El Taco Tote is a regional Mexican food chain with locations in Texas, Arizona, Juarez Mexico, and two in Albuquerque. I visited the location on Central, aka old Route 66. Their sign makes sure you know they're real and open while the road is under heavy construction.
On Tuesdays and Thursdays they have a $5.99 taco platter deal for al pastor or carne asada. I love a good price on tacos so of course that's what I'm getting.
The Place
This is a counter-serve operation, with someone to bring your food. Usually at least, I saw a few folks have to get up and get the food when nobody was nearby to deliver it. The dining area is pretty big with plenty of tables of different sizes. The men's bathroom is a two-stall, and clean enough. But it had run out of paper towels when I used it.
One thing that makes this place shine is its salsa bar. It gives you plenty of option with your food. Here you'll find your standard red and green salsas, lime wedges, radish slices, onions and cilantro. In addition to that, they have a near-perfect pico de gallo, a lovely mild guacamole/avocado salsa, roasted whole jalapeños with onions, a few more vegetable options, and a couple more house-made salsas.
They also make their tortillas on-site. Good to see a chain doing that, and it's something that most places in my more familiar Minneapolis don't do. Free tortilla chips are also provided at the counter, and they taste good too!
The Tacos
I ordered the al pastor plate. Here it is, as served, plus some chips and other things I gathered from the salsa bar:
They serve the plate with a handful of small-size corn tortillas, and a pile of meat on top. There's also a bit of lettuce and tomatoes on the plate, but I barely noticed with this glistening mound of meat in front of me:
The al pastor comes with some sweet canned pineapple wedges cooked along with it. Not too many to make the whole package sweet, but just enough to give some excellent variety to the texture and flavor of the tacos.
The meat's flavor is quite good. It's marinated well in spices and surrounded by pineapple. It's cooked very well too. Just enough brown crispiness to make the texture the perfect enough of crunch. The meat is tender, and plenty moist. It is a touch greasy, but the flavor forgives that. The marinade doesn't overpower the basic pork flavor which comes through just as it should.
The way it's served, assembling the tacos is a bit more work than typical. As the tortillas are all below the greasy meat, you can either get your hands dirty or try to use a fork to get the ingredients in your tacos to the right spot. Even with a fork, you're likely to pick up some grease from the tortilla. Anyone eating tacos shouldn't be afraid to get a little down and dirty though :)
With the pile of meat and ample amounts of pico de gallo and roasted jalapeños, I must have managed about 5 small tacos with the small tortillas provided. With a leftover tortilla I made a vegetable taco with a jalapeño, pico de gallo, and avocado salsa. This was more than plenty to fill up, but there were also the complimentary chips as well.
Conclusion
With ample amounts of delicious meat, a full-featured salsa bar, and good chips that keep coming, this place is a value winner. Just $5.99 plus tax can get you some great food in this town! If I had my way, the tacos would come pre-assembled, but there are always compromises. This place exceeds expectations for a multi-state and international restaurant chain.
4 Pineapple Piggies out of 5
AAAARRGH, I wish there were places like this in Scotland (again.) Great descriptions, I can almost taste it and I lived the glistening mound of meat!
Be the change you want to see in the world! But fair warning, most people not from Mexico or nearby don't make the best tacos :P
Hehe, I know. Most of the Mexican places here are far from what you would expect from a Mexican food place. Turgid burritos and that's about it!
Ive seen it all now... a $100 Taco Post. SteemON!
Are you in ABQ? I'll meet you for lunch sometime!
I can't meet for lunch but thanks for the offer :)
I used to live in Santa Fe. One of the things I miss most about New Mexico is the food. This looks incredible!
New Mexico does have great food!
Let's just say if I lived near here, I'd be in trouble :)
I moved to AUSTRALIA 23-24 years ago. The #1 thing I think I miss the most is quality Mex dishes.
Don't give up hope, there are still recipes on the internet :D
Alas ingredients... If I do MEX. It is @ my own hands. I miss just going to a decent corner restaurant that serves GREAT food at reasonable prices, and the friendly environment.
I love that place and fortunately we have one located in my neck of the woods.
Yeah I'll be paying a visit next time I'm in ABQ or any other cities they service.
looks good, didnt have a tasty taco since some time
Fix this :P
Congratulations @pfunk!
Your post was mentioned in my hit parade in the following category:
every day is a good day for tacos lol
Wise words
I just love Mexican food and this looks delicious!
I can confirm, is delicious.
Now I'm hungry. :P
Yay :)
it is great to see good content on this site, I upvoted for you!
Thank you very much @teachblogger
Yum !
Indeed!
I wish we have more Mexican food here. We used to have one lone Taco bell. OK, i know. some of you don't even consider taco bell as Mexican food.
It's Mexican't food :P
Thanks for the confirmation. :-)
Resteemed!!! Wow! Excellent post, (and this is not sarcasm). Never tried such a dish, you need to fix it;) good day !!!
Thank you
<3 Awesomeee..!!
Love this food..
wow, good post......! I FOLLOW YOU pleas follow back
Oh, how awesome!
Why can't the taquería in Mankato be that awesome? Great review!
Scroll through some of my previous posts for some taquerias much closer to Mankato worth a visit... or browse a limited selection (thanks to a bug) here: https://steemit.com/created/tctacotour
I need to have as many followers as you. I am just starting come check out my posts
where else can I follow you. you seem to know what your talking about, I could use someone with that kind of knowledge to help me get started. thanks.
I dont know if I'm just to that level of high. Or if that looks like the best mexican food I have ever seen. All i know is I'm headed to the 24 place down the store to be disappointed. thanks! but im following. keep posting things that make me jealous!
And irony had it I was the 420th vote!
Haha nice!
I will do what I can. ;)
This place was originally started in my hometown in El Paso Tx. I went to school with the girl whose dad was the owner of the Juarez locations. Brings back lots of memories. Pretty awesome to see this. :)
mind blowing bro..... i am totally impressed for your beautiful hard work.......i think one day you will be the top of the steemit blogger......go ahead bro.....
mind blowing bro...... i am totally impressed for your beautiful hard work.......i think one day you will be the top of the steemit blogger......go ahead bro.....
Wow, that actually looks good! And decently priced, too...