Eat the Menu: Tacodeli, Days 15 and 16

This is part of an ongoing series about my quest to try all of the yumminess at local restaurant Tacodeli. See my eat the menu tag for the other parts of the series. Scores are summarized here.

This weekend I not only made my first weekend trip to Tacodeli since starting this, I did so on all three days of the weekend. After Saturday's rendezvous with Tacodeli North, I returned to my usual Central on Sunday for breakfast. I may need to give other breakfast taco joints a chance at a head-to-head with Tacodeli. I'm honestly not sure I like their breakfast tacos all that much. The doña sauce makes up for it, but doña on someone else's breakfast tacos might possibly be even better. This time I tried the Jess Special ("Eggs scrambled with our migas mix and topped with Monterrey jack cheese and fresh sliced avocado") and El Popeye ("Spinach and scrambled egg breakfast taco with crumbled queso fresco Mexican white cheese"). They were both OK, but neither was particularly special. Still good compared to "normal" tacos, but they don't stand up to the lunch standards. I give them 0.55 and 0.5 moles, respectively.

Today I met some friends for another tryst with Tacodeli North, this time for lunch. I used this lunch to compare the picadillos: Picadillo (from the beef menu) and Thunder Heart Bison Picadillo. The Picadillo is "100% grass fed Burgundy Pasture ground beef in a spicy tomato and jalapeño sauce, garnished with lettuce and tomato." This taco was very... interesting. There's a hint of cinnamon or something in there, I couldn't place it. Something about it reminded me of pumpkin pie. I'm giving it 0.85 moles, but I definitely have to try this one again. It seemed like the sort of thing that might grow on me.

The Thunder Heart Bison Picadillo wasn't as interesting, but it was definitely good. I grew up around the corner from a bison ranch, but I never tried bison until much later. It has always been very good, the few times I've tried it. This is no exception. I give it 0.9 moles.

Summary:

• Jess Special: 0.55 moles
• El Popeye: 0.5 moles
• Picadillo: 0.85 moles
• Thunder Heart Bison Picadillo: 0.9 moles

This is what I have left:

1. Beef: Mexico City Sirloin ("Grilled sirloin with diced onion and cilantro.")
2. Pork: Mole Taco Pork ("Shredded pork smothered with a traditional, made-from-scratch mole. Garnished with cilantro, onion and crumbled queso fresco.")
3. Pork: Puerco Verde ("Tender pork shoulder simmered in a delicious tomatillo salsa and topped with queso fresco, cilantro and onion.")
4. Pork: Cochinita Pibil ("Yucatecan style roasted pork marinated and cooked in citrus and achiote. A unique tropical flavor garnished with pickled purple onions and serranos.")
5. Chicken: Frontera Fundido Chicken ("Grilled chicken with sauteéd poblano pepper and onion strips glazed with melted Monterrey jack cheese.")
6. Chicken: Mexico City Chicken ("Grilled chicken with diced onion & cilantro.")
7. Veggie: Frontera Fundido Portabella ("Oven roasted portabellas with sauteed pepper & onion strips and glazed with melted Monterrey jack cheese.")
8. Breakfast: Migas Taco ("Eggs scrambled with our migas mix and topped with Monterrey jack cheese.")
9. Breakfast: Migas Royale Plate ("A heaping plate of our migas topped with queso, Monterrey jack cheese, avocado and pico de gallo. Served with Mexican mashed potatoes, refried black beans and tortillas.")
10. Breakfast: The Sirloin, Egg and Cheese ("Grilled sirloin, scrambled egg and Monterrey jack cheese.")

I'm going to try the Puerco Verde or Cochinita Pibil tomorrow, I think, but I need something really solidly good as backup in case whichever I get tastes too much like the Puerco Borracho. Any suggestions?

Eat the Menu: Tacodeli, Day 14

This is part of an ongoing series about my quest to try all of the yumminess at local restaurant Tacodeli. See my eat the menu tag for the other parts of the series. Scores are summarized here.

I feel like I was cheating on my usual location with this stop. I was on the north side of town, so I went to the north location for lunch. A friend was randomly at the central location at very close to the same time, though, so I think that makes it ok.

The first taco I tried was the weekend special, Lomo Especial, "Diced roasted pork loin served Fundido style with a Monterry Jack cheese glaze and garnished with cilantro and onion." I think this was the best-smelling taco I've had yet. The flavor didn't quite hold up to that wonderful aroma, but I still gave it 0.85 moles.

I also had the Veggie Taco, "Our special veggie mix of carrots, onion, celery, red bell, poblano, zucchini, mushroom and cabbage sauteéd in olive oil and sherry." This was good but a little dull. Adding doña definitely helped. I gave it 0.75 moles.

Summary:

• Lomo Especial: 0.85 moles
• Veggie Taco: 0.75 moles

Here's what I have left (now including breakfast, since I forgot to include them the other day).

1. Beef: Mexico City Sirloin ("Grilled sirloin with diced onion and cilantro.")
2. Beef: Picadillo ("100% grass fed Burgundy Pasture ground beef in a spicy tomato and jalapeño sauce, garnished with lettuce and tomato.")
3. Bison: Thunder Heart Bison Picadillo ("Ground bison seasoned with roasted garlic, tomato, caramelized onion, melted jack cheese and jalapeño. Topped with fresh cilantro and onions.")
4. Pork: Mole Taco Pork ("Shredded pork smothered with a traditional, made-from-scratch mole. Garnished with cilantro, onion and crumbled queso fresco.")
5. Pork: Puerco Verde ("Tender pork shoulder simmered in a delicious tomatillo salsa and topped with queso fresco, cilantro and onion.")
6. Pork: Cochinita Pibil ("Yucatecan style roasted pork marinated and cooked in citrus and achiote. A unique tropical flavor garnished with pickled purple onions and serranos.")
7. Chicken: Frontera Fundido Chicken ("Grilled chicken with sauteéd poblano pepper and onion strips glazed with melted monterrey jack cheese.")
8. Chicken: Mexico City Chicken ("Grilled chicken with diced onion & cilantro.")
9. Veggie: Frontera Fundido Portabella ("Oven roasted portabellas with sauteed pepper & onion strips and glazed with melted monterrey jack cheese.")
10. Breakfast: Migas Taco ("Eggs scrambled with our migas mix and topped with monterrey jack cheese.")
11. Breakfast: The Jess Special ("Eggs scrambled with our migas mix and topped with monterrey jack cheese and fresh sliced avocado."
12. Breakfast: Migas Royale Plate ("A heaping plate of our migas topped with queso, monterrey jack cheese, avocado and pico de gallo. Served with Mexican mashed potatoes, refried black beans and tortillas.")
13. Breakfast: The Sirloin, Egg and Cheese ("Grilled sirloin, scrambled egg and monterrey jack cheese.")
14. Breakfast: El Popeye ("Spinach and scrambled egg breakfast taco with crumbled queso fresco Mexican white cheese.")

What should I try next?

Eat the Menu: Tacodeli, Day 13

This is part of an ongoing series about my quest to try all of the yumminess at local restaurant Tacodeli. See my eat the menu tag for the other parts of the series. Scores are summarized here.

Last night, inspired by my friend Jeffrey, I decided I'd start watching what I eat and try to get my weight down under 200 pounds. So, of course, I decided to add a side to my usual two tacos today. I'm not very good at this watching what I eat thing, apparently. Oh well, I think it was worth it, and it technically allowed me to knock two more things off the menu than I would have otherwise. Today was also the day the cashiers recognized me, so it was a big day.

My side today was a 50/50, half rice and half beans. As part of Tacodeli's effort to drive everyone deliciously mad through choice paralysis, they offer two types of rice (Mexican red and steamed brown) and three types of beans (pinto, black, and refried black), so technically I still have quite a ways to go in those sides. Honestly, the black beans and brown rice were unsurprising, so I probably won't worry too much about knocking all of those possibilities off my list unless someone comments that "The Mexican red rice is omg amazing!" or something. There was nothing wrong with them, but they're definitely just a side. I'll give them 0.3 moles each.

The first of my tacos was the Happy Taco, "Seasoned shredded chicken with sauteéd mushrooms and melted jack cheese, garnished with cilantro and onion." I keep almost getting the Happy and bumping it down the list for some other choice, so this one had a bit of anticipation behind it. It wasn't as amazing as I hoped, but it was definitely a solid performance. I give it 0.7 moles.

I paired that with the Florentino, "Healthy fresh spinach taco sauteéd in olive oil and sherry with onion, mushroom and red bell peppers." I love spinach, so that one has also been on my to-do list for quite a while. I thought it was a little stronger. I give it 0.8 moles.

Summary:

• Black Beans: 0.3 moles
• Steamed Brown Rice: 0.3 moles
• Happy Taco: 0.7 moles
• Florentino: 0.8 moles

I also discovered today that Tacodeli has a "buy 12 get 1 free" loyalty card. If my count just now was correct, that's 28 tacos at this location before I noticed that card sitting by the register (well, the cashier pointed it out to me when she noticed I'd been there a zillion times, so technically I never noticed). I have three stamps on there now, at least. If you don't have one, be sure to pick one up the next time you're there.

Only ten tacos left! If I don't repeat, I'll be done next week! Except I totally forgot to include breakfast tacos, and I may not make it in on Monday! Oops! Can someone help me break out of this exclamation point trap by recommending what I should get if I make it in this weekend, or when I return on Tuesday?

Eat the Menu: Tacodeli, Day 12

This is part of an ongoing series about my quest to try all of the yumminess at local restaurant Tacodeli. See my eat the menu tag for the other parts of the series.

After yesterday's result, I tried a new technique. Jessica loves Puerco Borracho and doesn't like Mole Chicken, so she told me she also didn't like Adobados. That, of course, immediately moved it to the top of the queue. I added in a simple favorite of another friend (with whom my tastes seem to better match), the Poblano.


The Adobados is "Scrumptious adobo marinated chicken with cilantro and onions. Our adobo is made from scratch using chipotle, ancho and guajillo peppers." Scrumptious is right. Even though it's pretty much purely pepper, there was something about this that makes me put it in the same "family" as mole, which, of course, means it's yummy. I give it 0.9 moles.

The Poblano is as simple and to-the-point as its description, "Mama's cheese stuffed poblano recipe." The flavor is much less complex than the Adobados, but still pretty good. I'm not sure that I'll get it again (unless I have a strong hankering for cheese), but that's just because there are so many amazing things. I'll go with 0.75 moles.

I logged my scores so far in a spreadsheet, because, well, you can see the name of the blog. I may need a slow trek back through the menu (probably more spread out) once I'm done, but for the most part my scores still seem about right in hindsight. Someday I'll at least have to break up that clump between 0.9 and 1.1, but I don't think that'll be too hard to convince myself to do.

I'm still wandering free tomorrow. These are the tacos I have left. Which should I try?

• Mexico City Sirloin ("Grilled sirloin with diced onion & cilantro.")
• Picadillo ("100% grass fed Burgundy Pasture ground beef in a spicy tomato & jalapeño sauce, garnished with lettuce & tomato.")
• Thunder Heart Bison Picadillo ("Ground bison seasoned with roasted garlic, tomato, caramelized onion, melted jack cheese and jalapeño. Topped with fresh cilantro and onions.")
• Mole Taco Pork ("Shredded pork smothered with a traditional, made-from-scratch mole. Garnished with cilantro, onion and crumbled queso fresco.")
• Puerco Verde ("Tender pork shoulder simmered in a delicious tomatillo salsa and topped with queso fresco, cilantro and onion.")
• Cochinita Pibil ("Yucatecan style roasted pork marinated and cooked in citrus and achiote. A unique tropical flavor garnished with pickled purple onions and serranos.")
• Frontera Fundido Chicken ("Grilled chicken with sauteéd poblano pepper and onion strips glazed with melted monterrey jack cheese.")
• Mexico City Chicken ("Grilled chicken with diced onion & cilantro.")
• Happy Taco ("Seasoned shredded chicken with sauteéd mushrooms and melted jack cheese, garnished with cilantro & onion.")
• Frontera Fundido Portabella ("Oven roasted portabellas with sauteed pepper & onion strips and glazed with melted monterrey jack cheese.")
• Florentino ("Healthy fresh spinach taco sauteéd in olive oil & sherry with onion, mushroom and red bell peppers.")
• Veggie Taco ("Our special veggie mix of carrots, onion, celery, red bell, poblano, zucchini, mushroom and cabbage sauteéd in olive oil & sherry.")

I technically have a bunch of other stuff to try, too, but the tacos will do for now, unless I'm extra hungry.

Eat the Menu: Tacodeli, Day 11

This is part of an ongoing series about my quest to try all of the yumminess at local restaurant Tacodeli. See my eat the menu tag for the other parts of the series.

Today I experienced something strange. Tacodeli looked pretty much like it always looks, if perhaps a bit busier than it had been thus far. But something wasn't quite right. I ordered the Shrimp Taco and Puerco Borracho (as suggested by two friends), and sat down to wait.

The Shrimp Taco, "Savory grilled Texas Gulf shrimp served Frontera Fundido style," wasn't bad. Nothing to write home about, but not bad. I give it 0.6 moles.

The Puerco Borracho, "Slow-roasted, succulent pork braised in tequila and sherry and seasoned with fresh basil and pasilla peppers," was different, though. Sounds pretty good, doesn't it? From the moment it came, something was off to me about it. It just didn't look appealing. And then I tasted it, and it didn't taste appealing, either. It tasted like salt and anger. It didn't like being in my mouth. I was able to smother it in doña sauce and make it taste pretty adequate, so I'm giving it 0.2 moles, but honestly that's partly just in case something is worse. I wouldn't recommend it at all.

But two of my friends did recommend it. Being the geek I am, that triggered me to do some quick online research, and eventually to begin devising an experiment which we will soon conduct to get to the bottom of this. Let's start with the online bits.

First, someone my wonderfully intelligent sister, Libby, who also creates beautiful cards and is raising two of my three beautiful and intelligent nieces/nephews, suggested that women have more taste buds than men, so maybe part of the problem was that I just wasn't tasting it as fully as the female friend who suggested it (this was before I had seen the other comment seconding it, from a male friend, so let's ignore that for now). On average, it turns out that statement is true; the average woman has more tastebuds than the average man. But that's average; it only happens because more women than men fall into the "I have lots of taste buds" category. Most of us humans have very roughly equal numbers of taste buds. Moreover, though, it seemed to be quite the opposite; I thought this thing had a strong, unpleasant taste, and my friend thought it was awesome.

Then I remembered an extra clue: Jessica likes to put salt on just about everything, and has acknowledged this before; I, on the other hand, almost never salt things. It seemed like she had less of a salt sense than I do. So I went looking to see if it's possible that she just has fewer salt taste buds than I do. It turns out, no, there's no such things. Taste buds taste everything. I had a vague feeling that the taste map thing we learned in school was maybe an over-simplification, but it turns out it's complete BS. So no, she doesn't have fewer salt taste buds than I do. So that leaves a few possibilities:

• She has fewer taste buds than I do in total (well, technically, a lower density of taste buds, but whatever).
• Her sense of salt taste specifically is somehow weaker than mine. For example, perhaps the sodium pumps in her cells have a mutation that makes them work... umm, better or worse, whichever would result in her tasting salt less.
• We just perceive it differently. She likes the taste of salt more than I do, for example.
• Mine happened to be saltier than hers. Oops.

So that leads us to the experiment we're designing. The general consensus (such that there is) is that there are five tastes: salty, sweet, bitter, sour, and savory (umami). Those all have things that would be easy to dilute and sample (a little bit of salt water; some sugar water; maybe some coffee or cocoa powder in water; lemon juice; MSG). So, I don't have the full design yet, but basically we can test how dilute of a concentration each of us can taste. We need to figure out proper "I think I taste it" controls, though, so any suggestions would be welcome. And, to be clear, this will absolutely happen; this is the sort of thing my friends and I do.

So anyhoo. Isn't taste weird? I'm just glad this thing tasted super salty to me, because most of flavor is really smell, and that's way more complicated.

Anyhoo, here's a summary for today:

• Shrimp Taco: 0.6 moles
• Puerco Borracho: 0.2 moles
• Science: 1 hellamole

Tomorrow I may get a Scallop Taco again, but I may go with two new things. Does anyone have a recommendation that isn't super salty?

Eat the Menu Interlude: Tacodeli vs Torchy's

This is part of an ongoing series about my quest to try all of the yumminess at local restaurant Tacodeli. See my eat the menu tag for the other parts of the series.

As I mentioned yesterday, the readers of the Austin Chronicle voted local chain Torchy's Tacos as "Best Taco" and "Best Taqueria" over my beloved Tacodeli. I'd been to Torchy's several times, and even enjoy them quite a bit, but I didn't think they measured up to Tacodeli... but I hadn't really measured them, so I couldn't be sure. Today I fixed that.

The closest thing I could get to a consensus from friends in family was that the Green Chili Pork (bottom left in the photo) and Ranch Hand (bottom right) were the best things at Torchy's, so I got both to pit them again the wonderful Tacodeli Mole Taco Chicken (top of the photo). It was definitely a wonderful lunch, but I was determined to give these all as honest of a rating as I could.

Of course, for starters, Tacodeli's Mole Taco Chicken got its 1.0 moles (in that it's what the whole scale is based on, that's unsurprising). It was nice to experience that "Grilled chicken smothered with a traditional, made-from -scratch mole. Garnished with cilantro, onion and crumbled queso fresco." again, though. Yum!

The Green Chili Pork, "Slow roasted pork carnitas simmered with green chilies and topped off with queso fresco, cilantro, onions, and a lime wedge served on a corn tortilla with our green salsa," was definitely a strong contender. While it tasted mostly like pork (until I smothered it in the green salsa), that pork was very well cooked, so I don't fault it. I'd said back on day 4 that other tacos in Austin were probably in the 0.3-0.5 mole range, but that didn't turn out to be true. I give Green Chili Pork from Torchy's a respectable 0.6 moles. Still not enough to dethrone Tacodeli, though.

Would the Ranch Hand, "Tender strips of beef fajita over scrambled eggs and topped off with cheese. Served on a flour Tortilla with our spicy Diablo sauce," do the job? It was definitely a pile of cheesy goodness, which puts it above the Green Chili Pork... but not far enough above. I give it 0.7 moles.

Not that this is at all surprising to anyone coming to this blog in particular, but today's test pretty much confirmed what I was already thinking. Tacodeli's tacos are just more... complex than Torchy's. That appeals to me, but I understand that it doesn't necessarily appeal to everyone. Perhaps one of these days I'll figure out a way to do this test more blind, but, for now, I'm going to have to trust that I'm not just tricking myself into thinking Tacodeli is better. Until then, I will continue to deliciously deceive myself, if necessary.

BTW, one thing that's both nice and annoying about Torchy's is that it wouldn't take me long at all to Eat the Menu. I'll very likely work my way through that one after I finish Tacodeli (and take some time off from tacos to mix things up).

Tomorrow I'll return to my walk through the Tacodeli menu. I actually have a special to try: Shrimp Tacos. Any suggestions for taco #2?

Eat the Menu: Tacodeli, Day 9 and 10

This is part of an ongoing series about my quest to try all of the yumminess at local restaurant Tacodeli. See my eat the menu tag for the other parts of the series.

I got distracted from posting on Friday, and then, well, kinda forgot over the weekend. Don't worry; I maintained my almost creepy obsession with eating everything at Tacodeli. I just didn't get around to posting about it.

Friday I had the Heather and Al Pastor (I had to get them to go, which greatly reduces their yummy appearance, so don't be too harsh on them based solely on the photo).

The Heather is described on the menu as "Grilled Mexican queso fresco, refried black beans, with guacamole, lettuce and tomato. Wow!" I inherently distrust any menu item with "Wow!" in its discussion, so Heather was starting against a bit of a wall. As expected, the Heather was good, but I'm not sure "Wow!" was called for. I rate her at 0.7 moles.

The Tacodeli Al Pastor is a fairly standard Al Pastor, "Diced and trimmed pork marinated and cooked in our homemade adobo sauce using chipotle, ancho and guajillo peppers. Garnished with cilantro & onions." One of these days I'm going to have to put up the Tacodeli Al Pastor vs. the Al Pastor at another local taqueria, Changos, because frankly the Tacodeli Al Pastor didn't blow me away. I give it 0.6 moles.

Today was both stronger and weaker than Friday. To make up for the meh-ness of Friday's choices, I finally crossed a second mole off my list: the Mole Taco Sirloin. I paired it with the Tacoloco, "Adobo braised brisket with caramelized onions and mushrooms topped with guacamole, cilantro and queso fresco." Pretty much every word in that description is among my favorite foods, but somehow Tacoloco didn't really do it for me. I give it 0.4 moles, which I'm pretty sure is my lowest non-hat rating so far.

In contrast, the Mole Taco Sirloin ("Grilled steak smothered with a traditional, made-from-scratch mole. Garnished with cilantro, onion and crumbled queso fresco.") was excellent, and honestly I'm not yet sure which I'd rate higher in a blind test. I'm giving it 0.95 moles (because I think chicken is every-so-slightly better), but it was so very delicious.

Summary:

• The Heather: 0.7 moles
• Al Pastor: 0.6 moles
• Tacoloco: 0.4 moles
• Mole Taco Sirloin: 0.95 moles

Tomorrow I'm going to do something slightly different. The readers of the Austin Chronicle awarded Torchy's Tacos "Best Taco" and "Best Taqueria" in their annual poll. I'm pretty sure I prefer Tacodeli, but perhaps that's just because Tacodeli used to be far away and thus more "exotic." To test that out, tomorrow a coworker and I are hitting both (well, I'm going to Tacodeli and he's going to Torchy's) and bringing to-go orders back to the office for a head-to-head. I want to go with something I know from Tacodeli, so I'll be pitting my beloved Mole Taco Chicken from Tacodeli against... something from Torchy's. I want whatever I pick to be pretty much the best thing at Torchy's, but so far there isn't a clear winner among my friends (and one of the recommendations was something I know isn't my favorite at Torchy's). So... any suggestions?

Eat the Menu: Tacodeli, Day 8

This is part of an ongoing series about my quest to try all of the yumminess at local restaurant Tacodeli. See my eat the menu tag for the other parts of the series.

Hurray! I got to have a Scallop Taco again today! Last week wasn't a fluke; those things are outstanding. It's still 1.1 moles.

Someone suggested yesterday that I pair it with something beefy for "surf 'n turf." They technically recommended Mole Taco Sirloin, but I went with a Cowboy instead. The Cowboy is "Cowboy-rubbed beef tenderloin with grilled corn, caramelized onions and roasted peppers, topped with guacamole and queso fresco." While "cowboy-rubbed beef" doesn't necessarily sound... appetizing, the result is excellent. 0.95 moles.

 Tomorrow's pretty much wide open. I've already tried all three specials, so I'm still elsewhere on the menu. Any suggestions would be welcome.

Eat the Menu: Tacodeli, Day 7

This is part of an ongoing series about my quest to try all of the yumminess at local restaurant Tacodeli. See my eat the menu tag for the other parts of the series.

My company had an outing today out on Lake Travis, but, on my way out, I stopped at Tacodeli for breakfast tacos. Before diving into the ratings, I guess I should explain what breakfast tacos are, since apparently they're a confusing concept even though I swear Taco Bell had them when I was in high school. The idea is to put breakfasty stuff (eggs, bacon, sausage, veggies, hash browns or other potatoes) in a soft taco shell. They're similar to an omelet as far as ingredients, but put together in a different way. They are very tasty. If you haven't had one, seriously, just make one; what you think goes in one is close enough to what goes in one. In Austin, many taco restaurants and more than a few not-so-taco-y restaurants offer their take on what exactly one should put in a breakfast taco, and of course Tacodeli is no exception. I think it's possible they started with breakfast tacos, actually, but I'm not sure about that.

For my first Tacodeli breakfast, I went with The Otto ("Refried black beans, bacon, avocado and cheese") and a more "traditional" Vaquero ("Eggs scrambled with our Cowboy mix of grilled corn, roasted poblano and red peppers, and monterrey jack cheese"). Both were good, but I liked the Vaquero a little more. The best part was the lightly toasted tortillas that they were wrapped in. Very strong work there, Tacodeli. Capital idea. That bodes well for the other breakfast tacos. Still, breakfast tacos aren't really that awesome in my eyes (on the scale of deliciousness-of-a-Mole-Taco-Chicken), so I'll give them 0.8 and 0.75 moles.

Something I found much more interesting was when I drank the I-assume-it-must-be-fresh-squeezed orange juice. The orange juice was just orange juice, but, since I was actively thinking about "how delicious is this?", I really noticed just how awesome orange juice is. If I put it in terms of "how much would I miss orange juice if I never had it again vs. how much would I miss Mole Tacos Chicken?", I have to give it somewhere around 4 moles. It blows my mind that they bother trying to convince us this stuff is good with the whole vitamin C campaign (as long as you aren't at sea for months and/or eating everything out of copper pots, chances are you're getting plenty of vitamin C, and oranges aren't anywhere near the best source of vitamin C, but for some reason we all associate oranges with vitamin C). It's like they're just trying to point out that sometimes we find out things about food that we want to hear. It's like if they had a campaign to convince us icecream was worth eating. Do yourself a favor and really taste the OJ the next time you drink some. Wow that stuff is good.

I also bought a hat while I was there this morning, since I was on my way to the lake and hadn't thought to grab one (and because, come on, obviously I need a Tacodeli hat). The hat wasn't particularly tasty.

Summary:

• The Otto: 0.75 moles
• The Vaquero: 0.8 moles
• Orange Juice: 4 moles
• Hat: 0 moles

I'm going to totally cheat tomorrow and "recalibrate" my rating system by getting one new taco plus a Scallop Taco, because those things are awesome. Suggestions for the non-Scallops Taco will be greatly appreciated, but keep in mind you'll be putting it up against the taco that made me sad last week when I finished it. Give me a real contender.

Eat the Menu: Tacodeli, Day 6 (now with formatting!)

This is part of an ongoing series about my quest to try all of the yumminess at local restaurant Tacodeli. See my eat the menu tag for the other parts of the series.

Today I experienced something new at Tacodeli: a line! Sure, the line had evaporated by the time I decided what I was getting, but it was new and strange. I'm glad to see them getting business, but I hope this doesn't foreshadow worse things to come.

Someone suggested (quite excitedly) yesterday that I try the Mojo Fish Taco (aka Mojo Tilapia Taco), "Tilapia fillets grilled with a mojo-garlic sauce & garnished with our homemade guacamole and pico de gallo." Um, ok. Yes please. While I was on that part of the menu, I went with the Fish Taco (aka Catfish Taco) for my second choice, "Marinated grilled catfish with red cabbage pico."


The Mojo recommendation was a good one. These things are fairly fantastic. The only thing disappointing about the pair is that the catfish tacos seem kind of silly on a menu that also has Mojo Fish Tacos. Don't get me wrong, the catfish tacos were still good, but the Mojo Fish Tacos are outstanding.

Summary:

• Mojo Fish Taco: 0.95 moles
• Fish Taco: 0.85 moles

I'll be on the Pedernales River tomorrow at lunch time, but I'm hoping to make it to Tacodeli for breakfast tacos. What sounds good?

Eat the Menu: Tacodeli, Day 5

This is part of an ongoing series about my quest to try all of the yumminess at local restaurant Tacodeli. See my eat the menu tag for the other parts of the series.

I didn't make it to Tacodeli over the weekend, but today I resumed my trek through the menu. Today I had the Monday special (El Picosito) and the first beef taco on the menu (Frontera Fundido Sirloin).

I had high hopes for El Picosito. The menu describes it as "succulent beef tenderloin in a chipotle sesame pipian with fresh avocado and queso fresco." I'm pretty sure I'd had this before at Tacodeli North, but it wasn't as spicy before as it was today (it seems like Tacodeli Central is a little spicier than Tacodeli North in general). The spice covered up the tastiness of the pipian a bit, unfortunately. It was still pretty good, but it was no Mole Taco Chicken. I give it 0.8 moles.

I had no expectations for the Frontera Fundido Sirloin, "grilled sirloin with sautéed poblano pepper and onion strips glazed with melted monterrey jack cheese." It was a fairly straightforward, simple taco, but it turned out to be really tasty. I mean, compared to what I expected it to be. In this case, the taco exceeded my expectations, but that still puts it at 0.8 moles.

In summary:

• El Picosito: 0.8 moles
• Frontera Fundido Sirloin: 0.8 moles

Tomorrow is an exciting day. It's the first time I'll have already had everything that's on special, so I'll need to figure out two tacos for myself. Any suggestions (PDF) would be welcome in the comments.

Eat the Menu: Tacodeli, Day 4

This is part of an ongoing series about my quest to try all of the yumminess at local restaurant Tacodeli. See my eat the menu tag for the other parts of the series.

Before getting into today's selections, I'd like to clarify something about my mole scale. I noted yesterday that 1.0000 moles = the yumminess of a Tacodeli Mole Taco Chicken, but I didn't explain the lower end of the scale. I'd put most other fastish-but-not-fast-food taco restaurants in Austin around 0.3-0.5 moles. For those of you outside of Austin, your best Mexican restaurant might earn about 0.3 moles for their best tacos. Taco Bell is about 0.001 moles. Hopefully that will put things in better perspective. For example, yesterday's Tacolomo was a 0.6, which means it's only a little better than pretty much every other taco everywhere.

Speaking of tacos that are only a little bit awesome, today I was very excited to try the Guacasabi Tuna and Ceviche Yucatan tacos. Guacamole and wasabi, two of my favorite things, combined into one thing? And on a Tacodeli taco?? How could that not be amazing? Well, frankly, I didn't think it lived up to its name. It was definitely tuna-y, but there was very little guaca or sabi flavor. Sure, it had sliced avocados, but avocados alone do not guacamole make. I'd put it a little above Tacolomo but below Achiote Chicken, so that makes it 0.65 moles.

On the other hand, I didn't expect much out of the Ceviche Yucatan tacos. I've only had ceviche once before, and it was way too tart for my taste. Tacodeli's Ceviche Yucatan didn't fall into that same trap. Moreover, it actually had guacamole, not just avocados, making it even better. It was still only a 0.8, but I feared it might be much lower.

I also crossed two other things off the menu today: the Ceviche Yucatan as a side with chips (also 0.8 moles; I thought it'd take a hit for the lack of guacamole, but it held up on its own), and Chips & Salsa (Doña variety, only 0.75 moles but just because there are such better uses for the Tacodeli doña sauce; I'll go into that more in a later post).

In summary:

• Guacasabi Tuna taco: 0.65 moles
• Ceviche Yucatan taco: 0.8 moles
• Ceviche Yucatan with chips: 0.8 moles
• Chips & Salsa (Doña): 0.75 moles

I probably won't make it to Tacodeli over the weekend... but we'll see. If not, I'll be back Monday to try El Picosito ("Succulent beef tenderloin in a chipotle sesame pipian with fresh avocado and queso fresco") and something else that is yet to be determined (El Picosito is the only special on Monday, so that means I'll be venturing out into the regular menu). Your suggestions are very welcome in the comments.

Eat the Menu: Tacodeli, Days 1-3

Tacodeli is an extremely tasty taco restaurant here in Austin. Until this week, the closest of the two Tacodeli locations was just a bit too far from my office for a reasonable lunch outing. That changed on Tuesday, when the third Tacodeli location opened less than a mile from my office. To commemorate the opening (and since there are so many things on the Tacodeli menu that I haven't tried), I decided I'd have lunch there every day until I've made it through the menu.

Of the things I'd previously tried at Tacodeli, their Mole Taco Chicken were my favorite. Therefore, I'll be rating their menu in units of moles (not to be confused with moles), where 1.0000 mole = the yumminess of a Mole Taco Chicken.

Tuesday, 5/11

Like an idiot, I didn't take a photo of Tuesday's tacos. The best I can do is the image Tacodeli.com uses to describe the special. In addition to that special, I had my beloved Mole Taco Chicken. The special was a bit overly pickly, but not bad.

• Mole Taco Chicken: 1.0 moles.
• Achiote Chicken Taco: 0.7 moles.

Wednesday, 5/12

Multiple specials were available for Wednesday. I went with the Chile Relleno Special. It's definitely Tacodeli's own take on that name. Really more "stuffed poblanos" than what I'd normally expect in chiles rellenos, but still fairly good. There's pork hiding down there under the pickled red onions. I give it 0.8 moles.

Thursday, 5/13

Today there were two specials. The one on the right is the Tacolomo, "slow roasted pork loin with a pasilla garlic mojo sauce, red cabbage pico and roasted peppers." This was my least favorite menu item so far. However, the one on the left is the Scallop Taco, "delicious grilled scallops tossed with roasted red and poblano peppers, grilled corn and a garlic lime mojo sauce." They aren't kidding when they say "delicious." I was sad when I was finished, because I didn't get to eat it any more.

• Tacolomo: 0.6 moles.
• Scallop Taco: 1.1 moles.

Tomorrow I get to try Tacodeli's Ceviche Yucatan Taco and Guacasabi Tuna Taco. Guacasabi sounds fantastic, so I can't wait.

Is there anything on the menu I should try sooner rather than later? Let me know in the comments.

Oh Yeah, a Blog

I'm planning to write something later, and I don't want to spend that whole post saying "holy crap it's been a long time since I've blogged," so... holy crap it's been a long time since I've blogged! Ok, that's out of the way. See ya later!