Until visiting Hacienda La Joya, we’d been to taco places that had great carnitas tacos, and others that had great carne asada tacos, and still others that specialized in some other kind of tacos. But those specialty items were more often than not, one hit wonders. Typically, anything else on the menu paled in comparison to that one great item that made our mouths water and our bellies happy.
You Might as Well Face It, We’re Addicted to Tacos and… Chili Cheese Fritos?
Red O – Taco Tuesday
You wouldn’t expect to find taco Tuesday bargains in the ritzy Fashion Island area of Newport Beach, nor would you expect to find a dozen extras to an ’80s music video, even if the latter wasn’t intentional. But you can find both if you know where to look. And the place to look is Red O. To be fair Red O doesn’t exactly offer the usual taco Tuesday cheap tacos, but at $3 a taco on a menu where most entrees hover in the $30-$40 range, it’s a steal for those looking for high end dining on a low end budget. Even better, their tacos are part of the regular Red O happy hour, so you can enjoy Continue reading Red O – First Review: For Chicken Tacos that are Simply Irresistible→
Tacos are tacos, right? Just a tortilla loosely folded in half and filled with some meat and a few toppings. I mean anyone can make ’em, can’t they?
Just like a canvas is a canvas… at least until someone applies a few brush strokes. Anyone can do that as well. But how many of those brush stroked canvases make their way into art galleries? Only the ones painted by truly gifted artists.
So, when a taco is created by a culinary artist, shouldn’t it be considered something more than a brush stroked canvas or a folded and stuffed tortilla?
There is No Ahhs and The Emerald Lounge is… Sapphire?
Emerald Lounge Steak Taco
You’re out following the Yellow Brick Road, and decide to stop for the night. You pull your farmhouse off the to the side of the tornado you’ve been riding, find a nice independent hotel (a former Holiday Inn) in sleepy little Mission Viejo, make sure you didn’t accidentally park on any wicked witches, and decide it’s a good place to crash for the night. Not wanting to go back out, you decide to hit the Taco Tuesday right here in the hotel at the Emerald Lounge. Sorry, Toto. The tacos are going to taste like you’re still in Kansas, and the lounge isn’t Emerald.
With a name like Mission Viejo, you’d think good tasting Mexican food in a full service restaurant would be easy to find. But it seems suburbanites in the sleepy little bedroom community of south Orange County, like their dining establishments like they like their houses: expensive, in a limited number of floorplans, and only available in earth tones. So, it’s no surprise, uniform and boring chain restaurants dominate the foodscape where cookie cutter is the rule of the day. There are exceptions to every rule, though, and today’s Continue reading Hacienda on the Lake – First Review: Breaking the Chains of Suburban Dining→
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Reviewing Taco Tuesdays, Taco Happy Hours, and Tacos, Tacos, Tacos. Oh… and Tacos!
