Best bar food: Raise a glass to these 16 tacos
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Our favorite late-night tacos from the 100 Days of Tacos series. See the whole list at tucson.com/tacos
- Andi Berlin Arizona Daily Star
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After driving half an hour to slam down Peruvian tacos in an office complex — using a Texas sage bush as a table — I was ready to throw in the towel for the day. But there it was parked in front of Tap & Bottle as the sun went down, taunting me.
Let's just say, if you've never eaten a massive chicken taco salad inside an upscale bottle shop while a live band slams out Radiohead covers, you've never lived ... So thank you El Gorrion for that. Maybe it was just the Betty's Beard sour stout talking, but this thing was awesome: forkfuls of spiced shredded chicken in between beans and hearty rice, topped with lettuce, cheese, sour cream and crisp tomatoes.
Weird fact: The truck is actually a satellite location for El Gorrion restaurant at 3459 S. 12th Ave.
Location and hours: The truck will be at Tap & Bottle, 403 N. Sixth Ave., from 6 to 11 p.m. June 18, and is looking to expand its presence downtown.
You can also catch it 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Mondays through Fridays on the northwest corner of South Nogales Highway and Vamori Street. It also serves lunch 10:45 a.m. to 1:10 p.m. Mondays through Fridays inside Raytheon.
Facebook: facebook.com/elgorriontucson
Phone: 520-770-1340
Payment: accepts debit and credit
- Andi Berlin Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
This is the rhythm of the night. Luscious chunks of Yucutan-style pork, plopped onto steamy corn tortillas and slathered with a salsa of pico de pajaro chiles and wisps of crunchy cabbage. You're sitting on the deck watching the sun go down behind the glistening office towers. There's techno, and fish tanks ...
And hey, did we mention it's free? At The Aquadec Rooftop Lounge on Friday nights, all you've gotta do is buy a $3 drink, and the "Taquito King" Ruben Soto will cook you up something incredible. Today it was his cochinita pibil tacos, with pork marinated in achiote chile, orange juice and Tecate beer. Then slow roasted for eight hours in banana leaves. My god, do I even have to describe them again? I know I have a great job, but this is torture!
Weird fact: I just wanted to apologize to the guy who really loves Ruben's chicken wings, which got pushed off the menu because of this taco project ... Maybe next week?
Location: 61 E. Congress St.
Hours: 5 to 9 p.m. Fridays
Facebook: facebook.com/taquitotours
Payment: All you gotta do is buy a drink at the bar!
- Andi Berlin Arizona Daily Star
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It's not on the menu (for better or worse) ... But if you ask real nicely, the kitchen at Sir Veza's Taco Garage will make you up a true Tucson oddity: a hot dog sliced in half with applewood bacon, charro beans and all the fixings on top of a tortilla.
The Sonoran hot dog taco seems so simple, it's almost preordained: After all, isn't this snappy wonder just the next logical step in our bacon-wrapped obsession? But despite what Circle K wants you to think, hot dogs and flour tortillas are indeed strange bedfellows. Compared to your average bun, the thin wrap struggles to hold in all that salsa and mayo and mustard; a mess waiting to happen ...
Either way, well done on their part! With each freakishly flavorful bite, I thought of how lucky we are to live in such a strange and wonderful place called Tucson, the only city in the world that makes this amazing aberration we call the Sonoran hot dog taco. How lovely it all feels, at least until you finish and step out of the air conditioning ...
Weird fact: The regular Sonoran dog is actually called the "Sirnoran Dog," thank you very much!
Location: 4699 E. Speedway, also have a Tucson Mall location at 220 W. Wetmore Road.
Phone: 520-323-8226
Hours: 11 a.m. to close (between 11 p.m. to 1 a.m.) seven days a week
Payment: accepts debit and credit
- Andi Berlin Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
It had to come to this point. Now that we're about a third of the way done, it's time to visit the titan of the Tucson taco scene, BK Carne Asada and Hot Dogs. The epitome of Tucson's funky fresh food scene, no list would be complete without them ...
Since I've eaten through the entire menu, I can confidently say that their cabeza is the best. (Ever!) There's just something about it, so soft and meaty almost like a sauce, without too much fat. I dare everyone — even the pickiest of eaters — to say that this cow head is yucky.
The cabeza taco is top-notch, but if I'm going to be real honest here, I've gotta say. Nothing beats the cheesy caramelo ... What do you think?
Insider's tip: There's free guacamole at the salsa bar, but if you can bring yourself to order the real-deal guac appetizer, you won't regret it. BK really has some of the best in town ...
Location: I caught up with them at 2680 N. First Ave., but they also have a location at 5118 S. 12th Ave.
Phone: 520-207-2245
Hours: 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Sundays through Thursdays and 9 a.m. to 2 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays.
Payment: accepts debit and credit
- Andi Berlin Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
There is a day of the week devoted to tacos. It is Tuesday, and it is now my special day ...
On said Tuesday, you can walk into a Fourth Avenue bar and receive a plate of gorgeous local veggie tacos dotted with micro cilantro and lime crema. These beauties are an Instagram post waiting to happen: Ermanos Chef David Valencia Jr. takes heirloom carrots from Sleeping Frog Farms and braises them in brown butter for just long enough to create a sear. The carrots and the grilled corn kernels are still partially raw, leaving them snappy and fresh like a little salad. Paired with the fruity pink Prickly Pear Wheat from Borderlands Brewing Co., it was a lovely lunch.
David rotates through a few different Taco Tuesday specials — including gems like the shrimp a la plancha and pulled pork barbacoa — so check the Facebook page to see what he's doing that week.
Interesting newsy bit: On my recent visit, I peered into the kitchen and saw the reina of Tucson tacos herself: Chef Maria Mazon of Boca Tacos + Tequila. Apparently she wasn't cooking the tacos that day, but told me she was working on a secret partnership with Ermanos, info coming soon ...
Location: 220 N. Fourth Ave.
Phone: 520-445-6625
Hours: noon to 12 a.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays, noon to 1 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sundays, closed Mondays.
Payment: accepts debit and credit
- Andi Berlin Arizona Daily Star
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I had an unfortunate run-in with California for three years, and I still think about my first meal when I moved back to town. Eaten on the floor at 2 in the morning after driving for 10 hours: a styrofoam treasure chest of silken refried beans, foil-wrapped tortillas and that spicy, sublime machaca beef.
I like to tell this story because for a lot of people, The Taco Shop Co. is Tucson. When you're in that posh Berkeley taqueria asking for no lettuce, no sour cream, no rice in your $7 burrito, your soul weeps for home: That crazy little 24-hour joint on Broadway with simple toasted breakfast burritos and the soothing hum of the horchata machine.
To appeal to non-meat eaters, Taco Shop also makes a plate of fried potato tacos stuffed with shredded cheese, cabbage and juicy pico de gallo. They cook the potatoes until they're perfectly mushy, and then stuff them into bright green tortillas because they "look more vegetarian." At first glance, they reminded me of all those healthy spinach tortillas I settled for in the Bay Area. But no, these tacos are all Tucson: Crisp and colorful on the edges, but soft and welcoming in the middle.
Insider's tip: The tacos aren't really on the menu because they run out sometimes, so you might want to ask ahead.
Location: 1350 E. Broadway
Phone: 520-622-1899
Hours: 24 hours a day, seven days a week
Payment: accepts debit and credit cards
- Andi Berlin Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
They're known for their devilish pellets of deep-fried Oreo cookies. (Which for better or worse, have been taken off the menu.) But the kitchen at Surly Wench Pub also does some mean tacos.
We swerved away from the ones with the nacho cheese and went with a plate of Mom's Tacos, stuffed with seasoned ground beef the way owner Stephanie Johnston's mom used to do it. More like a dry meat sauce than a meat ball, the ground beef was chunky and peppery; a nice foil to the crunchy cabbage and herbaceous pico on top. Dip it in that smoky roasted poblano sauce, and you've got yourself a well-rounded meal ... that won't destroy you.
Insider's tip: The kitchen also does takeout, so you can order the tacos from a surrounding bar and go pick them up.
Location: 424 N. Fourth Ave.
Phone: 520-882-0009
Kitchen Hours: 2 p.m. to 1 a.m. Sundays through Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 1:30 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays
Payment: accepts debit and credit
- Andi Berlin Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
We ate ceviche tacos in the corner booth by the port hole window, under the photo of a beer bellied man in a speedo holding a swordfish. Fini's Landing was quite a scene this Sunday evening: The suburban bar was packed with people drinking Coronas while a guy busted out Willie Nelson covers on the patio.
Most taco chefs need to cook up their meat, but here the lime does the work for everyone. Just a squeeze and it renders these little bay scallops bright and plump with a squishy bounce on your tongue. We dotted on some of their housemade Chubasco sauce, full of pepper and vinegar that really made the avocado sing!
Cool fact: Fini's only serves seafood from recognized sustainable fisheries and is a partner with the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch program.
Location: 5689 N. Swan Road
Phone: 520-299-1010
Hours: 11 a.m. to midnight Mondays through Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. Fridays, 8 a.m. to 2 a.m. Saturdays and 8 a.m. to midnight Sundays
Payment: accepts debit and credit
- Andi Berlin Arizona Daily Star
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In Spanish, they call it "pato." Surely not to be confused with "pata," which once got me a steaming bowl of cow's feet soup. The word means duck, and if you can find it in a taco, you're definitely onto something.
This fabulous fowl is a staple on the menu at Elliott's On Congress, where they take pulled duck breasts and smother them with a housemade buttermilk ranch dressing mixed with both pickled and fresh jalapeños. These aren't spicy tacos by any means though; they're creamy and light, with a fresh hit of pico de gallo. With meat like this, you wanna showcase it ...
Weird fact: For a sports bar, these guys sure have a lot of duck dishes. Aside from the pato tacos, they also do duck egg rolls, duck sliders, a duck club and a barbecue duck sandwich with pepperjack cheese.
Location: 135 E. Congress St.
Phone: 520-622-5500
Hours: 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. every day
Payment: accepts debit and credit cards
- Andi Berlin Arizona Daily Star
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Tucson folks call it a "torito": A fat yellow guero pepper that gets stuffed with melty cheese and wrapped in bacon, then crisped up on the grill. The mini Sonoran chile relleno is a fun thing to order at taquerias like BK Carne Asada. But it's always a side dish, until now ...
La Botana Fresco Grill and Cantina puts the humble pepper on a pedestal of two flour tortillas, transforming it into the Torito Taco. The pepper gets stuffed with little shrimps and spattered with a bouquet of green onions and tomatoes.
Eating it with tortillas rather than toothpicks might give you a bout of food dysphoria, kind of like biting into a soup dumpling or a lettuce-wrapped cheeseburger. But it's a lot less messy this way ... And hey, now you can order five of them!
Insider's tip: This place has a mean happy hour from 2-5 p.m. and 8 p.m. to close weekdays. They sell 10 tacos for $10 and a bucket of six little beers for $7.
Location: 3200 N. First Ave.
Phone: 520-777-8801
Hours: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sundays
Payment: accepts debit and credit cards
- Andi Berlin Arizona Daily Star
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You will never see this taco in the daylight. Kyle Araishi fires up the grill at about 10 p.m. and keeps it going through the wee hours, keeping the dance floor hot and smoky at La Cocina.
Even in the dark you can see that these are serious bar bites: grilled on real mesquite wood and sent directly to your mouth before the night air fades away that beautiful char. They can be splashy numbers dolled up with cilantro and shredded red cabbage. But tonight they were also doing Korean BBQ tacos, a hybrid popularized by the Kogi food truck in Los Angeles.
The beef on my taco had been trimmed from a brisket cut and then tenderized with a marinade that includes orange juice, Tamari and various spices. After it came off the grill, Kyle threw on a slab of Korean kimchi he'd gotten from Grantstone Supermarket, then a tower of crispy onion rings and chopped cilantro. Sweetness, tempered by the funky fermented cabbage and that sharp flavor of the smoky mesquite wood. Ironically, it was some of the most authentic carne asada I've ever had.
Insider's tip: Korean tacos are only on the menu every couple months, but Kyle usually does some kind of weekly taco special like Hawaiian or chimichurri. Plus, there's always the LaCo dog, a Sonoran hot dog with some chipotle sauce and more.
Location: 201 N. Court Ave.
Phone: 520-622-0351
Hours: 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. Thursdays through Saturdays
Payment: accepts debit and credit cards, at the bar
- Andi Berlin Arizona Daily Star
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The Iguana Cafe, that nondescript gray storefront across the street from the Ronstadt Transit Center, has gone strong for almost 12 years as other bars on Congress fell by the wayside. Jesus and Rosie Padilla's bar is a subtle reminder of the old downtown, before redevelopment brought in all the gourmet and the glamour.
During the day it's got a working class kinda vibe, with people sipping beers along the square bartop that takes up most of the room. An old jukebox seemed to be playing Carlos Santana's entire discography ... A fitting soundtrack for these tacos dorados, some of the tastiest I've had downtown or anywhere.
My chicken was shredded real soft, with little bits of tomatoes and onions giving it some extra juice. Then it was rolled up in a corn tortilla and fried to a perfect crisp. Nothin' fancy, just good old fried tacos with an unassaulting "guacamolito" sauce of finely blended avocado. Good stuff!
Weird fact: If you eat here you gotta roll with the punches, 'cause weird stuff might happen: One guy was caught trying to walk in smoking a cigarette, and I got in a conversation with another dude about how eating iguanas is good for you and gives you "mucho mucho power." No iguanas on the menu though, just chicken.
Location: 210 E. Congress St.
Phone: 520-882-5140
Hours: 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 1 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sundays
Payment: accepts debit and credit cards
- Andi Berlin Arizona Daily Star
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Janos Wilder seems to be racking up his frequent flyer miles these days: This month's Downtown Kitchen + Cocktails menu explores the Sichuan cuisine of Chengdu, China. But these braised beef cheek tacos hit close to home.
Served on flour tortillas with a zippy chiltepin salsa and radish sticks that merge into the cabbage slaw, the tacos remind me of Tucson's best resort food. They're not meant to be fussy, but they've sure got panache ...
They are bar bites after all, situated on the bar menu somewhere between the warm Oaxacan peanuts and the fancy Sonoran J Dawg. They are little snacks that slip down easy with the whiskey-spiked Tucson Lemonade. (Or in my case, the J Bar Margarita ... another La Paloma classic) Because here, the familiar is both a comfort and an excitement. And as it turns out, margaritas taste great with Oaxacan mole French fries!
Weird fact: Janos really does walk the walk when it comes to pioneering Sonoran flavors. The man practically christened this taco voyage by stepping behind me in line at Aqui con El Nene when I was doing Taco Numero Uno. He has good taste when it comes to takeout.
Location: 135 S. Sixth Ave.
Hours: 4 to 9 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays, 4 to 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays
Phone: 520-623-7700
Payment: accepts debit and credit cards
- Andi Berlin Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Korean kimchi tacos, a most unlikely hybrid, are usually a marvel of sweet chile sauce and funky fermented cabbage. But downtown at 47 Scott, they're are all about the grill.
The first thing that hits you is that wonderful char, caked into ridges of braised pork belly and bubbling out from the flour tortillas. These are meat tacos pure and simple. All of the sauce in here comes from little shreds of tangy Brussels sprout leaves fermented into kimchi from the house sauerkraut: not exactly that fat slab of chile-glazed cabbage you might expect. But drier, more delicate, and dare I say it? German ...
Interesting newsy bit: The tacos are a new addition to 47 Scott's happy hour menu. When Executive Chef Daniel Thomas came on from Scottsdale's J&G Steakhouse in July, he revamped the menu and added the happy hour.
Location: 47 N. Scott Ave.
Phone: 520-624-4747
Hours: Happy hour is 4 to 6 p.m. seven days a week. Full hours are 4 p.m. with last seating at 10 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, and 10 a.m. with last seating at 10 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.
Payment: accepts debit and credit cards
- Andi Berlin Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
This food truck/Mexican candy store came highly recommended by a server at Nox Kitchen, purveyor of short rib tacos and New Zealand rack of lamb. With its late-night hours and killer carne asada, Karamelo King has gained a cult status among industry workers and dive-bar dwellers along Grant Road.
The truck's owners Cristina and Rafael Gastelum are from Cananea and Ciudad Obregón, Sonora, where grilled steaks reign supreme and the plain cheese quesadilla seems inadequate compared to its beefier brother, the caramelo. But these guys take a step further by letting you "King" size things by adding onions, whole pinto beans and avocado on top!
Rafael fixed me up a Taco King straight from the mesquite charcoal grill, where he uses a rotating wheel rack to control the temperature. (He also handed me a brilliant charred onion, which I popped out of its crispy shell straight into my mouth like an Otter Pop! Gosh I love those ...)
I can see why people flock to this place. The chuck steak is seasoned with nothing but salt, a pure expression of the steer that drives the culture of Northern Mexico. It's great with the beans and the like, but it's also great by itself. (And while we're at it, in the Hass taco with cheese and green chiles.) The perfect treat after a long day, or perhaps, a long night ...
Weird fact: The piñatas in the candy shop next door are a serious contribution to pop art, especially the SpongeBob SquarePants. If you ask nicely like I did, they might even take you inside to meet Donald Trump!
Location: 3752 E. Grant Road
Phone: 520-409-1027
Hours: 6 p.m. to midnight Mondays through Thursdays, 6 p.m. to 3 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays, closed Sundays
Payment: cash only
- Andi Berlin Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Taqueria El Semental started out as an old white truck in David Prieto's front yard. Around three years ago, David was going through some tough times and thought, "I have to do something with this." Then he did.
The California-native was working as a carpenter at the time, so he put a little money into fixing the truck up, taking the scrap metal off the body and covering the exterior with wooden panels, which he stained the color Gunstock to look like an old Western. He called his truck El Semental, which means "stud" or "bull," after a nickname his cousin called him, because he was good with the ladies. On the side of the truck, he pasted a big picture of a hulking white bull wearing a nose ring.
For a couple years, the truck operated out at South Kinney Road and Western Way by Old Tucson. And around six months ago, he moved to Fourth Avenue and employed the help of his sister Celina to run the cash register. Parked next to the giant Easter Island head at The Hut, El Semental provides weekend bargoers with massive burritos, Nachos Locos gut bombs and some pretty exceptional late-night bites.
This crazy thing, the caramelo taco, was thought up by Celina. It's basically a full-scale caramelo featuring two 10-inch tortillas stuffed with shredded mozzarella cheese and mesquite-grilled carne asada. (David prefers to use the shoulder meat rather than the more popular chuck steak, because he says it's juicier and has less fat and nerve tissue.) Then on top, David puts your regular taco fixins': a handful of shredded cabbage, pico de gallo, a blended red salsa and a squirt of guacamole.
Sitting with this cheesy meat goliath in your hands, it's hard to decide whether you should rip little melty pieces off like you would a caramelo, or just fold the whole thing up and eat it like a taco. I chose the latter, because, you know ... I was sitting on a stage in front of a dozen people wearing masks of my face, cheering me on.
But lots of people like to eat it right in front of the truck, sitting on a decorative bale of hay and watching the revelers walk by. It's kind of like you're at a cattle ranch in Sonora, except not really. You're in Tucson at midnight, and hey, this is fun!
Weird fact: The caramelo taco isn't actually on the menu, so you have to ask for it. Also if you get it with corn tortillas, it's significantly smaller.
Location: parked in front of the Hut, 305 N. Fourth Ave.
Phone: 520-668-9163
Hours: 7:30 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. Thursdays, 6:30 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays
Payment: accepts debit and credit cards
After driving half an hour to slam down Peruvian tacos in an office complex — using a Texas sage bush as a table — I was ready to throw in the towel for the day. But there it was parked in front of Tap & Bottle as the sun went down, taunting me.
Let's just say, if you've never eaten a massive chicken taco salad inside an upscale bottle shop while a live band slams out Radiohead covers, you've never lived ... So thank you El Gorrion for that. Maybe it was just the Betty's Beard sour stout talking, but this thing was awesome: forkfuls of spiced shredded chicken in between beans and hearty rice, topped with lettuce, cheese, sour cream and crisp tomatoes.
Weird fact: The truck is actually a satellite location for El Gorrion restaurant at 3459 S. 12th Ave.
Location and hours: The truck will be at Tap & Bottle, 403 N. Sixth Ave., from 6 to 11 p.m. June 18, and is looking to expand its presence downtown.
You can also catch it 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Mondays through Fridays on the northwest corner of South Nogales Highway and Vamori Street. It also serves lunch 10:45 a.m. to 1:10 p.m. Mondays through Fridays inside Raytheon.
Facebook: facebook.com/elgorriontucson
Phone: 520-770-1340
Payment: accepts debit and credit
This is the rhythm of the night. Luscious chunks of Yucutan-style pork, plopped onto steamy corn tortillas and slathered with a salsa of pico de pajaro chiles and wisps of crunchy cabbage. You're sitting on the deck watching the sun go down behind the glistening office towers. There's techno, and fish tanks ...
And hey, did we mention it's free? At The Aquadec Rooftop Lounge on Friday nights, all you've gotta do is buy a $3 drink, and the "Taquito King" Ruben Soto will cook you up something incredible. Today it was his cochinita pibil tacos, with pork marinated in achiote chile, orange juice and Tecate beer. Then slow roasted for eight hours in banana leaves. My god, do I even have to describe them again? I know I have a great job, but this is torture!
Weird fact: I just wanted to apologize to the guy who really loves Ruben's chicken wings, which got pushed off the menu because of this taco project ... Maybe next week?
Location: 61 E. Congress St.
Hours: 5 to 9 p.m. Fridays
Facebook: facebook.com/taquitotours
Payment: All you gotta do is buy a drink at the bar!
It's not on the menu (for better or worse) ... But if you ask real nicely, the kitchen at Sir Veza's Taco Garage will make you up a true Tucson oddity: a hot dog sliced in half with applewood bacon, charro beans and all the fixings on top of a tortilla.
The Sonoran hot dog taco seems so simple, it's almost preordained: After all, isn't this snappy wonder just the next logical step in our bacon-wrapped obsession? But despite what Circle K wants you to think, hot dogs and flour tortillas are indeed strange bedfellows. Compared to your average bun, the thin wrap struggles to hold in all that salsa and mayo and mustard; a mess waiting to happen ...
Either way, well done on their part! With each freakishly flavorful bite, I thought of how lucky we are to live in such a strange and wonderful place called Tucson, the only city in the world that makes this amazing aberration we call the Sonoran hot dog taco. How lovely it all feels, at least until you finish and step out of the air conditioning ...
Weird fact: The regular Sonoran dog is actually called the "Sirnoran Dog," thank you very much!
Location: 4699 E. Speedway, also have a Tucson Mall location at 220 W. Wetmore Road.
Phone: 520-323-8226
Hours: 11 a.m. to close (between 11 p.m. to 1 a.m.) seven days a week
Payment: accepts debit and credit
It had to come to this point. Now that we're about a third of the way done, it's time to visit the titan of the Tucson taco scene, BK Carne Asada and Hot Dogs. The epitome of Tucson's funky fresh food scene, no list would be complete without them ...
Since I've eaten through the entire menu, I can confidently say that their cabeza is the best. (Ever!) There's just something about it, so soft and meaty almost like a sauce, without too much fat. I dare everyone — even the pickiest of eaters — to say that this cow head is yucky.
The cabeza taco is top-notch, but if I'm going to be real honest here, I've gotta say. Nothing beats the cheesy caramelo ... What do you think?
Insider's tip: There's free guacamole at the salsa bar, but if you can bring yourself to order the real-deal guac appetizer, you won't regret it. BK really has some of the best in town ...
Location: I caught up with them at 2680 N. First Ave., but they also have a location at 5118 S. 12th Ave.
Phone: 520-207-2245
Hours: 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Sundays through Thursdays and 9 a.m. to 2 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays.
Payment: accepts debit and credit
There is a day of the week devoted to tacos. It is Tuesday, and it is now my special day ...
On said Tuesday, you can walk into a Fourth Avenue bar and receive a plate of gorgeous local veggie tacos dotted with micro cilantro and lime crema. These beauties are an Instagram post waiting to happen: Ermanos Chef David Valencia Jr. takes heirloom carrots from Sleeping Frog Farms and braises them in brown butter for just long enough to create a sear. The carrots and the grilled corn kernels are still partially raw, leaving them snappy and fresh like a little salad. Paired with the fruity pink Prickly Pear Wheat from Borderlands Brewing Co., it was a lovely lunch.
David rotates through a few different Taco Tuesday specials — including gems like the shrimp a la plancha and pulled pork barbacoa — so check the Facebook page to see what he's doing that week.
Interesting newsy bit: On my recent visit, I peered into the kitchen and saw the reina of Tucson tacos herself: Chef Maria Mazon of Boca Tacos + Tequila. Apparently she wasn't cooking the tacos that day, but told me she was working on a secret partnership with Ermanos, info coming soon ...
Location: 220 N. Fourth Ave.
Phone: 520-445-6625
Hours: noon to 12 a.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays, noon to 1 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sundays, closed Mondays.
Payment: accepts debit and credit
I had an unfortunate run-in with California for three years, and I still think about my first meal when I moved back to town. Eaten on the floor at 2 in the morning after driving for 10 hours: a styrofoam treasure chest of silken refried beans, foil-wrapped tortillas and that spicy, sublime machaca beef.
I like to tell this story because for a lot of people, The Taco Shop Co. is Tucson. When you're in that posh Berkeley taqueria asking for no lettuce, no sour cream, no rice in your $7 burrito, your soul weeps for home: That crazy little 24-hour joint on Broadway with simple toasted breakfast burritos and the soothing hum of the horchata machine.
To appeal to non-meat eaters, Taco Shop also makes a plate of fried potato tacos stuffed with shredded cheese, cabbage and juicy pico de gallo. They cook the potatoes until they're perfectly mushy, and then stuff them into bright green tortillas because they "look more vegetarian." At first glance, they reminded me of all those healthy spinach tortillas I settled for in the Bay Area. But no, these tacos are all Tucson: Crisp and colorful on the edges, but soft and welcoming in the middle.
Insider's tip: The tacos aren't really on the menu because they run out sometimes, so you might want to ask ahead.
Location: 1350 E. Broadway
Phone: 520-622-1899
Hours: 24 hours a day, seven days a week
Payment: accepts debit and credit cards
They're known for their devilish pellets of deep-fried Oreo cookies. (Which for better or worse, have been taken off the menu.) But the kitchen at Surly Wench Pub also does some mean tacos.
We swerved away from the ones with the nacho cheese and went with a plate of Mom's Tacos, stuffed with seasoned ground beef the way owner Stephanie Johnston's mom used to do it. More like a dry meat sauce than a meat ball, the ground beef was chunky and peppery; a nice foil to the crunchy cabbage and herbaceous pico on top. Dip it in that smoky roasted poblano sauce, and you've got yourself a well-rounded meal ... that won't destroy you.
Insider's tip: The kitchen also does takeout, so you can order the tacos from a surrounding bar and go pick them up.
Location: 424 N. Fourth Ave.
Phone: 520-882-0009
Kitchen Hours: 2 p.m. to 1 a.m. Sundays through Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 1:30 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays
Payment: accepts debit and credit
We ate ceviche tacos in the corner booth by the port hole window, under the photo of a beer bellied man in a speedo holding a swordfish. Fini's Landing was quite a scene this Sunday evening: The suburban bar was packed with people drinking Coronas while a guy busted out Willie Nelson covers on the patio.
Most taco chefs need to cook up their meat, but here the lime does the work for everyone. Just a squeeze and it renders these little bay scallops bright and plump with a squishy bounce on your tongue. We dotted on some of their housemade Chubasco sauce, full of pepper and vinegar that really made the avocado sing!
Cool fact: Fini's only serves seafood from recognized sustainable fisheries and is a partner with the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch program.
Location: 5689 N. Swan Road
Phone: 520-299-1010
Hours: 11 a.m. to midnight Mondays through Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. Fridays, 8 a.m. to 2 a.m. Saturdays and 8 a.m. to midnight Sundays
Payment: accepts debit and credit
In Spanish, they call it "pato." Surely not to be confused with "pata," which once got me a steaming bowl of cow's feet soup. The word means duck, and if you can find it in a taco, you're definitely onto something.
This fabulous fowl is a staple on the menu at Elliott's On Congress, where they take pulled duck breasts and smother them with a housemade buttermilk ranch dressing mixed with both pickled and fresh jalapeños. These aren't spicy tacos by any means though; they're creamy and light, with a fresh hit of pico de gallo. With meat like this, you wanna showcase it ...
Weird fact: For a sports bar, these guys sure have a lot of duck dishes. Aside from the pato tacos, they also do duck egg rolls, duck sliders, a duck club and a barbecue duck sandwich with pepperjack cheese.
Location: 135 E. Congress St.
Phone: 520-622-5500
Hours: 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. every day
Payment: accepts debit and credit cards
Tucson folks call it a "torito": A fat yellow guero pepper that gets stuffed with melty cheese and wrapped in bacon, then crisped up on the grill. The mini Sonoran chile relleno is a fun thing to order at taquerias like BK Carne Asada. But it's always a side dish, until now ...
La Botana Fresco Grill and Cantina puts the humble pepper on a pedestal of two flour tortillas, transforming it into the Torito Taco. The pepper gets stuffed with little shrimps and spattered with a bouquet of green onions and tomatoes.
Eating it with tortillas rather than toothpicks might give you a bout of food dysphoria, kind of like biting into a soup dumpling or a lettuce-wrapped cheeseburger. But it's a lot less messy this way ... And hey, now you can order five of them!
Insider's tip: This place has a mean happy hour from 2-5 p.m. and 8 p.m. to close weekdays. They sell 10 tacos for $10 and a bucket of six little beers for $7.
Location: 3200 N. First Ave.
Phone: 520-777-8801
Hours: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sundays
Payment: accepts debit and credit cards
You will never see this taco in the daylight. Kyle Araishi fires up the grill at about 10 p.m. and keeps it going through the wee hours, keeping the dance floor hot and smoky at La Cocina.
Even in the dark you can see that these are serious bar bites: grilled on real mesquite wood and sent directly to your mouth before the night air fades away that beautiful char. They can be splashy numbers dolled up with cilantro and shredded red cabbage. But tonight they were also doing Korean BBQ tacos, a hybrid popularized by the Kogi food truck in Los Angeles.
The beef on my taco had been trimmed from a brisket cut and then tenderized with a marinade that includes orange juice, Tamari and various spices. After it came off the grill, Kyle threw on a slab of Korean kimchi he'd gotten from Grantstone Supermarket, then a tower of crispy onion rings and chopped cilantro. Sweetness, tempered by the funky fermented cabbage and that sharp flavor of the smoky mesquite wood. Ironically, it was some of the most authentic carne asada I've ever had.
Insider's tip: Korean tacos are only on the menu every couple months, but Kyle usually does some kind of weekly taco special like Hawaiian or chimichurri. Plus, there's always the LaCo dog, a Sonoran hot dog with some chipotle sauce and more.
Location: 201 N. Court Ave.
Phone: 520-622-0351
Hours: 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. Thursdays through Saturdays
Payment: accepts debit and credit cards, at the bar
The Iguana Cafe, that nondescript gray storefront across the street from the Ronstadt Transit Center, has gone strong for almost 12 years as other bars on Congress fell by the wayside. Jesus and Rosie Padilla's bar is a subtle reminder of the old downtown, before redevelopment brought in all the gourmet and the glamour.
During the day it's got a working class kinda vibe, with people sipping beers along the square bartop that takes up most of the room. An old jukebox seemed to be playing Carlos Santana's entire discography ... A fitting soundtrack for these tacos dorados, some of the tastiest I've had downtown or anywhere.
My chicken was shredded real soft, with little bits of tomatoes and onions giving it some extra juice. Then it was rolled up in a corn tortilla and fried to a perfect crisp. Nothin' fancy, just good old fried tacos with an unassaulting "guacamolito" sauce of finely blended avocado. Good stuff!
Weird fact: If you eat here you gotta roll with the punches, 'cause weird stuff might happen: One guy was caught trying to walk in smoking a cigarette, and I got in a conversation with another dude about how eating iguanas is good for you and gives you "mucho mucho power." No iguanas on the menu though, just chicken.
Location: 210 E. Congress St.
Phone: 520-882-5140
Hours: 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 1 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sundays
Payment: accepts debit and credit cards
Janos Wilder seems to be racking up his frequent flyer miles these days: This month's Downtown Kitchen + Cocktails menu explores the Sichuan cuisine of Chengdu, China. But these braised beef cheek tacos hit close to home.
Served on flour tortillas with a zippy chiltepin salsa and radish sticks that merge into the cabbage slaw, the tacos remind me of Tucson's best resort food. They're not meant to be fussy, but they've sure got panache ...
They are bar bites after all, situated on the bar menu somewhere between the warm Oaxacan peanuts and the fancy Sonoran J Dawg. They are little snacks that slip down easy with the whiskey-spiked Tucson Lemonade. (Or in my case, the J Bar Margarita ... another La Paloma classic) Because here, the familiar is both a comfort and an excitement. And as it turns out, margaritas taste great with Oaxacan mole French fries!
Weird fact: Janos really does walk the walk when it comes to pioneering Sonoran flavors. The man practically christened this taco voyage by stepping behind me in line at Aqui con El Nene when I was doing Taco Numero Uno. He has good taste when it comes to takeout.
Location: 135 S. Sixth Ave.
Hours: 4 to 9 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays, 4 to 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays
Phone: 520-623-7700
Payment: accepts debit and credit cards
Korean kimchi tacos, a most unlikely hybrid, are usually a marvel of sweet chile sauce and funky fermented cabbage. But downtown at 47 Scott, they're are all about the grill.
The first thing that hits you is that wonderful char, caked into ridges of braised pork belly and bubbling out from the flour tortillas. These are meat tacos pure and simple. All of the sauce in here comes from little shreds of tangy Brussels sprout leaves fermented into kimchi from the house sauerkraut: not exactly that fat slab of chile-glazed cabbage you might expect. But drier, more delicate, and dare I say it? German ...
Interesting newsy bit: The tacos are a new addition to 47 Scott's happy hour menu. When Executive Chef Daniel Thomas came on from Scottsdale's J&G Steakhouse in July, he revamped the menu and added the happy hour.
Location: 47 N. Scott Ave.
Phone: 520-624-4747
Hours: Happy hour is 4 to 6 p.m. seven days a week. Full hours are 4 p.m. with last seating at 10 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, and 10 a.m. with last seating at 10 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.
Payment: accepts debit and credit cards
This food truck/Mexican candy store came highly recommended by a server at Nox Kitchen, purveyor of short rib tacos and New Zealand rack of lamb. With its late-night hours and killer carne asada, Karamelo King has gained a cult status among industry workers and dive-bar dwellers along Grant Road.
The truck's owners Cristina and Rafael Gastelum are from Cananea and Ciudad Obregón, Sonora, where grilled steaks reign supreme and the plain cheese quesadilla seems inadequate compared to its beefier brother, the caramelo. But these guys take a step further by letting you "King" size things by adding onions, whole pinto beans and avocado on top!
Rafael fixed me up a Taco King straight from the mesquite charcoal grill, where he uses a rotating wheel rack to control the temperature. (He also handed me a brilliant charred onion, which I popped out of its crispy shell straight into my mouth like an Otter Pop! Gosh I love those ...)
I can see why people flock to this place. The chuck steak is seasoned with nothing but salt, a pure expression of the steer that drives the culture of Northern Mexico. It's great with the beans and the like, but it's also great by itself. (And while we're at it, in the Hass taco with cheese and green chiles.) The perfect treat after a long day, or perhaps, a long night ...
Weird fact: The piñatas in the candy shop next door are a serious contribution to pop art, especially the SpongeBob SquarePants. If you ask nicely like I did, they might even take you inside to meet Donald Trump!
Location: 3752 E. Grant Road
Phone: 520-409-1027
Hours: 6 p.m. to midnight Mondays through Thursdays, 6 p.m. to 3 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays, closed Sundays
Payment: cash only
Taqueria El Semental started out as an old white truck in David Prieto's front yard. Around three years ago, David was going through some tough times and thought, "I have to do something with this." Then he did.
The California-native was working as a carpenter at the time, so he put a little money into fixing the truck up, taking the scrap metal off the body and covering the exterior with wooden panels, which he stained the color Gunstock to look like an old Western. He called his truck El Semental, which means "stud" or "bull," after a nickname his cousin called him, because he was good with the ladies. On the side of the truck, he pasted a big picture of a hulking white bull wearing a nose ring.
For a couple years, the truck operated out at South Kinney Road and Western Way by Old Tucson. And around six months ago, he moved to Fourth Avenue and employed the help of his sister Celina to run the cash register. Parked next to the giant Easter Island head at The Hut, El Semental provides weekend bargoers with massive burritos, Nachos Locos gut bombs and some pretty exceptional late-night bites.
This crazy thing, the caramelo taco, was thought up by Celina. It's basically a full-scale caramelo featuring two 10-inch tortillas stuffed with shredded mozzarella cheese and mesquite-grilled carne asada. (David prefers to use the shoulder meat rather than the more popular chuck steak, because he says it's juicier and has less fat and nerve tissue.) Then on top, David puts your regular taco fixins': a handful of shredded cabbage, pico de gallo, a blended red salsa and a squirt of guacamole.
Sitting with this cheesy meat goliath in your hands, it's hard to decide whether you should rip little melty pieces off like you would a caramelo, or just fold the whole thing up and eat it like a taco. I chose the latter, because, you know ... I was sitting on a stage in front of a dozen people wearing masks of my face, cheering me on.
But lots of people like to eat it right in front of the truck, sitting on a decorative bale of hay and watching the revelers walk by. It's kind of like you're at a cattle ranch in Sonora, except not really. You're in Tucson at midnight, and hey, this is fun!
Weird fact: The caramelo taco isn't actually on the menu, so you have to ask for it. Also if you get it with corn tortillas, it's significantly smaller.
Location: parked in front of the Hut, 305 N. Fourth Ave.
Phone: 520-668-9163
Hours: 7:30 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. Thursdays, 6:30 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays
Payment: accepts debit and credit cards
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