Monthly Archives: March 2014

I know. I know. My photography skills are flawless.

There are two scenarios where I would see it fit to eat tacos at Puebla Restaurant and Taqueria: 1. You have been out all night, tearing up the town. And, 2. You wake up for work really early and have a craving for tacos.

Why these two scenarios?

Well, there are two answers: 1. It’s open until 6:00 a.m. everyday. And, 2. It’s really not that good.

Don’t get me wrong. It’s not terrible. But, on a street like Milwaukee, where taco joints are more prevalent than ironic mustaches, you’ve gotta do something to differentiate yourself from the others…other than outlasting them into the blackout hours of the morning.

Unfortunately, we didn’t go under either of these scenarios. My princess, and two of our friends, Beauty (Nikki) and the Beast (Glen), headed over at a normal dinner time. Since I don’t ever admit to mistakes, I’ll blame the choice of restaurant on the three of them. Jerks.

Located half a block from the heart of Logan Square, Puebla is in a great spot. It’s in a big, open space, with a lot of colorful Mexican decor and plenty of tables….empty tables. It’s nice looking, but has a very stale atmosphere….probably due to the fact that nobody is ever in there.

So, what about those tacos?

I ordered the steak, roast pork and Mexican sausage. If I described each one, I’d sound like a broken record, so I’m just going to say it once, for all three. Everything about the tacos is just aight.

The meats are all cooked ok, but they lack seasoning and flavor. Even the chorizo is plain. No spice from the peppers, no mesquite flavor from the paprika, just an extremely plain tasting sausage. Same with the steak. Ditton on the roast pork.

Puebla’s tortillas aren’t bad, but they are doubled up, which takes away from the taste the meat never had.

The onions and cilantro are spot on, though.

No a la carte, kids.

I’m sure I’ll find myself stumbling into Puebla again at some point, but I doubt I’ll be getting the tacos. One order was enough.

On to the next stop on the Tour…

• Location:  2658 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago, IL (Logan Square)
• Tourists:  Josh, Julia, Glen, Nikki
• Tacos sampled:  steak, roast pork, Mexican sausage (their choice of words, not mine), (also have ground beef and veggie)
  
• Toppings:  onions and cilantro; lettuce and tomato
• Salsa: salsa roja
  
• Extras:  chips
• Tortillas:  corn
• Atmosphere:  open, empty, quiet, late late night, bright colors/dull atmosphere
  
• Price: $8.95/3 taco dinner with beans and rice; no a la carte
  
• OVERALL RATING: 6.5
  

One stop shop.

Turbo Tacos is a relatively new spot located about 4 blocks from my apartment. The first time I saw that it had opened, I had two thoughts: 1.) “Hasn’t this place been like a million different things?” I tried to look it up on the Google, but I quickly found myself looking at pictures of Kate Upton and lost my concentration. So, to any of my millions of subscribers, if anyone knows what it has been, please let me know….and….2.) “This place looks terrible.” It just looks like one of those greasy places that serves everything from burgers to pizza puffs to gyros to tacos. Which, I guess, it is. EXCEPT, it’s actually pretty darned good, especially considering the price: $1.50 per taco!

My favorite taco is the al pastor. It is spicy and doused in adobo sauce. I can’t believe how juicy it is, and it isn’t cooked on a spit, just on the flat top. Very, very tasty indeed.

I expected the chorizo taco to be oily, but it’s a legit chorizo: spicy, sweet, paprika-ridden and full of flavor. Just as it should be. Very tasty indeed.

The asada taco is also flavorful, although the meat isn’t a very high quality and is cut into very small chunks. It still has nice grill flavor and seasoning, but it’s not going to stack up to L’Patron, Las Asadas or La Pasadita. Still, tasty indeed.

I don’t think Turbo Tacos uses the prime meat, but they do a good job with what they’re workin’ wit. And, what more could you expect for the price? I’m highly impressed and will be back. Not because it’s so close to where I live, but because it’s a bona fide spot.

One quick side note: I did have heroically terrible burps later in the night, something my little princess enjoyed.

One more quick side note: I’ve now used more colons (the punctuation mark, you fecal freaks) in this blog than ever before. Cool, huh?

Oh yeah, they also live up to the name Turbo Tacos. The tacos come out so fast, it’s almost as if the cooks know what you’re going to order. A very nice quality.

Ok, one more side note: the beans are runny.

This marks my 60th stop on the Taco Tour. Here’s to 600 more!

• Location:  2050 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago, IL (Logan Square)
  
• Tourists:  Josh, Julia
• Tacos sampled:  asada, al pastor, chorizo (also have pollo, carnitas, cecina, lengua, tripa and pescado)
  
• Toppings:  onions and cilantro/lime
  
• Salsa:  salsa rojo and avacado salsa (no, not guacamole)
  
• Extras:  none
  
• Tortillas:  corn
  
• Atmosphere:  fast-foody, America vs Mexico, quick, cheap, clean
  
• Price:  $1.50-$1.80/taco
  
• OVERALL RATING: 7.5

Jefe is spanish for slow…

Have you ever heard of Johnny’s Beef? It’s a chain, but, from what I hear, still a must on any foodie’s bucket list. Late one night, my princess and I were cruising the wild streets of Elmwood Park looking for some grub. While foraging, we stumbled upon Johnny’s. So, what did we do? That’s right, we went to the taco joint across the street, Señor Jefe.

I ordered the steak, pork and chorizo tacos. And then I waited. And waited. And waited.

There weren’t even any other customers in there. I thought the Cubs would win a World Series before I got my tacos. But, they didn’t. I finally got them….AND?

Well, Señor Jefe is kind of hit or miss. Well, I guess actually hit, hit or miss. I really liked two of the tacos: the steak and the chorizo.

The steak is nicely cooked and has great grill flavor. It is well seasoned and just salty enough to distribute the flavor of the steak. The chunks of meat are kinda small, but it’s still a very good taco. It, and the other tacos, are topped with onions and cilantro. Simple, yet enough texture and flavor to please.

The chorizo taco is my favorite. It’s spicy, sweet and salty. They either make the chorizo on site, or get it freshly made for them. At any rate, it’s very clean tasting and very good. The paprika really stands out. I hate it when places use those chorizo tubes you get at the grocery store that just leak piggy juice all over the place. This, on the other hand, is legit.

My last taco was the pork. While it isn’t bad tasting, it’s just really bland and rather dry. You’ve heard the expression “dry as a bone”? Well, this would make bones envious. I’m not sure how that would work, but it’s true. Two out of three ain’t bad, though, right?

My only other nit-picky, taco diva advice for this place would be to serve the tacos on one tortilla instead of two. I don’t get why people double up on tortillas when it’s unnecessary. It takes away from the juiciness and overall flavor of the taco. Duh.

Boy, that lime taco looks deeeelish!

Ok, enough of Elmwood Park. Whatever that is.

On to the next stop:

• Location:  7446 W. North Ave., Elmwood Park, IL (Concordia University-ish)
  
• Tourists:  Josh, Julia
• Tacos sampled:  steak, pork, chorizo (also have beef, chicken and lengua)
  
• Toppings:  onions and cilantro/lime; or lettuce, tomato, sour cream and chihuahua cheese
  
• Salsa:  salsa rojo, salsa verde
  
• Extras:  none
  
• Tortillas:  corn or flour
  
• Atmosphere:  slow, empty, small, slow, un-busy
  
• Price:  $2.19/taco – also have jr. tacos for $1.29 each
  
• OVERALL RATING: 7.0