Tag Archives: barbacoa

Build your own barbacoa tacos @ Milagro

Now, you might find “beef barbacoa” all over the place, but when it comes to real-deal barbacoa, it’s dirty deeds, done with sheep, son! So when I found out that Milagro Cantina, this funky Mexican joint just south of King St, was serving up barbacoa with roast lamb, you KNOW we had to check it out, bro!

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So here’s the deal. They give you a plate full of lamb, with onions, cilantro, beans and a spicy chipotle sauce, and a basket of tortillas on the side to make your own tacos. I’m not sure if the beans were meant to go in the taco, or just as a side dish, but they went pretty well with the tender lamb, which needed a bit of that sauce to kick it up a notch.

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But that’s not all, folks! We’ve also got some queso fundido with chorizo — dude, Queso Fundido was the name of my 80’s Rock en Español cover band, cabron! You got some mad cheese pulls from the queso, a little kick from the chorizo…and I even saved a bit to make this Flavourtown creation — cheesy barbacoa taco!!!

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I mean, maybe they don’t put cheese tacos in Mexico — but me, I’d put that shit on everything, bro!

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Washed it all down with a Michelada Preparada, which is where they take a Michelada and add hot sauce to the mix. Unfortunately, the hot sauce mostly sank to the bottom, so I didn’t get much of it until the end, when I was basically just drinking hot sauce and water. Ay caramba!

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Of course, we can’t go for Mexican and not order churros, bro! These ones came six to an order, about three bites each, with some chocolate on the plate for dipping. Hey, they might not compete with Guy Fieri’s churros — but you can never go wrong with churros, homes!!!!!

SOUTH BY SOUTH AUSTIN: New school BBQ @ LeRoy and Lewis

Now, you KNOW we couldn’t go to Austin without chowing down on some real-deal BBQ, bro! LeRoy and Lewis has been recognized as one of the best BBQ joints in town, and they’re serving it up from a food truck in the beer garden at Cosmic Coffee.

Like most BBQ joints in Texas, they tend to sell out early, so they were out of almost all their meats and half their sides when we rolled up at 6 pm. But they still had enough left for us to assemble this 1 meat, 2 side plate for $15.

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So the one meat they had left was barbacoa, which I actually might have ordered anyways. Texture and flavour of the meat was on point, although it needed a bit of that BBQ sauce to give it that extra little kick.

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When it comes to the sides, we’re kicking it old school and new school…at the same time. On the one hand, we’ve got a Texas classic in Frito pie, with crunchy corn chips, meaty chili and some cheddar cheese. Nothing wrong with that at all!

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And we also went with kimchi, which was actually the least spicy thing on this plate. But the cabbage had a nice crunch, and the flavour was on point. Hands down the best kimchi I’ve ever had from a BBQ truck, son!

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Inside of Cosmic Coffee, we’re washing it down with a Real Ale Vamonos Lime Sour Gose. This is pretty much the perfect beer for Mexican food, like a Corona on steroids with the lime brewed right in. And at just 4%, I can pound these all night long….

Eating all the tacos @ Añejo

So we’re hanging out at Añejo, this funky Mexican joint on King West. Last time we were here, I went to town on this Mexican meat mountain in Flavourtown, which was soooo outta bounds, bro! But you KNOW we can’t go to a Mexican place and not eat tacos — so that’s why it’s time for another visit.

Now, this place has got about a dozen tacos on the menu, but the fancier ones only come in threes. However, you can get their “Tacos Classico” in any combination of one, three or six — and with six different kinds, that means I’m having one of each.

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Forget about saving the best for last — we’ve having this one first, son!  I’m talking Barbacoa, a super tender pulled beef short rib with crunchy bites of raw jalapeños… I could slam, like, six of these alone!!!

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But we’ve moving right along to the Chicken Tinga taco. I usually find chicken tacos to be boring, but this one was a cut above — meat was very tender, although it did not have much of a kick.

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On the other hand, the Braised Mushrooms Taco is both the sauciest and spiciest one so far. Not quite as hot as the mushroom birria at Rosalinda… but I definitely needed a few sips of Michelada after this!!!

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The Chorizo Crumble was not too dry or too spicy. Basically, it was like ground beef — except it’s sausage. Oh, and a bunch of of it fell out the back…

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When it comes to pork tacos, though, I preferred the Pulled Pork. This one gets the job done with a nice little tang, son!!!

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Crispy Fried Tilapia was both crispy and flaky. A bit of the house made crema really kicks it up a notch!!!

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But you KNOW we’ve still got room for dessert, bro! Last time, I tried the tarta de chocolate, but now we gotta go for the churros. Hot ‘n crunchy, with a whole buncha powdered sugar, and some chocolate sauce on the side for dipping… There’s nothing wrong with that at all!!!

Put the absinthe in the coconut, and drink ’em both up, bro!!!!

Now, we don’t usually go to cocktail bars on Triple B. I mean, the name of this blog is NOT Burgers, Bacon and Bourbon…although that would still be a pretty sweet blog, bro. But man, I dunno how many times I have stumbled past BarChef on Queen West in one of my drunken stupors, so I figured it was time to finally go inside and check it out. And let’s just say you do not go here to order a beer…

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Instead, we’re kicking off this shindig with a Coconut & Absinthe Sour. They say it’s a pina colada meets the green fairy, and while I wouldn’t mind getting caught in the rain with a few of these, it tasted more like pineapple than absinthe to me. I’m also pretty sure I didn’t start hallucinating afterwards — so they couldn’t have put too much absinthe in there, could they?

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Up next, we’ve got the Charred Strawberry, with strawberry gin, scotchy scotch scotch, four kinds of bitters, two kinds of Marachinos and some charred caramelized strawberries blended in there somewhere. Although it comes in a manly rocks glass, this drink was quite fruity — you can get Girl Drink Drunk in style with this one, son!!!!

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And now we’re got a BarChef classic, the Four Seven Two, named after the place’s address (472 Queen St West). This one takes a bourbon & coke — or rather, cola bitters — and mixes it with lime and mint for a little bit of mojito and mint julep, all rolled into one! This concoction has gotta be the most crushable of the three — and at $17, it’s also the least expensive. (Hey, their signature Vanilla & Hickory Smoked Manhattan will set ya back 55 bucks… although it does come in a smokey dome, so there’s that.)

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Of course, we ain’t crushing cocktails on an empty stomach, bro! These beef barbacoa tostadas put the small in small plates — but you do get a lotta meat in every bite.

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We’re chasing that with some chicken karaage, or as they call it, Japanese fried chicken. These hot, tender, crunchy fried chickens really hit the spot — I could pound at least 12 of these, bro!!!!!

TORONTO’S TOP TAKEOUT: Sushi and tacos and dumplings, oh my!

Now, sometimes deciding what to order for lunch can be tricky. Do I want tacos, or do I want sushi? And how bout a couple dumplings on the side? Well, at The Haam, this funky Japanese inspired Mexican joint on Adelaide, you can get all three with their sushi and taco combo, bro!!!

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So you KNOW I gotta start off with the taco, son! This gochujang barbacoa piles lots of guac, lettuce, crema, queso and cilatro on top of tasty braised beef inside a hard-shell taco…which got pretty soggy cuz it took an hour to deliver, sadly.

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On the sushi side, I settled on a six-pack of Spicy Crunch Salmon rolls. Dude, Spicy Crunch Salmon is the name of my fishing boat, bro!!!

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Now, if you order the sushi and taco combo from DoorDash — and only from DoorDash — they throw in two beef gyoza for free. The only problem was that my DoorDash delivery took so long that these dumps were cold as ice, ice baby! But I gotta say, the flavours from this joint were on point. So I would probably order from them again — only next time, Imma stick with Uber Eats…

Eating all the meats @ Campechano Taqueria

Happy Taco Tuesday, bro! We’re hanging out at Campechano Taqueria, this funky little joint right at the corner of Adelaide and Portland, where they’re serving up some real-deal Mexican meals. Now, this place is actually kinda smart — if you order four tacos, they bring ’em out one at a time, instead of all at once, so they don’t get cold.

And since they were all outta carnitas, I had to try every other meat on the menu. We’re talking lamb, we’re talking steak, chicken and chorizo… Right here, right now on Triple B!!!

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Dude, this barbacoa taco is ba-ba-ba-ba-bad to the bone, bro! You’ve got braised lamb leg, topped with cilantro, chile adobo and some jalapeno salsa… Pretty sure I could slam 17 of these — but then I wouldn’t have room for chorizo y papas!

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And this chorizo’s off the chain, bro! You’ve got pork sausage, fingerling potatoes, onions, cilantro, salsa verde and crema…I’d put that on a flip-flop!!!

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And now for something completely different. You’ve heard of tacos al pastor? Well, it’s like that, except, instead of pork, it’s chicken. Not sure if they cook it on a spit, but you’ve got some nice chunks of el pollo loco, paired with pineapple, cilantro and two kinds of salsa. It’s kinda funky, but it’s pretty tasty!!!

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Now, it’s time for the main event. This ribeye steak taco is nine bucks, which seems like a lot when you can get nueve de carnitas for that price at Latin World. But the flavours are totally on point — some of the best meat I’ve ever had in a taco, with avocado, cilantro and a spicy salsa macha. I had to pound a coupla brewskis to beat the heat, bro!!!

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Now, speaking of brewskis… This joint has got Dos Equis on tap, but for 50 cents more, they’ll pour ya a pint of this Vibrant Saison from Avling Brewery. It’s light, refreshing, more tart than tangy…and totally soaks up some of that hot sauce!

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Of course, even after all that taco goodness, you KNOW I’ve still got room for dessert, bro! The dessert menu here is just one line, and you’re looking at it: tres leches de fresas, a strawberry sponge cake soaked in condensed milk. I’m about to moo-ve it on over straight down my piehole, son!!!!!

You have a bunch of Good Hombres right here…and they’re making some tasty tacos!!!

So, we’re hanging out at Good Hombres, this funky little taco joint on Bathurst, just a kidney stone’s throw from Toronto Western Hospital. This place is actually attached to a funeral parlour, and it’s a good thing, too…cuz their tacos are to die for, bro!!!!

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Now, ordering less than three tacos is a felony in Flavourtown…so I’m starting off with six. From the top, you’ve got carne asada, some killer carnitas, legit lamb barbacoa, both kinds of seafood tacos — fish AND shrimp — and then this culinary secret weapon, taco alambre. But the party don’t stop there, son!!!!

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For Round 2, we’re throwing down chorizo y papas, portobello mushrooms — this was the hottest taco of them all for some reason — and el pollo (loco) asado. I pretty much had one of everything on the menu…except tacos al pastor. They were all outta al pastor — ¡qué horror!

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Now, it’s hard to pick a favourite among so many great tacos, but for this hombre, it’s gotta be alambre. You’ve got beef, you’ve got bacon, bell peppers and melty cheese, topped with cilantro and smothered in chipotle — you could make this taco with a flip-flop, and it would still taste good!!!!

It’s a Cinco de Mayo miracle!!!

Now, Cinco de Mayo might be a celebration of the Mexican Army‘s unlikely victory over French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862…but for me, it’s all about the food! And today, for one day only, not uno but dos burrito chains are serving up everything on the menu for just five bucks, so you know I’m all over that like brown on rice–cuz only a gringo loco puts white rice in a burrito, bro!!!!

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La fiesta empieza at Z’Teca, where they’re serving up beef barbacoa with corn, beans, rice, salsa and sour cream. The beef has a nice bite to it, and a good chewy texture, but as you can see, it’s hidden by a buncha other ingredients. Still $7.50 for all this and a drink is a pretty sweet deal, dudeski!

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But you know the party don’t stop there, son! Mucho Burrito also has a five-dollar dealo, where you can get anything on the menu in small or regular for cinco dineros (‘cept they’re all outta shrimp at the Eaton Centre). And you get a bit more bang for your buck, with a bigger tortilla, and the optional addition of cilantro and jalapeno. Dude, this is body by cilantro and jalapeno, bro!!!! The only bummer is that they make you buy a bottled drink to get the discount, so this ended up costing me nine bucks instead of only seven. But it’s all good, cuz I just saved a ton of money by switching my car insurance to Geico! 😉

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