El Rinconcito Del Sabor, Sterling, VA

If you are in the mid-Atlantic and looking for a place that is playing loud Spanish love songs, I have found the place.  Wow, this place was interesting.  With cafeteria style seating.

Yeah, here is your spot.  They feature Newman's Own salad dressing?  No, they do, it just didn't really fit.  It was strange.  I will say that the glares, eye rolling and extreme hatred for folks who are not Hispanic was obvious.  The food, was not bad.  My company was great.  I got to go with Matt and Jeffrey.  Jeffrey and I worked all day, Matt was enjoying a day off and we decided to do some Tacoteering.

Blurry, right?  Yeah, I do apologize, I was trying to get a quick action shot, and I did.  Nailed it!  We each ordered the same thing, they got Coke's I stuck with nothing to drink.  I was not intrigued by the beverage selection and was so uncomfortable ordering with the weird look on her face when she found out that I could order in Spanish.  Even the bathroom mirror was strange.  It was so low.

How's that for a selfie?  It made me feel like a giant.  Our ride there was great.  Matt was making jokes that I'm too tall and that he would have to open the sunroof of his car for me to fit.  I got a great picture of his profile while driving.

We had a great time just the three of us catching up for a few minutes.  Matt's beard looks great in this photo.  I miss it already.  I was so excited to see one of the New Jersey Rubber Ducky's on Matt's dashboard.

They became a special part of our New Jersey opening team.  I still have a number of them and have one from my trip this last week to bring home.  They became our little friend's.  The hotel had a ton of them and they would just show up in our rooms.  When they didn't, we would go and get them.

The menu really wasn't bad.  Pretty neat stuff, not overdoing it, but decent options.  I was happy to see some nice stuff on there.  Everyone eating in there seemed pretty happy.  I can tell you, the food was not too shabby, the people, well, that was a different story.  The people working there were rough.  The people eating there were great.  The kitchen there was small and efficient.  I was happy to see them utilizing the space well and not trying to be too big, because that would cause them to lose identity.

You see the whole kitchen right there.  Pretty darn neat if you ask me.  Food came out quickly.  Lets get to it.
RANKINGS:
POLLO: 3, this was pretty basic.  Not bad, but nothing to write home about.  It was good, not amazing.  Seasoning was good and I was happy, many places overcook chicken, it makes it tough and that bothers me.
ASADA: 3, again, pretty textbook.  Nothing that made me excited, but nothing that was bed.  It was slightly on the tough side, but the seasoning was solid.
LENGUA: 3, this was probably the best that we ate there.  It was good, really interesting seasoning, but nothing that got me excited enough for a 4.  Paprika was prevalent on this bad boy.  I did like it and next time, if there happens to be one will order three lengua tacos.
PUPUSA: 3, again, nothing amazing, but good.  This almost tasted not handmade, but it was.  It was perfectly round, which I've never seen.  They were a good size.  Nice and big, cheese was good, I did like it.

Not a bad looking spread.  The tacos were pretty big, which they should be for $2.59 a piece!  Yeah, that is even on the "combo" plate that I ordered.

This place echos what I always say, it is not what or where you are eating, but who you are eating with.  I'm really fortunate that it was with two awesome, great guys that I get to work with.  I'm really glad that I got one hour to spend with these two guys.  I really enjoy getting to build the relationships that I do.  They are excellent operators and are helping us grow the business, if we get to eat some tacos along the way, we are even more lucky, so today, we were even more lucky!  Huge thanks to Jeffrey and Matt for joining me tonight here in VA.

Thank you to everyone for reading and telling your friends.  This has been a really great month so far for the blog and last month, our one year anniversary was pretty righteous in itself, so thank you!

Today's gratuitous, goodbye photo is of hot sauce.  They were so mean and saying so many mean things, it may have made it to the car to be enjoyed later on something.  Just so you know, as I'm sure you do, I love hot sauce, and this is one of the ones I really do love and enjoy.

Stay Excellent!

Lake Anne's Market, Reston, VA

How do I even start.  Haven't really written in a bit.  I have been working non stop.  Busy, busy, busy.  I didn't even get from Miami to Virginia, I'm in the Reston/Fairfax/Herndon area, and my phone was blowing up from some great folks about Tacoteering.  Yeah, it made life that much better.  How could I not?  How was I not leaving work, getting tacos and going back to finish the night?  This place did have it all.  Aside from the tacos for dinner, I bought food for tomorrow and the next day.  Nice to get a little one stop shop like this.  So the tacos are in the back.

Yeah, this place was pretty busy.  We were there for a while, service was slow.  We had World Cup on which was great.  The passion of everyone there watching.  Brazil got some bad calls they may not have deserved, but they still pulled it out.  Pretty mixed emotions in this place.

The passion was awesome.  The wait, not so much.  We had work to do!  We couldn't watch the entire game.  It really did take way too long to get our food.  To the point that I would not come here very often, and no, not just because it is on the other side of the country from where I live.  It is also a bit pricey.  Not horrible, but not the normal, affordable taco that we are looking for.

This is part of the BOH.  Yes, the food is out, they are cutting the meat fresh, doing so many things right.  They even have their open bottle of wine just to make sure that they have something to drink, celebrate with and use when needed.  I admire this.  The best part about this place is the flavors.  They really do know how to cook.  They make the tortillas by hand, the pupusas were on point.  They take the time to do it right, they should probably work on a balance, but still, they make the food from scratch.

There is the rest of the kitchen.  They are really going at it.  Making the food, working the masa.  Impressive.  It reminds me a bit of a place that is in California that I have yet to blog about.  Equipment is pretty well maintained, ladies were working hard, really hard.  Their tortillas were a little thick.  I think if the pressed them just a little thinner, it might make for a bit of a better taco, but they did not double wrap and the flavor on them is good.  A little hint of sweetness, not too salty.

RATINGS:
CHICHARRON: 3, this might have been a 4 if it was properly labeled.  It was more of a pork that was cooked like carnitas meets chicharron meets almost an adobada.  Good, tender, slightly over-seasoned.
POLLO: 5, yes, I wrote a 5 on chicken.  Well seasoned, so tender, so good.  Really happy with this.  Really happy that I tried the chicken.  If you are there, get the chicken, they know what they are doing.
LENGUA: 4, I like what they are doing here.  Cut into bigger chunks then I normally like, but they for sure made it work and work well.  Really tender, not over seasoned, well cooked.
ASADA: 3, this was good.  Nothing that will blow you away, but nothing that you will be disappointed by ordering.  It is solid.
SPECIAL?: 4, the guy talked me into it. It was a mixture of their chorizo, asada and chicharron all in one taco.  It was awesome, nice mix of flavors, not too much, very good and worth ordering.  Just tell them the tacos with the different meats in it.
PUPUSA: 3, the masa is good, but the filling was just not enough.  They kind of shorted you there, their curtido to put on top is just OK, but overall their stuff is really good.
SALSA VERDE: 4, oh I want to bathe in this.  It is good, spicy, thick, nice.  A little more balance in flavor could have brought on a 5.
SALSA ROJO: 3, by no means is it bad, but it was a bit watery and nothing special.

We got the food back to The Counter and they could not wait to attack.  Matt and Ashley are becoming some pretty amazing Tacoteers.  Yeah, I just had to share this photo.  It is way too entertaining for me.  For those who don't remember Matt, he opened The Counter in Clifton, NJ, which you should go eat at when you are in Jersey, and has been on some adventures.  We were reunited and had to grab a photo together.

I know, the look of excitement, the pearly whites, how can you not love him?  I do have another target for the trip, but don't know if I will be able to hit it.  If I don't make it there, I will be back and I will go!  You will hear all about the adventure.  Very glad we have a great spot here in the Reston area for tacos.  Very glad that I have such great people that I work with that love Tacoteering, once they were introduced to it!  The Taco Legends grow, I do love it.

It's been too long since I've written one of these, I've just been really busy with work, so I will try to get some more out soon!  Who knows where work and Tacoteering will take me next???  I might be coming to your city or a city near you.  With that being said, thanks for reading, re-posting, re-tweeting, and "liking" what we are doing.  The good-bye picture is one I caught of Matt working, well sort of...love you Matt!

Stay Excellent!

Tipicos Dona Gloria, Herndon, VA

So yes, the Order is out in Virginia.  What a day.  I have to say one of the longer days I've had.  Many curve balls and crazy things.  Glad there was some Tacoterring around to help keep a happy focus.  The Tacoteering helped.  It gave me some good light through the craziness a day can show you in a few short hours.  You often get some kind of a "moral of the story" so lets not stop that.  Today's moral is, every shift comes to an end and even when the tacos aren't very good, you can still go get tacos and they will only remind you of how great some other ones are.  Tacoteering on days like today do make me really miss having great fellow Tacoteers joining me.  Tonight, I was a lone, hooded Tacoteer...

Just a man in search of the perfect taco and was checking out to see what Virginia had in store for us.  Sadly, not that much.  This stuff was not great.  I mean, not the worst I've had, but not too good.  I have been reading about taco places and taqueria's in the greater Reston area.  This place rated high for the area in everything that I could find.  I was pretty pumped when I found out it was walking distance from my hotel.  It was a bit cold with this beautiful 35 degree weather, but I mean, hey I was wearing a hood and going to eat tacos.

The menu is big and pretty expensive.  Five tacos for $14?  Umm hello this is really high.  I often am under $9 for that many tacos, oh yeah and they don't suck.  Truth be told, the chicks working there were really rude.  The service was super slow.  It took 21 minutes for me to get my tacos.  That was sad.  I took a pic from a bit away of the menu, you can't see prices, wanted you to see how big the menu is.  Pretty extensive.

The restaurant is small.  Really loud though.  Really loud.  They have a TV up, big screen that is super loud and obnoxious.  Really loud.  There was not a lot of salsa options, but at least they had a decent table set up and good hot sauces.  Oh yeah, one more time, pretty expensive.

RATINGS:
LENGUA: 1, yes, that probably was the worst lengua I've ever had.  It was flavorless, chopped too fine, way overcooked and really damn tough.  Not worth even thinking about.  I did one of those things where I had to shake my head at myself for even thinking of ordering lengua here.
CARNITAS: 1, again, tough, chopped small?  Yeah, it is tough and chopped and tough.  Not cooked till tender and shredded like carnitas is supposed to be.  I love cumin, not like, love.  But dude, this was like straight soaked and drenched in cumin.  It made me sad.  I kind feel like I wept on the walk back thinking that something spelled so beautifully could taste so bad.
POLLO: 3, yeah, pretty good.  Pretty damn good.  Light clove, cooked perfectly.  Moist and delicious.  Not over the top good, but worth eating.  I would go back to just eat a chicken something from there, maybe, probably not, but I'm trying to be a positive person tonight.
ASADA: 2, so close to being a three, but it was consistently, inconsistent.  Just not very good.  I thought is was just less the ok.
VERDE: 4, good stuff.  Little bit smoky, spicy, good.  A loose salsa, runny, but damn good.  Nice depth, again, a little bit of cumin in there, but the right amount for this salsa.

Yeah, so, this was not the tastiest adventure that I've been on.  It was ok, alright, not horrid.  It was nice to be eating tacos.  I will say this, the plate presentation is nice.  They do a great job of presenting.  The avocado sliver was cheap, but looked good.  Looks are not everything, flavor was what we were after, but hey, at least they looked good.  I will say I could not stop thinking about the tortillas from Las Equipales.  They are just so tasty.  These tortillas sucked that I had tonight.  That is the beauty and sadness of having such a great Tacographic Memory.

Thanks again everyone for reading, please do keep telling folks, reading, checking it out, sending suggestions.  We are still in search of a logo.  Something cool.  Something that means the order to you.  Give it a crack, let me know what you think.  Thanks again and Stay Excellent.