Tacos Veloz, Boise, IDaho

Ha, I just realized that you can see my reflection in all the chrome.  Yes, I'm wearing a chef coat.  Another day of tacos with some great tacoteers that are braving the Idaho taco truck world with me.  I'm very lucky to have such a great group of folks with me.  Phil, Fo, Ashley, Josh and company.  We went the day after Jess's birthday, of course she joined us again!  So did Sannae, tacos are important to existence and happiness.

 Look familiar?  All these taco trucks look pretty similar.  They are trying to be carbon copies of each other.  Some do it better then other.  Without a doubt, El Rey has remained as king of the greater Boise area.  This place did have a Super Burrito.  More then one in the group went for it.  Looked pretty darn good.  One of our tacoteers was unable to finish their asada quesadilla.  I was nice enough to finish it, pretty good, for a quesadilla.
RATINGS: 
ASADA: 4, I'm going to state it again, Idaho does beef pretty darn well.  Impressive.  They need to keep it up.
PASTOR: 2, a bit too much pineapple.  I was also excited that they had pastor and adobada, but the pastor was the exact same meat with pineapples put on top.
ADOBADA: 3, this was good.  Nicely done.  This was pretty good, mild sweet flavors and the meat was tender.
CARNITAS: 2, tasted burnt and dry.  Not very good.
LENGUA: 1, this stuff was horrible.  I did not eat it.  I took a half a bite and spit it out.  It was horrible in texture, flavor, yeah, I have nothing nice to say about it.

Not a bad looking spread?  Yeah, kind of was.  What really chapped my ass, is that I never got any salsa!  Yeah, no damn salsa.  Really frustrated by this.  Really stupid.  So it has been really windy here.  Really windy.  The napkins have been blowing everywhere.  I know, you have been concerned.  Each taco place this has been an issue.

Boise for sure has a "type" of taco.  We are learning all about it.  We are missing the deliciousness that is California, that is the Los Angeles Taco scene.  I can't wait to get an LA Taco.

Special thanks to the Idaho tacoteers and to all reading.  Keep spreading the word!  Keep telling people!  Re-tweet, re-post.

Couldn't get a great gratuitous photo, you get a picture of the front of the taco truck and a sort of in action snap shot with beautiful Phil as the centerpiece of the picture!

Stay Excellent All!

El Torito, Garden City, ID

Two weeks left in Boise.  We went to the beautiful part of Boise known as Garden City.  It is like taco central for Idaho.  I had some excited and brave tacoteers with me as we got some lunch at another truck.  El Torito is a Mexican Market, with a taco truck in the back of it.

Looks legit right?  We are learning that the Boise taco and way of cooking is much more of the stew cook than the grill and crispy way.  The people were nice, the English was not there.  They really did not speak English at all.  It was so windy!  The wind was blowing like crazy.  It was so windy and it was a pretty chilly wind, well chilly for us.  Most of us are SoCal residents.  We had some fun.  A bit less laughing than our last outing, but that is possibly a good thing.  We had to roll up in two cars.  The beautiful Buick rental and the VW Bug that I'm still not sure how we ended up with.  Here is a shot of the tacoteers:

Yes, it is Jessica's birthday, good eye.  She is the blond next to Fo.  Jessica went to the opening in Florida with us earlier in the year, she is back at NRO summer camp in Boise.  We did an amazing job of embarrassing her later on in the day with a sash, crown and singing off key to her with all of our trainees.  This place has a market in the front, a taco truck in the back.  Pretty interesting market.  For all of the things that it does have, it doesn't have a lot of products.  I will say it was very tempting to buy a pinata for Jess!

I really feel like we had a missed opportunity with not getting any pinatas.  I love how Fo and Ashley are intently looking at something.  I really don't know what it is that they are looking at, but it seems important.

Menu is very simple and great.  Very clearly marked with all information.  They really don't over do it with trying to appeal to everyone and everything like some of the other trucks that we've been to around here.  Burritos looked pretty righteous, but I had to stick to tacos.
RATINGS:
CABEZA: 3, soft, but pretty good.
LENGUA: 3, pretty run of the mill.  They do not cut lengua too small and do not shred it here in Idaho.
TRIPA: 4, this was soft and crispy?  Really good.  I like the way that it was sauteed.  It really was one of the better ones that I've had.  A great texture, nice flavor, I liked it.
CARNITAS: 3, total textbook.  good, but did not blow me away at all.
ASADA: 4, really good job in Idaho with Beef.  This was well flavored, not overcooked, quite tasty.
PASTOR: 3, close to being a 4, but just not above and beyond enough.  Good pineapple flavor, but not too sweet.

Pretty nice spread.  I appreciate it anytime that people pair their tacos with the salsa it should go with.  Nicely done.  Idaho taco adventures a bit different.  They have a "style" of taco.  Not bad, but it sure isn't the tasty greatness of Southern California!  I'd be lying if I said I wasn't pining for some SoCal Tacoteering.

I love them advertising.  Really made us all kind of chuckle.  Cool to see them making fresh tamales.  I love tamales.  I did ask, they don't just serve them, you have to order them for a party, they take great pride in their masa.

Thank you to the great trainers that I'm working with and Tacoteering with.  We have hit a few places and I still have another blog I have yet to write about.  They have really been troopers, granted I think that they are lucky to eat so many tacos.  Another shout out to Phil!  Chef Phil has been taking his mad skills to each place.  Josh, Fo, Ashley and Phil have yet to miss an Idaho adventure.  Thanks to all who read, keep following, I'm going to find the best tacos that Boise has to offer over the next week.

Before we part, the gratuitous photo from this adventure is of the birthday girl, Jessica Taylor.  Happy Birthday Jess, glad we got to spend your birthday eating tacos!

Stay Excellent All!

Calle 75 Street Tacos, Meridian, ID

Quick bite of food.  This place, I'm told use to be a truck.  They have a sort of restaurant now in the Meridian Village.  "Sort of" is not a knock on their food or operation.  It is a really cool, open spaced shared area.  It does a great job of bringing the beauty of the outside, fountains, scenery and beauty of the town-center into their space.  All windows, no walls, open big doors the length of the building.  Really a special set up that I think is second to none.

So here is the set up.  Pretty cool right?  You see everything and all that they are doing.  It is wide open in front of you and damn cool.  This place fits the town-center so well.  I think the food, ambiance really fit this place.  The fountain is huge and awesome.  It plays music that goes with how the water is dancing or whatever you call it.

Seating area is great.  Yes, that is a fireplace and couches for the casual taco conversation.  They don't have a ton of options.  They do have a special right now, yes, you guessed it, PASTOR!
RATINGS:
ASADA: 3, textbook?  Really by the book, good, not amazing asada.  Eat it, enjoy it, but it is nothing special.
CARNITAS: 3, again pretty textbook.  Savory, sweet, good.  Didn't blow me away, but I would order it again.  Great with their green salsa.
PASTOR: 2, way too much pineapple.  Pineapple was also not ripe enough.  The pineapple is also served cold, not grilled, it needs to be grilled to pull the sugars and juices out of the pineapple.  It really would make a great difference.
CHAN CHAN BURRITO: 4, really good.  This stuff was good.  The lovely girls working there talked me into trying it.  Spinach, garlic aioli.  Liked it for sure.
SALSA: 4, they have a red and a green.  Both are pretty great and enhance the flavors of the tacos without overwhelming them.

It looks great and that is part of it for this place.  They are generous but not over the top.  I have to say that I enjoyed it and will be eating there as it is less then a block from the new restaurant that I'm a part of opening.  I actually have eaten twice.  I started writing the blog and went back for another round.  That is when I had the Chan Chan Style burrito.  Sam and Emily were working and they were so excellent and helpful.  I do recommend this place, without a doubt.  I feel like you need to see a picture of the fountain.  There are multiple fountains, but this is the main one.

Thank you so much for the reads, hope everyone is enjoying the adventures of different cities, trying to hit as many as I can.  Trying to keep the stories interesting for all of you.  I really appreciate the reads, re-posts and re-tweets.  If you are not following on Instagram yet, please do!

Gratuitous photo today is of Rosie.  Rosie is the owner of Calle 75.  She is a wonderful chick that I'm very glad I got to meet.

Stay Excellent!