Can I truly came to be disappointed? I had some higher hopes after some good trips to Cinco de Mayo which isn't too far up the street. I didn't think my mind would be blown, but I thought that there was more reason for optimism then there really is at all.
We spent the day working in New York City. Josh, Phil and I were working out there and had a great time getting some great food out the window. We walked up, got some Halal, got some soup from the Soup Nazi, tasty stuff. Our intention was bowling and pizza, but our Taco Destiny took us elsewhere.
Pretty fair to say that the restaurant is smaller than all the options on the menu. The menu is pretty huge. I hope you all notice the smug look on Adriana's face. She was probably just upset its not a picture of just her.
Here is a picture of everyone. Cassie with the hand, Adriana with the confused look, Phil is deep in taco thought, Diane is trying to learn how to read, Josh is shooting a look at Adriana and Fo is ready for his tacos, he's already focused enough to know what he's getting. Adriana is the only new one to Tacoteering and to the blog.
This place was recommended to us by one of the locals. Sorry to say, we were not impressed. We have not been out and about here in the New Jersey area due to all of the sad experiences that we've had. This stayed par with them. Ambiance was OK, two TV's, that was cool, long shotgun type of building. It looks like it might have been a Chinese buffet in a past life. It was a bit harder to find then we thought. The picture on Yelp looked one way, the building is under construction.
Just to let you know, I didn't just have tacos, I had to have a Sopes. Oh how I love Sopes. They are just delicious. Their's was alright, the problem was the cheese. I think that it was spoiled. It was sour, really sour. I pushed it to the side, the rest was pretty good. They did a nice job on letting the black beans really soak into the sopes.
RATINGS:
CARNITAS: 2, dry, sad and depressing.
PASTOR: 2, I couldn't really tell this was pastor. It sucked tons. How can you have dry pastor? These geniuses found a way.
SUADERO: 3, about as average as it gets. I was not excited but it was edible. Sad that this is how I'm describing food.
BARBACOA: 1, eww. I had one bite and couldn't eat anymore. It was horrid. They don't know what they are doing here. If you like barbacoa you are a good person and you deserve better.
CABEZA: 3, Pretty average here. It sure didn't impress or disappoint. It was just kind of there.
LENGUA: 2, this was just not great. I was sad. The more I Tacoteer, the more I really feel as if lengua is really not that hard to make. Please stop screwing it up!
ARABE: 2, I've now had this at multiple places. Theirs sucks. This is a simple but great concept. Execute it! It really can't be hard to screw up, but congrats, you found a way.
TRIPA: 4, I wish that I had ordered only tripa. It was above average. It wasn't amazing, but compared to everything else I needed to rate it a bit higher. I mean comparatively this was phenomenal. I bit more cooking would have crisped it to some serious greatness.
GUACAMOLE: 2, watered down, over-mashed avocado. Yeah, enough said, it sucked and it insulted our palate and intelligence.
SALSA ROJO: 3, for sure nothing special going on here. It was fine for table salsa but I sure wasn't trying to figure out the recipe to recreate.
SALSA VERDE: 2, this was just uneventful. It was blah and bland.
PICO: 3, not a bad pico. I like the larger chunks, especially of jalapeno.
As I said, I think the menu is a bit too big for them. There really is a lot of stuff on there. They also don't really hit the flavors. Meats for the most part were dry and all tasted pretty much the same. If you are going to have different offerings, make them different. Taco Arabe is something that is pretty popular around here. Lots of places offer it. I like it. I like it a lot. It needs some help at this particular restaurant. It is essentially Pastor with Chipotle, fresh pineapple melted into a flour tortilla with cheese. Here's the thing, I am going to make it, and I'm going to make it so much better than they do. Really tried to give this place a shot. Tried lots of meats, garnered opinions of the whole group. This place sucks.
As always a huge thanks for the read and the time. Hope you are enjoying the taco adventures as much or at least as close to as much as I do! If I can string sometime together in California I'm getting on a trip with the crew. We are talking another San Diego Area with a brewery finish. You know that's going to be a great read of debauchery, good times and tacos. You never know what's going to happen when we are all together.
Today's goodbye/gratuitous photo is of me with two excellent chef's that I get to work with. Phil and Josh are great guys and two pretty stellar Tacoteers. Josh has been stuck on the road with me for months. We've had some great times and great adventures and have enjoyed working hard together with our taco treats when we can get out. This picture was taken right outside of The Counter in Times Square.
Stay Excellent!
No comments:
Post a Comment