I’m very torn on El Charro. They have one of my all-time favorite tacos. But, they also served me the worst taco I’ve ever had; maybe ever made.

mmmmm, pig skin…

Basically, don’t ever order the chicharron (pig skin). I thought the pig skin was going to come out fried, like pork rinds. Nope. The skin had a gelatinous consistency as if it had been boiled. It was rubbery, slimy and all around awful. I’d like to chalk that up to pig skin being gross, and not to El Charro.

The birria (goat) on the other hand, is awesome. It has the texture of a beef roast and is seasoned like an al pastor. I don’t see a lot of places that have this on the menu, but after eating this, I think more should. El Charro has a great variety of tacos as well. No cabeza and no mariscos, but other than that, they’ve got it all (see below). I also sampled the carne asade. Good ‘nuf.

The stats….

• Location: 2410 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago, IL (Logan Square)
• Tourists:  Josh
• Tacos sampled:  chicharron, birria, asada (also have picadillo, pollo, chorizo, barbacoa, lengua, bistec, al pastor, vegetariano and chille relleno tacos)
  
• Toppings: onions and cilantro or lettuce and tomato and lime
• Salsa: salsa verde and salsa roja
  
• Extras: chips
• Tortillas: corn
• Atmosphere: lonely, decent seating, telenovelas, quiet, 24 hours
  
• Price: $1.95 – $2.50/taco
  
• OVERALL RATING: 6.5
  

This looks like a picture of that sweet white car, but Big Star is the yellow area in the background…

Big Star has a big advantage over most taco places. First, it is backed by an award winning chef who already has some of the most successful, and totally awesome, restaurants in the city (if not, the country). The talent working on their menu is top notch, including guest chefs and a mixologist. They have an extensive whiskey, specifically bourbon, selection, along with a lot of beers. AND, there are attractive people there. Weird.

With that said….the tacos are incredible and live up to whatever hype the restaurant has had. I ate four of the five, and tried a small sample of my friend Glen’s taco de papas (ladies, he’s the perfect mix of genius and adonis…). The pollo taco really jumped out to me. 99.9% of chicken tacos are dry. Big Star uses chicken thighs and they come out juicy as (insert dirty joke here). The pescado has huge chunks of tilapia, where most fish tacos are small, mostly battered chunks of deep fried compost. All of the tacos are made with their own toppings, perfectly matching sauces, meats and textures. While this isn’t a typical taco place, it’s pretty darned good!

One thing to be wary of, you may experience a wait. Try to go for lunch or on a day earlier in the week. Also, if somebody has a queso fundido tour going, they need to blog about that cuz it’s to die for (to be said in a Long Island housewife’s voice).

The whole family.

Harvey, tell ’em what they won…

• Location:  1531 N. Damen Ave., Chicago, IL (Wicker Park)
• Tourists:  Josh, Justin, Glen, Jason
• Tacos sampled:  al pastor, de panza, de pescado, pollo (they also have a taco de papas)
  
• Toppings: various (all 5 tacos have their own toppings), lime
  
• Salsa: salsa verde, salsa roja, hot sauce
  
• Extras:  none
  
• Tortillas:  corn, very small
  
• Atmosphere:  big square bar in the middle, decent seating inside, large patio out front, hipsters
• Price:  $3/taco
  
• OVERALL RATING: 9
  

Rudy’s is a chain, with about 11 Quad City locations.

I grew up close to the Quad Cities. While Rudy’s Tacos were never a staple in my diet, I know that I’ve had it a few times, and I always get their commercial jingle stuck in my head (“come to Rudy’s Tacos”). So, I decided to give it a whirl….

Basically, it sucks. At least as a taco place. They only have two meats: chicken or beef. The beef is ground up and tasteless. The chicken is dry. The hot salsa isn’t as hot as the mild Taco Bell packets. AND, they put a pile of cheddar cheese on each taco. Blaspheme!

One cool thing, is their array of tortillas. They have both corn and flour. Each can come hard, soft, or medium (lightly fried), for a total of 6 tortillas types.

My advice, go with the quesadillas. My girlfriend seemed to enjoy them. Or, if you have to have tacos, maybe try the taco burger or the taco salad…

Nothing says authentic Mexican food like cheddar cheese…

The low down:

• Location: 1108 42nd Ave., East Moline, IL (Quad Cities)
• Tourists: Josh, Julia
• Tacos sampled: beef, beef and bean, chicken and bean
• Toppings: lettuce, tomato, cheddar cheese
• Salsa: mild or spicy salsa roja (although both are mild)
  
• Extras:  none
  
• Tortillas: flour or corn; hard, soft, medium
  
• Atmosphere: like a chain restaurant
• Price: $2.89-$3.25/taco
• OVERALL RATING: 5

My posse rollin’ in to Tropi Cuba.

Tropi Cuba is my first non-Mexican taco joint on the taco tour. While they do some things a bit differently than what I’m used to in Logan Square, I did totally dig their tacos!

First, let’s talk about the few negatives. 1: you’re in a place that’s mostly a convenience store that happens to have a flat top grill in the back. Here they sell many Cuban favorites as well as breakfast, fries, burgers, pizza puffs, and….tacos. 2: They only have steak tacos. I wish they had more variety. 3: It’s kinda messy. The tacos fall apart a little bit even though they give each taco two corn tortillas.

Now, the positives. The taste of the tacos themselves are very good. The meat is tender and juicy and has a good amount of seasoning on it. The lettuce and 1/2 moon tomato slice on them seem a little strange, but work fine. The salsa is very good as well. While it’s not your typical salsa rojo, it still tastes great. It tastes like a mix between a normal jarred taco sauce and a homemade enchilada sauce. Whatever it is, I like it.

Stats:

• Location:  3000 W. Lyndale St, Chicago, IL (Logan Square)
• Tourists:  Josh
• Tacos sampled:  steak (their words, not mine)
• Toppings:  lettuce, tomato, onion
• Salsa:  salsa roja
• Extras:  napkins?
• Tortillas:  corn
• Atmosphere:  2/3 convenience store, 1/3 cuban flat top grill
• Price:  $1.99/taco
• OVERALL RATING: 7
  

All of my friends piling into 2 Amigos…

I went to 2 Amigos Restaurant by myself (whah, whah, whaaaah). How sad is it that I went to a place called Friends, and I didn’t have any? As I walked in, they were playing Latin music at a death metal concert level (that means it was loud). After screaming my order to the server, I tried the chips and salsa. They provide both salsa verde and salsa rojo. Both were good, not great, and pretty spicy.

I tried the carne asada (nicely grilled), al pastor (spicier than most), and lengua tacos (a lil’ squishy). I wish I had something ground-breaking or earth-shattering to say about this place, but I don’t. Their tacos are good and are only $2 apiece, so it’s a place definitely worth trying. They come with an apple sauce colored salsa that is pretty sweet and smoky.

I’d say it’s more of a “hey look, there’s a taco place, let’s go” type of place, than “hey, I’m celebrating my quinceanera next week, meet me at 2 Amigos for some killer comida.”

Not a whole lot more to say, so we’ll just move on to the next spot…

Here are the stats:

• Location:  2320 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago, IL (Logan Square)
• Tourists:  Josh
• Tacos sampled:  carne asada, al pastor, lengua (also have pollo, chorizo, birria, carne molida)
• Toppings:  onions, cilantro, tomatoes, lettuce, lime
• Salsa:  salsa verde, salsa roja, mesquite salsa
• Extras:  chips
• Tortillas:  corn
• Atmosphere:  LOUD Latin music playing on a Touch Tunes. Decent amount of seats. Good service.
• Price:  $2/taco

• OVERALL RATING: 6
  

The south side of Julia going north…

The second stop on the taco tour took me to Real Tenochtitlan. Dining with me were David, a blue-eyed hunk of meat that just moved back from San Francisco, and Julia, a lovely lady who is way too good for her boyfriend……me.

First, let’s talk about the restaurant. Real Tenochtitlan is like a nice, cute girl with no personality who thinks she’s upper class when she’s clearly not. The place has the feel, look, and prices of a fine Mexican restaurant. Unfortunately, the food does not follow through. This shows in of all of the ancillary things I tried. They provide complimentary chips (served in one of Madonna’s cone bra inserts) and two types of salsa. Both the salsa verde and salsa rojo lack spice and are too sweet for my liking. The tacos came with rice and beans. Although the beans look nice in the mini taco salad hard tortilla in which they are served, they are bland and had an Elmer’s glue consistency. The rice tastes like paper.

The tacos themselves are pretty good. The carne asada tacos are very tender. While they taste like a strip steak and are cooked well, they lack grill flavor. The al pastor tacos are cooked with onions and pineapple. They adobo marinade is tasty, but the tacos lack the spice I like.

I have some issues with the taco menu. First, you cannot order the tacos a la carte. You can only order them as a taco dinner, which is three tacos, rice and beans. Also, you cannot mix and match your order. You can only have three carne asada, al pastor, pollo, or fish tacos. With only four types of tacos on the menu, and no vegetarian options, I would like to see a larger selection of tacos.

Julia rated Real Tenochtitlan exactly the same as I did, since she’s my property and is forced to have the same opinion as me.  David thought this was Quesadilla Tour, so nobody cares what he thinks. Oh, for what it’s worth, the horchata is awesome!

Here’s the breakdown of our visit:

• Location:  2451 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago, IL (Logan Square)
• Tourists:  Josh, Julia, David
• Tacos sampled:  carne asada, al pastor (also serve chicken and fish, which we did not try)
• Toppings:  onions, cilantro
• Salsa:  salsa verde, salsa roja
• Extras:  chips
• Tortillas:  corn
• Atmosphere:  Lots of tables (though not many people dining). Clean and somewhat sterile. Good service.
• Price:  $13/3 tacos with rice and beans

• OVERALL RATING: 5