Mama Noura, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Well this photo just sums up this joint!  Delicious Schawarma, no, very delicious schawarma.  Yes, you read this correctly, this blog is about the closest thing we could get to authentic tacos in Riyadh.  Let me start off by saying, there are no complaints from us about this meal.

Don't these two look amazing with their shaved heads?  I'm so proud they came to the shiny marble side.  They look down right fantastic and they know it.  We've been hounding our colleagues out here to take us to great shawarma, we told them we wanted the best.  I didn't think I was going to tell y'all about it but feel compelled after eating there and the awesome experience.

When the car parked, this was taken from the window outside.  How could anyone not be excited to see this?  It is totally impossible to not want to eat at this place.  It is very clean, very nice to look at, bright inside and incredibly inviting.  The guys working there are all working hard, but don't look upset or miserable.  I loved the vibe.  Energy in a restaurant is so important and these guys nailed it.

Fresh fruits line the restaurant.  It is awesome!  Yes, they are making fresh juice with it for sale and I enjoyed the delicious blackberry.  Josh had the pomegranate which was also beyond fantastic.  I can't help it, I just love the fresh fruit options that are available in other countries.  They are really tasty!

We went up and ordered at the juice counter to get our beverages, which were awesome!  After that we made our way over to do this:

We took pictures and watched and salivated over these cones of chicken and beef.  Here, let me show you, yes I show you:

Top is chicken, bottom is beef.  Kind of cool, they have Crystal's Louisiana Hot Sauce on the tables, we totally went to town with that stuff.  It really paired perfectly with the shawarma.
RATINGS:
BEEF: 3, this is good stuff.  A really nice treat and something that I enjoyed.  They do a good job of  keeping it super hot and everything was cut fresh to order.  There was not an over salty or rough taste in anyway.
CHICKEN: 4, ahh, this was good.  Everything that I could have hoped for in a meal.  It misses the 5 because of the shawarma in Kuala Lumpur at the street vendor.  This was close, but that one has the option to be served spicy and was just a little bit tastier.  Don't get me wrong, you will enjoy this and should not miss it if you are in Riyadh.
JUICES: 4, fresh squeezed juice is something that you can not go wrong with.  I wanted to go 5, but that is not fair to El Placio de los Jugos in Miami or many of the fantastic places that we got to try in Malaysia.  Fresh juice is under-appreciated in most of America!

I know, you were expecting to see the spread of food after the ratings.  Well, we got there a bit before prayer so they handed us our food in bags like this, said thank you and kicked us out so they could shut the place down for prayer.  I loved it.  I appreciate the reverence to tradition.  Kind of a cool experience being from the US.  The bags are pretty nice, huh?  I liked them, they were sturdy, but not too heavy or thick.

This time beef is on the top and chicken is on the bottom.  I can't say enough about how delicious and tasty this was.  They even look like tacos.  For those of you who don't know, pastor originated iin Southern Mexico and Central American when the Lebanese workers were there and tried to recreate shawarma.  They came up with something superior working with the locals.  The result of pastor was local fare, spices and flavors.  It is some good stuff, no some great stuff.  Point is, this is some of the history of it that we are enjoying.  We all of course know that shawarma came from Gyro's which is Greek.

So like I said, we were booted for prayer so ate on the car.  It was pretty rad, hot, but rad.  It was kind of like going to a taco truck in the states and eating on our cars.  I really enjoyed it.  Helped a great experience stay fun and different.  Gave us some more depth to a pretty deep evening.

Thank you to everyone and all for reading.  I waited to post my Riyadh trips until after we left.  Pretty awesome and fun to write about another country that is so different and offered such a great cultural experience.  Please keep re-posting, re-tweeting and telling your friends to check out the adventures!  As I've stated before, if you hate the blog, tell your enemies to torture them.  I appreciate that just as much.

Today's goodbye/gratuitous photo is of JJ, Josh and I with the shawarma in the background.  We really enjoyed getting to go to this place and these two guys are pretty amazing and resilient travel partners.  Please enjoy them with their shaved heads in this photos, they really look like a couple of wee sexy bastards.  I can't say thank you enough to both of these guys for their commitment and perseverance irrespective of the circumstances.

Stay Excellent!

Taqueria La Hacienda, Phoenix, AZ

This is what it looked like when we got out of the car.  Bright lights, a truck, people lining up and now insert some true Tacoteers.

We walked up like normal people, well, all of us except for Diane who was really excited.  This place is unique.  The cover was not built for the taco truck, but fits pretty darn well.  tables are lined up, chairs were some of the worst folding chairs I've been in, but oh well, we didn't go for the chairs.  I know what you are wondering, who is that strikingly handsome man standing next to Diane?  Let me introduce you to Jimbo.  Jim is the VP of Operations for one of the franchisees and he is one heck of a dude.  One of the nicest, genuine, knowledgeable people I've had the pleasure of working with.  Roxy looks lost, JJ looks scared and the other dude looks stoned in his tie-die shirt.  I don't know him, even if I did, I'd make sure to forget him.

Look at the excitement of Big Jim and Yellow Chocolate.  I can't say what Phil is laughing at, but I'm happy that he is happy.  Jim was a champ on his first Tacoteering adventure.  I will say that he traveled quite a distance to go for tacos with us.  He lives in Anchorage, Alaska.  He must really like tacos because I think the only reason that he came to AZ was to go Tacoteering with us.

There is the menu.  Yes, that's the whole thing, and you know I'm digging it.  Keeping it real, keeping it simple.  Place is set-up nicely to execute a fabulous menu like this.  Here is how it has been recived by our team:

Cassie couldn't stop chowing down.  Nicole had to make a hair appointment.

Diane and Roxy are mouthful eating and Phil is clearly judging them.

Now Diane is talking with her mouthful to Phil and Roxy is still eating.

I didn't want to embarrass JJ anymore than he already is embarrassed on this trip.  I mean, who wears a Giants hat?  Sad...This is the picture of JJ that you get, for now at least.

So, what's everyone eating?
RATINGS:
TRIPA: 3, I love me some tripa.  This stuff wasn't too shabby.  It was left in pretty big pieces which I'm great with, would have liked a little more char, slightly more cooking with this one would have pushed it over the edge to that coveted 4.
CHICHARRON: 1, eww.  It was just burnt, nasty burnt pieces of meat, if it was meat.  It tasted like carbon it was so burnt.  Don't order it unless you like to eat things that suck.
BUCHE: 4, this won me over.  Tasty, tasty stuff.  Flavors were on point, presentation was good.  I have no complaints.  It was cooked pretty well, but wasn't overdone.  It has a nice salty flavor to it with some subtle pepper flavor on there.
CABEZA: 3, this was not too bad.  It was good, not slimy or under cooked, not crispy or burnt.  The lack of seasoning hurt them, but a little salt and salsa did the trick.
LENGUA: 3, this is a buy the book lengua.  Not shredded, but small pieces, good flavor, pretty salty, but not over salted.  Worth trying, I'd stick happily with this if I was a lengua beginner.
ASADA: 3, textbook stuff here.  They did nothing different from the basics that you would expect in the asada realm.
PASTOR: 3, this made me homesick for real pastor.  I mean the good stuff that I rarely find outside of Southern California.  It was fine, nothing bad, nothing to complain about, but it didn't blow my mind, and I love it when pastor does this.
CERVICHE: 2, maybe I'm a cerviche snob, but this was unimpressive.  It didn't have the flavor, texture or depth.
SALSAS: 3, this was basic average stuff.  Nothing amazing, nothing that was bad.  It was some fairly bland flavors, not spicy enough, but not bad.

CERVICHE TIME!

That's the spread right there.  Those serranos were so delicious.  They really might have been my favorite part.  Tortillas at this place were good.  A bit tough, but not bad.  They stood up well to all of the meats, but could have had a sweeter flavor.  I would say to check this place out if you are in the area.  The ambiance is pretty great.  The food is not too shabby.  If I find myself in the area soon, I'll probably go back unless I get lured away by some gorgeous tacos from somewhere else.

This is our group eating together.  It was great to break tortillas with these guys.  I've done a lot of openings over the last few years and there are a few on here that I've gotten to do a few openings with.  It was great to get them in the blog one more time.  Nicole is in two blogs in a row, so is Phil, but that's fairly common for Yellow Chocolate.  I do love having a first timer in Jim and am glad that JJ is back in the blog.  He's a hell of a Tacoteer, friend and traveling buddy.

This is a blurry picture of the moon.  I put this on here for no reason at all.

Special thanks to the training team.  The fact that they continue to indulge me on these taco adventures means a tremendous amount to me and it is going to be something I'm really going to miss with the possible changes coming up in my life.  Thank you to Jim for joining the blog and Nicole for being two in a row!  As always thanks to everyone for reading, posting, re-posting, re-tweeting and telling their friends.

Today's gratuitous/goodbye photo is of Nicole and Yellow Chocolate.  These two have been part of the Home Office team for a little over a year and I've had the pleasure of being on their team.  They are amazing friends that I love and respect so much.  Their talents, hard work and dedication to the greater good is beyond awesome.  Getting to have the two of them with me on the first half of this final long trip is pretty special.  The photo is of them after the tacos.  They went to BK to get some soft serve.  I went for the walk and entertainment.  A true reminder it's not what or where you are eating, but who you are eating with.

Stay Excellent!

El Oaxaqueño #2 Mexican Restaurant, New Brunswick, NJ

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!