Tag Archives: Mexican food

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!

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.

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!!!

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

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!

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!!!!!

Eating all the tacos @ Wilbur Mexicana

Man, I don’t think we’ve had any tacos since we got back from Texas. It’s been a little while, bro! But last night, I got this crazy Taco Tuesday craving, so we headed down to King St West to Wilbur Mexicana, this funky joint that’s only open for takeout, serving up eight different kinds of tacos — so you KNOW we had to try em all. Hey, there aren’t many things I’d do in the rain, Bro-ran Juice Jones, but eating tacos is definitely one of them!!!!

Now, these tacos came in three takeout containers, and I just happened to open the one with the vegan tacos first. But man, this is some of the best vegan food I’ve ever had in my life, bro! This mushroom taco is full of tender, chewy shrooms, and they’re packing sweet potatoes on top for a little extra something.

This grilled avocado taco is soooo next level, bro! They take a great big chunk of avocado, grill it up nicely, and put it in a tortilla with pico and cheese, so you get that creaminess in every bite!

This Taco Supreme is like a teenage dream in Flavourtown! Seasoned chicken, topped with a whole lotta guac and cheese in a hard shell. Better than yo mama used to make!!!!

This fish taco didn’t really stand out among all the fish tacos I’ve had. But it still wasn’t bad, with a nice crunchy slaw and a bit of a kick from the donkey sauce.

I think the chicken tinga taco uses the same chicken as the Taco Supreme, but this one has a little more flavour, with lettuce, pico and crema on top.

This bulgogi beef taco is like a fusion explosion in my mouth, bro! About the only thing on the menu that wasn’t authentically Mexican (or at least Tex-Mex), but one of the tastiest tacos here. Beef had quite a bit of a kick, while the onions and slaw added a nice crunch. I could use a beer to wash it down…but I’m eating outside in the street, son!

This carne asada taco is taking it up another notch, bro! Nice, chewy grilled steak — but the crispy onions on top is what makes it!!!!

Now, last but not least, we’ve got cochinita pibil. Nice, tangy pulled pork, with some crunch from the onions and a healthy helping of queso fresco. I could pound a few more of these, bro!!!!

Overall, I’m gonna say carne asada first, bulgogi beef second, and the mushroom taco taking a sneaky third place on the podium. But I don’t think there wasn’t anything here I wouldn’t get again, and that’s saying something!

SOUTH BY SOUTH AUSTIN: Can’t go to Austin without eating Torchy’s Tacos, bro…

Now, back home in Toronto, if you’re getting tacos from a chain, it’s probably Taco Bell or Chipotle or some shit. But here in Austin, even the chain tacos don’t suck! Torchy’s Tacos is a local legend with locations all over town, and they’re serving up some outta bounds tacos with names like Trailer Park and Crossroads… Check out these renegades of funk in Flavourtown:

The Trailer Park is packing fried chicken, green chiles, lettuce, pico, cheddar jack cheese and poblano sauce on a flour tortilla (although I got mine with a corn tortilla, just because.) Chicken is crunchy and tender, with a nice kick from the green chile and coolness from the tomatoes and cheese.

Now it’s time for some green chile pork, with carnitas, more green chile, cotija cheese, cilantro and onions. Carnitas melt in your mouth, while that green chile sauce adds a nice little kick.

The baja shrimp taco has crispy fried shrimp, coleslaw, pickled onions, and cilantro — and they don’t shortchange ya on the shrimp, either! Shrimp and slaw have a nice crunch, and the chipotle sauce is pretty spicy (for a white guy).

And that brings us to the Crossroads, with shredded brisket, avocado, jalapeños, cilantro, and a whole lotta cheese, bro! Brisket is great by itself, but you’ve got the creamy avocado, a bit of kick from the jalapeños, and more of that green chile sauce — I swear, they put that shit on everything!!!!!

Pork secreto al pastor? Shut the back door!

Now, when it comes to real-deal Mexican food, it doesn’t get much more baller than tacos al pastor. You’ve got a hunka-hunka burnin’ pork, seasoned and cooked on a spit, served with pineapple — cuz the only thing better than pineapple on pizza is pineapple on tacos, bro! So when I found out that Quetzal, this funky Mexican family-style joint at College and Bathurst, was not only doing al pastor, but making it with iberico pork secreto, you KNOW I had to come check it out…

Now the deal with this place is that they serve you large portions of food that are meant to be shared between 2-4 people. But when they told me I’d hafta split it, I was like, “Dude, dinner for 2-4 is just a light snack in Flavourtown, bro!” While I did pound all this pork o solo mio, I also ordered three other dishes, which I split with one other person.

We’re starting off with a dry-aged Hawaiian kanpachi aguachile, which is sorta like ceviche, except they use chile water instead of lime. I don’t think I’ve ever had dry-aged fish, much less kanpanchi before (I saw they had one hanging in the kitchen, but I think it still had some aging to do), although it tasted kinda like the smoked trout I once had at Karelia Kitchen (RIP).

Up next, we’ve got an Oaxacan-style lamb empanada, served in a blue corn tortilla with radish sticks and salsa. Last time we were here (in 2019), they did a similar dish with chicken — but I gotta say, the lamb barbacoa really kicks it up a notch. I would eat this off a flip-flop, bro!!!!!!!!!

Now, other quirky thing about this place is that they charge a certain price for a platter of meat or seafood (starting at $38), and then charge an extra 6 bucks for 6 tortillas. Dude, you can’t have tacos al pastor without taco shells, bro! And it turns out, they gave you enough meat for about five tacos, so that almost worked out perfectly. Pork was nice ‘n tender, but the grilled pineapple is what makes it!

But like I said, I split three other things — and this is the third thing, dry-aged duck breast with mole verde and some stringy green thing that I definitely didn’t eat. Duck was cooked perfectly, nice ‘n tender with a good chew. This duck definitely doesn’t suck!!!!!!!

And that brings me to this culinary creation in Flavourtown: the Pork-a-Duck Taco. You’ve got pork secreto al pastor, layered in with duck breast, some grilled pineapple and another piece of duck on top, with a little mole verde. Pork every duck, bro!!!!

But even after four al pastor, one duck and one Pork-a-Duck taco, half a lamb empanada and three pieces of kampachi aguachile, you KNOW we’ve still got room for dessert, bro! Unfortunately, they didn’t have the avocado ice cream with candied crickets that we had here last time, so instead I’m diving headfirst into some Spiced Mexican Chocolate Mousse, with buckthorn berries and sponge toffee. Again, the waiter was all like, “This dessert is meant for two people, are you sure you don’t wanna share?” Dude, that’s like asking Kobayashi if he wants to order off the kids menu, bro! Let’s just say I destroyed that mousse faster than you can say “57 Hotdogs with Nothing On,” Bro-ce Springsteen!!!!

Oh, and it was really tasty, too!

Finally… Taco Fest has come back to Toronto!!!!!!

When it’s summertime in Toronto, that means there’s a different food festival going on just about every weekend. Of course, thanks to COVID, we haven’t been able to hit up any festivals since 2019. But now that everything is reopening, festival season is back in full swing, starting with one of my personal favourites, Taco Fest!!!!

I actually hadn’t been to Taco Fest since 2016, so this trip to Ontario Place was looooong overdue. And in a city where you can pay $31 for three lamb birria tacos, it’s nice to know that most tacos here were anywhere from $4 to $8 max. That means for 80 bucks I had enough for 10 tacos, a couple Coronas (literally the only beer they had, bro) and maybe even an ice cream for dessert. Can’t go wrong with that at all!!!!

Balam suadero taco
We’re starting off right with some beef brisket, son! Balam lets you add your own toppings, so I loaded this one up with onions, pico, cilantro and lime…to the point where you can’t even see the meat.

Marquesita taco campechano
Steak meats chorizo in this Flavourtown double down, with just a little hot sauce on top to kick it up a notch.

Piñata Tacos Grilled Cactus
Had to order this so I could say I had one green thing. Crunchy on the outside, chewy on the inside… Not just one of the Top 5 cactus tacos I’ve ever had, but one of the Top 3 tacos I had at the festival — for reals!!!

Tamarind Amritsari Fish Taco
This Indian food truck is kicking it up a notch with this breaded fish taco topped with all kinds of veggies. With all this salad, guess I didn’t need that cactus taco after all!

Betty’s Kitchen Deep Fried Pigs Ears
Now, this one is maybe a little too funky. Pig ears basically taste like you’re chewing on crunchy gristle, without any meat. Hey, I’ll try anything once…but I wouldn’t try this one twice.

Pico de Gallo chicken milanesa taco
Nice, thick piece of breaded chicken breast with just a bit of chipotle to kick it up a notch.

Tacos de la Mer Pad Thai fish
Not your typical take on a fish taco, with beer battered cod topped with pad Thai sauce, pico de gallo, bean sprouts and cilantro. Fish is hot and crispy, and the sauce really kicks it up a notch. Good stuff!

Atomic 10 K-Pop Taco
Korean BBQ beef served cold with bahn mi toppings. It basically tastes like a bahn mi, without the baguette.

Bacon Nation birria bacon taco
Now, you could line up for an hour at Birria Catrina… or you can go a couple stalls down for this bad boy. Birria with bacon? Shut the back door, bro!!!

Dope As Duck Dope Ass Taco (duck)
Dope As Duck had one of the longest lines at this shindig, with carnitas loaded fries, churro donuts and Flamin’ Hot Cheetos street corn. But since I’m only here to eat tacos, I’m going for this Dope Ass duck taco. Nice, crispy shell with pulled duck, salsa, sour cream… Not bad, but probably not worth waiting 30 minutes for.

After all those tacos back there, I think I’m pretty full — this avocado ice cream cone oughtta do’er.

Eating all the tacos @ Añejo

May 23, 2022
greedocatucci
0 comments
Anejo Restaurant, barbacoa, chorizo, churros, fish tacos, Mexican food, tacos

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.

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!!!

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.

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!!!

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…

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

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

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!!!

Vegan nachos & tacos and churros… Dios mío!

Now, you KNOW this is body by Mexican food, bro! And while I’ve had a few vegan tacos before, it only happens when I order every taco on the menu and one of them happens to be vegan. But now we’re hanging out at Rosalinda, this funky downtown Mexican joint…where all the food is vegan. So I guess I’ll be eating more than one vegan taco today, bro?

First, we’re starting off with some nachos that are not only vegan, but gluten-free. The chips are definitely extra-crunchy, but they still taste pretty good. Plus, you’ve got pico de gallo, guacamole and some jalapenos on top, which are a few of my favourite plant-based things, right there. The one thing this dish is really missing is cheese, though — while they do have a butternut “queso” drizzled on top (along with a cashew “crema”), it just doesn’t have the same texture or flavour as some shredded cheddar.

Now, I gotta give ’em credit for nailing the texture on these mushroom birria tacos. This is the first time we’ve had birria tacos with the dipping sauce on Triple B, even though I’ve seen ’em popping up everywhere since the pandemic started. Dude, this spicy mushroom stew is hearty enough that you don’t really miss the meat here. But these are some of the most expensive tacos I’ve seen in Toronto — 2 for $19 or 3 for $27. Dude, I could get 27 tacos from Latin World for that price, bro! (Not sure if I could eat them all, though…)

But since we only had three tacos here, that means I’ve still got room for dessert. And even though their Drunken Pineapple was my nickname from that time I went to Hawaii, I still had to go with the churros. I mean, I’m not sure what part of churros aren’t vegan to begin with, but these ones were pretty on-point, just a little on the crunchy side, though. You’ve also got dulce de leche on the inside, and chocolate sauce on the side, which makes for a pretty solid one-two punch in Flavourtown!!!!!

Holy chicken mole & guacamole!!!

Don’t get me wrong, this is body by tacos bro (especially Doritos Locos Tacos)…but there’s more to Mexican food than just tacos. We’re hanging out at Barrio Cerveceria, this funky joint on Queen St East. And yes, I did go for tacos last time I was here — almost 5 years ago — but I decided to go with something totally different this time.

Dude, this Mole Poblano is soooo outta bounds, bro! You’ve got a fistful of chicken, served in a thick, brown sauce that’s a little sweet, and more than a little spicy — let’s just say they put the Poblano in Mole Poblano… And there’s enough sauce on this plate that I could take a bath AND fill up the Camaro with it!!!!

Now, I thought I’d be getting mucho mas guacamole for 16 bucks — but at least the chip-to-dip ratio was on point, with enough nachos for all the guac…and I didn’t even hafta double dip the chip, George Bro-stanza!!!!!

Now, for a place with Cerveza in its name, I was disappointed that they didn’t have any beers on tap. When we were there, the only options were Corona, Negra Modelo or the house lager. I gotta say, though, a couple Negra Modelos took some of the edge off that Mole Poblano, hermano!!!!

EATING LAS VEGAS: Trash can nachos & cheeseburger tacos @ Guy Fieri’s El Burro Borracho

Now, I had already been to Guy Fieri’s Las Vegas Kitchen & Bar, but when I heard that he opened this funky Mexican joint at the Rio, you KNOW I had to check it out, bro! Guy Fieri’s El Burro Borracho is only open for dinner, and they don’t take reservations, so I totally had to be first in line…well, actually third in line, but good enough?

I walk into this joint right when they open the doors to the tune of “Breaking the Chains” by Dokken, followed by “Rock You Like a Hurricane,” so I already knew this was gonna be a good night!!! Soundtrack is all 80’s metal — Judas Priest, Tesla, Accept, Quiet Riot… Better start charging me rent, cuz I think I might stick around!!!!!!!

Of course, the main reason to come here is for the Trash Can Nachos, which come inside an actual trash can (or at least a coffee can; I ordered the small version). These chips are topped with beans, jalapeños, pickled onions, pico de gallo and two types of cheese — cotija and queso — plus you can pay extra to add meat (I went with carne asada). Now, while its presentation is TheBomb.com, you end up with some chips that get all the goodies, and others that get nothing at all. Hey, these are no Sneaky Dee’s nachos, but still not bad, bros!!!

Up next, we’ve got some cheeseburger tacos. Who else but Guy Fieri would combine cheeseburgers and tacos, bro??? Ok, so these are basically your typical ground beef tacos, topped with a whole lotta queso — but I’d still put it on a flip-flop!!!

Of course, even Guy Fieri knows that no Mexican meal would be complete without churros, bro! And man, these were some of the best churros I’ve ever had (the Mexican chocolate sauce was 2 legit 2 quit!) but there were enough churros here to feed a family of cuatro, cinco, cinco, seis… You KNOW I still scarfed em all down, though!!!!!

Washed it all down with a couple pints of Ballast Point Sculpin IPA. Nice ‘n hoppy, pretty heavy (7%) — soaks up all that Mexican food nicely! I almost died in my pants on the way back to my hotel, though… 😮

It’s a Mexican meat mountain in a bowl, bro!!!

Now, I know we just had Mexican the other day, but there’s no such thing as too much Mexican food, bro! We’re hanging out at Añejo, this funky joint in a basement at the corner of King and Portland that’s so legit, the guacamole is served up tableside!!!

Dude, it doesn’t get any fresher than this! You’ve got onions, tomato, cilantro, avocado and jalapenos, with a little garlic and lime, served with a side of tortilla chips. Man, I wish I could have somebody follow me around and make guacamole for me everywhere, bro!!!

But the main reason I’m here is for the molcajete de carne, a sizzling meat stew that’s packing beef, chorizo and chicken, along with roasted veggies, tomato sauce, oaxaca cheese and even a piece of cactus into the pot. Plus, they give you a handful of tortillas, so you can basically make your own tacos, bros!!!!

But even after all that commotion back there, we’ve still got room for dessert. I’m talkin’ tarta de chocolate, a couple little brownie bites served with brandy, candied serrano peppers and some habanero salt, for that little extra kick. All that’s missing the big stone bowl, bro!!!!!!!!

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