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!
