highly recommended by the BOH team members at The Counter in New Brunswick.  Let me say, they have recommended well.

They look tired, but trust me, they are excited.  The nachos in the middle were given to us by the restaurant for bringing in so many people.  Really unexpected cool gesture.  They were really good too.  Really tasty stuff.  Beans were good, not over cheesed, fresh veggies.

Pretty unassuming place.  Not too fancy, not overdone, but cool.  The Holiday decorations were cool.  They hit it all.  No Holiday this time of year was not addressed.  I found that to be quite cool.  In the spirit of the holidays the trainers and I also made it to Rockefeller Center for our Christmas photo:

 What a lively bunch.  You can barely see Jessica in there, but she is with us.  She's hiding behind Phil.  Look at that award winning smile that Fo is sporting.  While we are on the NY subject, I don't think I have much of a "bucket list," but the Seinfeld Diner has always been on there.  All the time I've spent in New York, I had never gone.  We went for coffee and cheerios.  Josh and I have talked about doing this together for about a year.  We were psyched the team said they would go with us.  It was awesome how excited everyone was to go.  We took our picture in front and went in for our coffee and cheerios.  As we were sitting there and everyone was taking turns using the restroom, I was reading the large sign that said "restrooms are for customers only."  I pointed out it would be more appropriate to just leave after using the restroom.  They are a lot of ways you could leave, we chose to all run out as fast as we could screaming.  It was one of the best feelings I have had in a while and a ton of fun.

Damn we look good, there you go, I said it for you.

This is the photo in the bathroom.  Pretty cool photo, raw talent.  OK I really don't care for the photo, but like the meaning.  It kind of sets the mantra of the restaurant.  I was really surprised that this place is full service.  The folks working there were super nice.  Did I mention that we had a rough week and that day was particularly tough?  The place was BYOB.  I went and picked up some beers from up the street, it made the meal that much better.  Enough with the photos and jabber, lets get to it...
RATINGS:
PASTOR: 4, this was pretty good.  Really good.  I was happy with this.  It still gets compared to RT and some of the greats, damn it was close.  I would say you should get this for sure when you come in.
LENGUA: 4, yum yum give me some.  This was soft, but a light crispness on the outside.  Salted but not salty.  They did a great job.  This is a try it for sure.
BARBACOA: 2, not the best showing.  I thought it lacked flavor and depth.  Had been cooked down with some peppers but not a good balance to the flavors.  Meat was also lacking texture.  It was almost dissolving in your mouth like it had been stewed for too long.
CECINA: 1, tough and too salty.  Cecina should be a bit more salty than asada,but this was like a salt lick.  No bueno.  It was also super tough.  Hard to chew through.
SUADERO: 3, nicely done.  I enjoyed it, I'd order it again, but it was not overly impressive.  If this is your meat of choice you won't be blown away, but you won't be disappointed.
CABEZA: 5, oh goodness I loved this.  I could have eaten 12 cabeza tacos at once.  It was so delicious.  It was very tender and almost shredded.  Flavors were deep and balanced.  Light hint of cinnamon, could not have been made better.

Not a bad looking spread.  Tortillas were pretty good.  Radish was fresh!  they gave you fried serrano peppers with them too.  What a touch.  I could have eaten those all day.  There was enough onions and cilantro without it being overwhelming.  The salsa that they put on the side for the chips was good.  Really went well with all the meats.

A special thanks to the new additions to the blog.  Diane and Cassie were excellent additions.  It is always great to have Jessica, Phil, Josh, Matt and Fo on here.  So many great adventures with so many great people.  I'm sure that they will be on here again.  Thank you for reading everyone, I appreciate it and hope that you enjoy the blog.

Today's goodbye gratuitous photo is of Cassie.  She is one of the trainers that is here in New Brunswick with me.  She did an exceptional job on her first time Tacoteering.  She ordered pastor and Asada.  She was sitting next to me.  I asked her if she had ever had tripa, she said no and had a couple of bites.  Cabeza?  Same thing.  She was telling us how great they both tasted.  Later on that night Diane told her what she had eaten.  She was a bit surprised, a bit scared, but took it like a champ!  She did well, she broadened her taco horizons and for this I am proud, excited and she gets the photo put up to say goodbye.  Yes, she took a selfie on my phone, enjoy!

Stay Excellent!

Fast Taco, Chatsworth, CA

It may be called Fast Taco, and that is what I got, but they make a mean burrito.  I am starting the blog off by letting you know that it is worth trying a burrito when you are there.  They do a Pollo/Asada burrito that is fantastic, a pastor burrito that drips all over your arm, yes, the way that it is supposed to be.  Alright, now that I got that off my chest, lets talk about the day, the experience, the visit, the journey...

A few hours ago in a Taqueria not far far away I went Tacoteering.  I've been going here for quite sometime.  I know many folks that grew up on this stuff and won't look at another Taqueria.  Fast Taco is nostalgia kind of tacos.  To say this place blows me away overstates its abilities, but it is somewhere that I really enjoy going to.  I really don't go here enough.  It is just one of those places that falls a bit off the radar.

Today I was running errands.  I was not supposed to be in LA, but some unforeseen circumstances brought me home for a weekend, and that is alright by me.  As I was running around, I decided that I needed to go Tacoteering.  As I was about to pass Fast Taco it dawned on me that I haven't been there in a while.  I passed it went to my next stop and found myself compelled to go back.  I went back and am sure glad that I did.

Yes, they have three proteins.  Three meats that they knock out of the park.  Pastor, Asada, Pollo.  These three delectable meats line the inside of tortillas that are grilled fresh on the flattop.  Great to see that places can keep it simple, keep it real and keep people coming in.  They do not try to do a bunch of crazy off the wall stuff, they stick to what they know, they do know it well.  Huge brownie points with me for the grilled green onions.  Why don't more places do this still?  It is such a nice touch and makes the food that much better.  The two on my plate were completely devoured.

I love the TV.  They have a big flat screen and had the ISU game on.  Yeah, I said ISU, not TCU.  ISU is an important team to a few of our members here at the Order, so we will stick with that.  Game might not have gone how we wanted, but at least ISU was in it.  Folks come in and grab food to go, sit down and eat, it is like a revolving door in there.  Great to see that kind of business.

Salsa bar is always open.  When you eat there they give you two ramekins and a basket of chips which is pretty cool.  Something to do while you wait the almost two minutes for your tacos.  Yes, they are fast.  Salsa bar allows you to load up with as much cilantro and onions as you want.  The onions are marinated and down right delicious.
RATINGS:
POLLO: 4, that delicious crispy grilled taste is so good.  I think that it really sets the meat apart.  Well seasoned, tender, not overcooked at all, just perfectly cooked and flavored.
ASADA: 4, again, that grilled flavor.  A nice char really takes this meat over the edge.  An opened flame goes a long way in the taco world.
PASTOR: 4, they know what they are doing.  They do a very nice job with their pastor.  It is flavorful, sweet, but not too sweet, cooked, but not mush.  It really is a treat that you should try.
SALSA BAR: 3, as a whole it has always upset me.  Their onions are great, cilantro is good, jalapenos are inconsistent and the salsas are just OK.

Overall this place just echos how the tacos in the San Fernando Valley are some of the most excellent tacos out there.  The SFV is underrated in the taco world.  There are so many great spots.  People are expecting it in Boyle Heights, they are looking throughout Chula Vista.  Come see us here, you will be pleasantly surprised from a taco standpoint.

Thank you for reading, posting, tweeting, following and telling your friends.  Find me on Instagram and on Twitter for all of the latest and greatest in Tacoteering and other random things that I put on there.

Today's gratuitous goodbye photo was sent to me because December 6 is my holiday.  It is a day set aside for those of us who have earned the right to be referred to as assholes.  Please don't forget about us, we deserve our day too.

Stay Excellent!

Gaby’s Bakery & Deli, North Brunswick, NJ

So this is Cathy.  Cathy is trying to learn how to Tacoteer here.  Don't worry, Phil and I were with her and we were able to properly teach her.  She learned well.  This place came pretty highly acclaimed in the area.  Lets get the disappointing part out of the way, for a bakery, they don't make their own chips or tortillas.  This made me a bit taco sad.  They have all the equipment, theoretically the know how, sad, very sad.

The menu is huge and looking at it now I know that you cannot read it.  I have attached a link to their website, sorry about that.  Point being, with all of this stuff on there they should be able to make their own tortillas.

Three brave NJ Tacoteers.  We have to remain skeptical because there has not been a tremendous amount of Tacoteering luck in NJ.  Phil (Yellow Chocolate) and I have taken this challenge on before.  I don't like to keep you in big suspense, this was just OK.  It didn't rock anyone's world by any means, but was a bit better than many of the other places that we have been disappointed at.

Cathy wanted to get into some nachos.  Not bad, but not great.  Ingredients were fresh, the chips were, well, we've discussed.  Presentation was solid, I'm glad we got them, but they sure don't hold a candle to the tastiness of the Korean Taco place Fo, Moraski and I went to in Georgia.  Who would have thought, Georgia is crushing New Jersey in tacos.
RATINGS:
LENGUA: 3, this was about as textbook as you are going to find it folks.  Nothing impressive, nothing sad about it.  Fairly tender, slightly lacking in salt and seasoning.
CARNE ENCHILADA: 2, this really was a waste of my time and taste buds.  It was thoroughly unimpressive.  It lacked flavor, depth, texture.  It tasted like left over they were hoping they could marinate and sell.  Guess they did...
BARBACOA: 2, again, it just hurt to eat this.  Really not much different from the carne enchilada.  Over marinated meat that they stewed into oblivion.  It made me sad on the inside.
PASTOR: 3, it was almost too sweet.  I think pastor should be a bit sweet, layered flavors, it was OK, it didn't hurt my feeling, but it sure didn't excite me.
ASADA: 3, standard?  That is the best word I can come up with.  Nothing impressive here, nothing to write home about, but it wasn't bad like some of the other things that they did to meat.
TRIPA: 4, finally a true win here.  This was something special.  Crispy, seasoned, almost a bite to it.  I have to admit that I was really happy eating and enjoying this one.  I would go back for this and probably get cabeza hoping to find a meal out of the two, but that is a whole other blog if it gets to that.
SALSA VERDE: 2, not enough here.  It was just kind of blah.  I really thought that it would be better than it was, I was incorrect.
SALSA ROJO: 3, please read the asada review and just replace it with salsa.  Just a standard red sauce.  I'm not going to dream about this good or bad.

I was not a fan of the way that they rolled them up like this.  Presentation was lacking, they tried to make it look like there was more meat to tortilla ratio, yeah dudes, you failed!  For a NJ place, this wasn't horrible, but it sure is not Villalobos.  Chef Phil and I might have to make a trip up to Villalobos when we are back in NJ soon.  I think you get the drift on my feelings of the food, place and by the way, the ambiance was kind of strange.  Too spread out and open, it lacked character.  

What a wild and crazy week.  Glad we got one Tacoteering experience in.  Sorry it took a couple of days to write about, it has been a wacky few weeks for me here!  

Thanks to everyone for reading, telling folks and following the taco adventures, hope you enjoy them.  Today's gratuitous photo is of the team of folks that I got to go to NJ with, minus Chef Phil, AKA Yellow Chocolate.  Great group of folks who I did not get long enough to work with on this trip, but I know that I get time with all of them in the near future.  

Stay Excellent!