San Francisco

HAPPY CINCO DE MAYO

Today I am going to combine two of my favorite things. Tacos and Geocaching. Yes, geocaching. We all know what tacos are but not all of us know what Geocaching is. Geocaching is a high-tech treasure hunting game played throughout the world by adventure seekers equipped with GPS devices. The basic idea is to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, outdoors and then share your experiences online at geocaching .com

So in honor of Cinco de Mayo I have placed geocaches at 5 of my favorite taco places.

I can’t tell you where or what they are but I can give you coordinates and hints and maybe, JUST maybe you’ll find them. They all should be available by today. And when you do find these one or all of the caches you might want to go and get the best handshake in Austin, maybe attend a good happy hour with free tacos, get the best migas in town, try the greasiest taco, or just hook up with a cowboy.

Jeff and I have been itch’n for tacos the past few weeks but we weren’t able to get together for lunch.

Well, last week we got together and made it to Jaime’s Spanish Village. Jaime’s has been there since 1931 and I have been there twice in my lifetime… And there’s a reason why… a 7 dollar lunch. The food was good but not great. The beans were good but not great. The rice was ok. It won’t be my first choice for Mexican food next time I’m downtown.

Since I am a cheapo, I wanted ANYTHING that was less than 7 dollars. Right away, I went to the a la carte section of the menu. Surely there has to be a dish in this section that I can afford and has a single item, and stop calling me surely. A Taco, a plate of rice, a plate of beans, NOPE.. Nothing in that variety. It seemed that a la carte meant without rice and beans, now let’s nitpick. What does a la carte mean to you? Well, to Jaime’s it means WITHOUT beans and rice for $7.25. You can get half an order of al la carte tacos for a dollar less. HOWEVER, you can get a Taco Plate, which has two tacos of your choice with rice and beans… for 6.25… same price of the half order al la carte. I knew what I was getting. The lunch specials were 6.99. AH AHAAHAHA I will save 74 cents AND get beans and rice. I am the man.

Well, since I’m a cheapo I went for the taco plate for $6.25 because I am soo smart and wanted to save 74 cents. A Taco Plate has two tacos a side of rice and beans. I got a Chicken taco and a Beef taco. The Beef taco was stuffed and nicely seasoned. The chicken taco was good but the chicken could have been seasoned a bit more. The beans were fine but the rice was a little bland. Over all I give my plate a 3.

Jeff got the # 5 which had a beef taco, cheese enchilada smothered in a meat sauce and chips and queso. His looked great. He offered to let me order the #5 early on while we were deciding but I went cheap and got burned. Jeff’s plate just plain ole looked better than mine, and I’m sure tasted better as well… all for just a measly 74 cents more. :(

Maybe with wasn’t that great because he gave it a 3.5. To quote Jeff “nothing special… just decent good.”
That is a great summary and will leave it at that. Jaime’s is nothing special, just decent and good.

Tacoism? The first ever 3.25

Show Me Your taco recently made a family trek up to Iowa for Christmas and figured I'd hit up the Taqueria pizzeria that the taco tour had missed in the summer.

I called up good buddy and fellow foodie Cory Mitchell from eatoutdesmoines.com and coryeats.com to meet me there. He said yes without missing a beat and our lunch date was set.

He had been tellin about the Al Pastor pizza and that I needed to try it. Ok, we got one menu item, what else am I going to try?Jesus, the owner of El Chisme joined us and we inquired about his best menu items.

We ended up ordering and sharing a Mulita Estilo El Chisme and a torta. Both stuffed with Carne Asada.

Our lunch slate was set.

Mulita Estilo El Chisme - First off, a Mulita is a like a quesadilla but with beans. The Mulita was filled with Carne Asada, beans, and lots of cheese. I love it when cheese items actually have lots of cheese and when the main ingredients are actually present and I love it when the tortillas are not forgotten. The tortillas were soft but crispy on quesadillas/Mulita and El Chisme did a great job of combining that texture. This was easily my favorite menu item of the day.

Torta - Good but I think it could be better with one simple addition, Butter. When we were talking to Jesus about his menu he had told us that he is trying to keep his menu as healthy as possible. Ok, I respect that but I think a simple brush of butter on the bread could make this Torta out of this world. Again, El Chisme didn't skimp on the ingredients, Torta was filled with the Carne Asada and also included lettuce, avocado, and little bit of mayo.

Al Pastor Pizza - To be honest, when I looked at the pizza menu I really wanted to try the El Chisme Pizza #2. It is topped with Pepperoni, Mushrooms, Jalapenos, Red Onions, and chicken... I know, sounds good right? BUT, I was there to try the Al Pastor Pizza and that was what I was going to order... Not bad. Really. Tastes nothing like a pizza but if you fold your slice it becomes an instant Al Pastor taco... which gave me another idea. Why not make this pizza on a big tortilla? The Al Pastor pizza is good but if I had to choose between the Al Pastor pizza and the El Chisme #2, I would probably go with the El Chisme #2, even though I haven’t tasted it. I like my pizza to taste like pizza. But I love the idea of the Mexican/Italian fusion pizza. Sombreros off to Jesus for trying something different.