Mi Cocina- Fire and Ice

I had a dinner date at the swanky Mi Cocina on Hulen at I-30 in Fort Worth. It's located in a shopping center and faces the highway access road. 

We started our evening off with Mambo Taxis. A Mambo Taxi is Sauza Silver tequila, lime juice, housemade Sangria with Pinot Noir, Brandy, and fruit juices. It was really delicious...not too strong but had enough booze to feel it.

My date ordered the Tacos de Brisket, three corn tortillas filled with shredded brisket, oven roasted overnight, and Jack cheese, arroz and sliced avocado ensalada. She thoroughly enjoyed her meal. The brisket was ultra moist and dripped onto her plate as she bit into her taco.

I ordered the Tacos Mi Tierra, “street style” tacos served on three soft corn tortillas topped with grilled fajita beef, Serranos and onions served with guacamole y pico de gallo. I was warned by the waitress that they would be spicy. I nodded in acknowledgement, not yet knowing what I had just agreed to.

The first issue I encountered had to do with the layout of this plate. The meat was just dumped on top of three overlapping tortillas in a haphazard manner. It made a mess and spread a lot of grease all over the tortillas. My fingers and hands were filthy with grease and juices. 

The second issue I encountered had to do with the level of heat...spicy heat.  I have to admit that the fajita meat was fantastic. It had a succulent grilled flavor and was moist and tender. However, there were so many chopped Serano peppers on it, my mouth was set aflame. Each bite was painfully hot and it took away from my enjoyment of the other flavors. It was just too much. I love the Serano flavor but, the amount should be a quarter what they currently put on their tacos.

Issue number three...brain freeze. The tacos were so spicy hot, each blazing bite was followed by a huge sip of Mambo Taxi leading to the inevitable brain freeze. It was a back and forth see saw of snot dripping spicy heat and brain freezing cold liquor. 

I would absolutely recommend these tacos but would suggest asking them to lay off the overload of Serranos. Don't forget to stop by the World Market after your meal.

Chipotle- The Yuppy's Taco, Making Mexican Mainstream

Don't get me wrong. I like Chipotle. They're ingredients are fresh and tasty. They believe in responsible farming and I admire them for that. The service is always fast if not always friendly. I try to keep in mind that Chipotle is often cited as one of the worst companies to work for. 

Chipotle caters to the clientele that would like to claim they eat taqueria tacos but are too afraid to go to one of the actual authentic taquerias in town. Getting good tacos often requires going to the less affluent neighborhoods and I don't think the traditional Chipotle customer is down with that. Chipotle has a certain demographic. I saw lots of Cadillacs, Lexus and BMWs followed by yoga pants, Dooney bags and Ugh boots. You get my drift.

On this particular day, I visited the location at Hulen and Bellaire. It is always thick with TCU students at lunch as was the case today. I ordered tacos on flour tortillas. The tortillas were nothing extraordinary. I chose the steak and the barbacoa. The meat is always good here, juicy and full of flavor. The steak can handle a salsa, but honestly the barbacoa has enough kick on its own. 

Chipotle has a choose your own toppings policy. I chose the corn relish, so I wouldn't overpower the meat flavors. I also added cheese, lettuce, and sour cream with a side of guacamole. They could offer more topping choices but I think that might slow down the line. These people all have somewhere to be and need those tacos fast. 

The toppings are all very fresh and the guacamole is some of the best around. Always order some guacamole and chips with your tacos. You won't regret it. The soda bar is standard. You won't find Mexican Coke here.  

So, if you are afraid of going to the "real" taquerias because of their less than desirable locations or because you may need to order in Spanish and you took French, stop into your local Chipotle. Don't expect it to give you any street cred though.

Salsa Limon, The Jewel of the Museum District

I first tried Salsa Limon at the food truck park behind the Montgomery Plaza Super Target. I was so impressed, I chose to return for my birthday meal with my family shortly after. It was a big hit with everyone.

I had an opportunity to return and stopped into the University drive Salsa Limon Museo location at brunch the other day. It was unusually packed for that time thanks to a rained out Colonial golf tournament. 

I ordered a Chicken Taco. It was served on double corn tortillas that never broke. It was topped with pickled cabbage, onion, cilantro, and served with a wedge of lime. It was delicious. The pickled cabbage balances the heavier flavors. The creamy avocado tomatillo green sauce also was outstanding. The perfect heat and full of flavor.

I also ordered the steak El Capitan that came on a buttery toasted flour tortilla. It was topped with melted Oaxaca-Jack cheese, pickled cabbage, onion, cilantro, and a wedge of lime. Another very satisfying choice. My only complaint was the greasiness of the buttery tortilla. It was a bit much. A normal cooked flour tortilla would have been perfect, known as "Norte" style at Salsa Limon.

I also tried the weird orange salsa pictured. Steal clear of it. I have no idea the ingredients, but it smelled and tasted like the powdered cheese out of a Kraft Mac n Cheese box mixed with milk and served cold. Other than that...

I highly recommend this place. If your in the museum district, put this on your list of must visit places.

I Want That Velvet Taco...Mmmmm maybe not so much

Some friends and I are going to try this place in a couple of weeks. The conversation about it has already been humorous. One coworker immediately thought about the sexual connotation of the name while another coworker, much younger and more innocent, associated the name with red velvet cake. Either way, they both get eaten.

The following is taken directly from the website for the Velvet Taco at www.velvettaco.com

PS - Cool things about the world inside Velvet Taco:
we make our own tortillas, slow roast our own
chicken and corn, and make everything from
scratch which makes our food taste really
awesome. We use fresh fruit and sorbets in
our margaritas and sangrias... also awesome.
Oh and we recycle. Come in and see us.

Honestly, I'm really excited about their menu and can't wait to try the elote.

The reviews are in!

This place is located in a really trendy part of town on West 7th. You will run into the typical yuppy type here and the late night bar crowd. The place is a good hang out spot and has windows all the way around that open. The decor was...uninspiring. The ceiling was downright weird. There were clapboard style wooden ceiling beams exposed, which was fine. However, there was a metal grid system hanging off of it, meant to hold white square ceiling tiles, a la business office. But there were no tiles, just the framework. Mmmmm kay.

I ordered the #2 Rotisserie Chicken taco. It comes with white queso, roast corn pico,  cilantro, and smoked poblano salsa on a corn tortilla. (For the record, I don't recall white queso actually being on this taco) It was served on metal taco holders that were shaped like the letter W. No plate. A little bit of an issue if you have drippings. This was a common complaint between all three of us eating. My friend Lynn S. constructed a makeshift "plate" out of paper towels that were on our table. I was not overly impressed with the chicken. The rotisserie chicken from Walmart is more flavorful. My tortilla seemed packaged, sprouted a hole and began falling apart. The best part about this taco was the corn salsa. While my friends tried the habanero salsa, I went for a more vinegar based sauce that reminded me of Fuzzy's Butt Burnin' Sauce. I loved the flavor.

I also ordered the #3 Crisp Tikka Chicken Taco. It was served with spicy pepper sauce, buttered cilantro basmati rice, mint-coriander yogurt, basil, and a flour tortilla. This one was worse. Although the tortilla held together nicely, the chicken was swimming in a thick sauce that reminded me of buffalo chicken sauce. It was overpowering. The rice was a nice touch, but too bland to counter the overwhelming sauce on the chicken. The yogurt was good, but honestly, throwing a piece of basil on it is a joke. This taco needs more toppings to balance out the pepper sauce. Maybe some cabbage would be good. For the money, I felt a little jipped. 

My friend Dee thought it was "a cool, chill place. A good hangout spot."

She ordered the #3 Crisp Tikka Chicken taco as well. She thought the appearance was good,but the tortilla did not seem well cooked. She did give high marks for their habanero hot sauce.

Dee also ordered the #3.5 Picnic Chicken. This taco is served with avocado crema, warm honey-Dijon potato salad, crispy chicken skin and cilantro on a flour tortilla. Dee said, "it seemed dry." She explained that although the chicken was flavorful, "there was too much going on. A lot of different flavors." On a scale of 1-10, she rated this taco a 5. 

My other guest reviewer, Lynn S. ordered the #3.5 Picnic Chicken as well. She was definitely unimpressed with this taco. On a scale of 1-10 she rated it a -10. She kept referring to a funky fish taste we could never quite figure out and at one point mentioned having to "choke it down." Not a good sign. 

Lynn S. Did have better luck with the #1 Buffalo Chicken taco. This was a flour tortilla, served with crisp tenders, house Buffalo sauce, crumbled blue cheese, ranch crema, carrots, and celery leaves. She thought the meat was flavorful and gave it an all around score of a 7. This was the highest rated taco between the three of us. Despite the Buffalo Chicken's higher score, Lynn confessed she would only return to the Velvet Taco if she could try different tacos than what she had ordered.

For me, the redeeming factor for the whole experience was the side of Rotisserie Corn cooked 'elote style', with queso fresco, asadero, Valentina, crema and lime. It was fantastico! It's hard to find elote anywhere. Historically, only found in traditional taquerias, it is starting to become a mainstream item with its appearance increasing, particularly in the last year or so.

Full menu:

Fuzzy's-Gave me a Warm Feeling Inside

www.fuzzystacoshop.com

I went to the Fuzzy's Tacos on Camp Bowie at Ridglea. This place brings the Baja to Texas. 

I like to get the Shredded Garlic Beef Tacos with everything on corn tortillas. 

I like this place because it's different than any other taco you can get in town. 

The beef is so flavorful and juicy. The downside...don't get them to go. You will have a wet mess by the time you get home. The beef taco is topped with garlic sauce, lettuce, tomatoes, shredded cheese, cilantro, and feta. The corn tortillas are white corn, are soft and don't break under the burden of heavy toppings. They are always piled high. The garlic sauce and feta really give this taco a lighter California feel. Their Butt Burnin Sauce,available on every table, is vinegar based and is light and yummy. One of the best tacos in town.

Torchy's Tacos: The Hipsters Dream

www.torchystacos.com

Today, I used a much appreciated gift card I had received at Christmas for Torchy's Tacos. I stopped in to the MidTown location in Fort Worth near Rosedale and Forest Park. Parking was great. There was a spot right in front. I expected there to be few customers due to the available parking spaces, however the place was jumping when I got inside. Where did all these people come from? It was noticeably heavy on the hipster vibe which I guess fits in with the Magnolia Near South Side revival that's going on in that area. Skinny jeans and beards aside, the atmosphere was warm and inviting. It even had a bar area.

I decided to order The Democrat. It had shredded beef barbacoa with fresh avocado, queso fresco, cilantro, onions served with a fresh wedge of lime and tomatillo salsa with your choice of corn or flour tortilla. I chose flour. I ordered two extra tortillas with it. I had visited Torchy's when it first opened at this location and there was so much meat on my tacos, I had wished I could spread it out over more tortillas. It was almost too big to handle and eat without it becoming a big hot mess. But, this time it wasn't quite as much meat. I still split the toppings from one taco between three tortillas and was full from it.

The appearance of the food was great. The barbacoa was juicy and moist but it didn't leave a puddle of drippings on the bottom of the taco basket. It was perfect as far as moistness goes. The tomatillo sauce was very fresh tasting and overall the taco tasted good. The tortillas were hot and fresh and not rubbery. My only complaint was the mildness of the flavors. I kept waiting for a bite or a kick of spice from something, but it never came. I guess I prefer a little more Tex than Mex in my tacos. I wish the barbacoa would have been a little more flavorful and the tomatillo salsa would have been medium instead of mild.

I ordered a soda with my taco and was pleasantly surprised by my options upon reaching the self serve soda fountain. There was no Coke, Dr Pepper, or Pepsi. Instead I got the Mexican Cola. They had a variety of Pure Cane Soda selections.
The service was very fast and I can't wait to try some of their other tacos very soon. I recommend this place.