A list compiled by a national foodie blog of Tucson's Top 10 best Mexican restaurants got us to thinking we probably needed to refresh our tastebuds. There were a number of eateries on the list that had either fallen off our radar or were simply never on it.
So in the name of setting the record straight, we picked one at random and checked it.
• Taqueria El Pueblito, 1800 E. Fort Lowell Road, Suite A156; facebook.com/taqueria.elpueblito
• History: The restaurant spent three years at El Mercado San Agustin until its lease expired in early 2014.
• What we ordered: Crispy shredded beef tacos and an al pastor pork torta.
• The conclusion: Some people rate their Mexican food in terms of Scoville units. We rate ours in terms of layers of flavors and textures: Chiles lending a delicate smoky hue with flashes of salty subdued by sweet; meat tender but not mushy, topped with crisp veg that offers a cool respite from any heat imparted by the chiles.
At Taqueria El Pueblito, the shredded beef in the tacos was wonderfully tender, and dismally bland. It was missing any hint of its Mexican provenance. It could have easily subbed in on a roast beef sandwich with au jus on the side. The al pastor was more sweet than anything, but it was good. The bread was toasted crispy and the cool tomato and raw onion added a nice freshness to the sandwich.
Granted, we tried only a couple of dishes, and the restaurant, in its current digs about 18 months — in the same plaza on East Fort Lowell Road and North Campbell Avenue that is home to Rosa's Mexican Food — has a solid and respectable following of Yelp reviewers. Did it belong on the list? Perhaps a Top 25, maybe, but not 10.
We couldn't help wonder why Rosa's, which has been in business 35 years and has mostly swoonable Yelp reviews, didn't make the tabelog.us list.
