Papa Tacos - Asada, Chicken, and Potato Taco

Last time I was at Juan Pollo I noticed there was a taco place right across the street.  I looked on yelp for it but couldn't find any trace of the place.  It peaked my interest, so last night I went there before a concert.  The place was really small, and had menu similar to Chipotle.  I got:

Asada taco - The asada was definitely better than Chronic Tacos but the taco itself was small.  The pico de gallo was onion based but I didn't have an issue with it.  There was an ample amount of shredded white cheese.

Chicken taco - Decent chicken, had a very subtle lime/chile flavor.  Same ingredients as the asada.  Pico and cheese.

Potato taco - More expensive than Chronic Taco's potato taco (I'll review it sometime), and not as good.  Cheese was put on the bottom, along with pico and topped with fresh shredded lettuce.

Final verdict: Everything seemed to be in order.  Decent tacos, around $5 for the meal.  But it left me unsatisfied and still hungry.  So I went over to Juan Pollo and got some of these. 

Fat rating: 6/10

Salt rating: 6/10

Taste rating: 6.5/10

Chicken Strips and Fries MEGA REVIEW

Over the past month I've probably eaten more chicken strips than I have in the past two years.  I used to eat them all the time as a kid, and that's not something I'm happy about.  For this review I will compare Denny's, KFC, Arby's, Carl's Jr. Chicken Strips and fries.  Also I will mention the sauce used.

Denny's - $6 got me 3 strips and fries.  They're small hand-breaded (I think) tenders and are pretty (wait for it) generic.  Don't ask me why, but the Denny's doesn't have BBQ sauce for ANYTHING on the menu.  Goddamn bullshit, so I used ketchup.  The fries were ridged and had enough potato for them to be enjoyable, were also salted. 

Grease rating: 9/10

Salt rating: 8.5/10

Taste rating: 7.5/10

 

Arby's - Had these when I did my other Arby's review.  They are bigger compared to the competition, but seem to be pre-made strips.  As with Denny's, there is a slight peppery taste.  Arby's bbq sauce is dark and bold tasting, and complements the strips.  I already reviewed the curly fries, too lazy to talk about them again.

Grease rating: 8/10

Salt rating: 7.5/10

Taste rating: 7.5/10

KFC - Eating KFC is something I try not to do often, as it is deliciously horrible (the secret recipe is msg, just sayin').  The strips are plump hormone-infused, breaded chicken breasts.  They're delicious but greasy as fuck, same goes for the potato wedges.  The honey bbq sauce is decent but not the best honey bbq by a longshot.  

Grease rating: 10/10

Salt rating: 9/10

Taste rating: 8.5/10

Carl's Jr. - The newly advertised chicken tenders are definitely fuckin' tasty but they're small and pretty greasy.  The lack of peppery taste is made up for by the bbq sauce, which is thick and has a kick to it.  

The fries are boring, they have a little skin on them and are lightly salted but are too skinny to warant me eating them again.   

Grease rating: 8/10

Salt rating: 8/10

Taste rating: 8/10

 

Acapulco - 3 Item Combo

Continuing on with the mexican food for white people reviews, I went to Acapulco with my family on Sunday.  This place is hit or miss with their food, depending on what you get.  One constant is everything looks goddamn delicious when you walk by people's tables.  The presentation of the food creates high expectations.  The menu is pretty decent and usually has a special or two that I think about but never get.  For this review I got a 3 item combo.  1 chicken soft taco, 1 shredded beef taco, and a shredded beef enchilada. 

Chicken taco - chicken is meh; it's shredded.  Lettuce, cheese, tomatoes on a flour tortilla.  Not great but it's still a taco DAMMIT.  The lettuce was bad, not fresh, just no thanks. 

Shredded beef taco - Just when I thought the lettuce couldn't get any gunkier, UGH FUCK.  It ruined the overall texture of the thing, I had to do some lettuce gunk removal half way through eating it, GOIN' IN DEEP.  The shredded beef is a little spicy and had some fat on it,  my brother was bitching about his having a lot.

Shredded beef enchilada - Same meat as the taco, just in a different entity.  They're decent 'chiladas, with mild red sauce.  Meat is just a crap-shoot though, hope you get a lean batch.

Beans/rice - These alone are great, but after looking at the nutrition facts it is obvious why.  SALT UP THE FUCKIN' ASS.

Chips/salsa - Another highlight of this restaurant.  The salted chips were meh today but usually great.  The salsa would be perfect if it was chunkier, the overall taste is godly.  It's mild white people salsa but I'm white SO WHAT DO YOU EXPECT.

Fat rating: 7/10

Salt rating: 10/10

Taste rating: 7/10

Origin of the name Tacographics

Tacographics is a term I invented which basically means the target audience (demographic, psychographic) of this blog is: 18-34 male/female, frugal/make low wages, intelligent/witty, introverted, and enjoy tacos/mexican food/other foods.

IT'S AN INSIDE JOKE BETWEEN ME AND A SMALL COLLECTIVE OF INTERNET ACQUAINTANCES/FRIENDS, YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE
YES I USE A LOT OF BACKSLASHES DEAL/WITH/IT

Del Taco Fish Taco

Something I have never dared to eat has been a fish taco because, well, I am not fan of fish or cabbage or sauce. People have told me they love them and suggest I give them a shot.  So I did, and I can safely say they are something I would have again.

Separately, I have no use for the core of the taco (fish, sauce, cabbage), but together, along with the pico de gallo, the flavors and textures are enjoyable.  I didn't even touch the lime because the tacos were already full of flavor.  I usually hate sauce on tacos because not only is it superfluous most of the time, but it creates a mess.  Only the latter rings for true for the white sauce on these tacos, without it they would be a little dry.  In conclusion, I welcome the fish taco universe to my palate and readers (all two of you) can expect future fish taco reviews.

Fat rating: 4/10

Salt rating: 4/10

Taste rating: 7/10

GODDAMN TACO WIZARDRY

I have not reviewed Double Deckers from Taco Bell because they don't have them at my school's Taco Bell Express.  So I went to Del Taco, and did something I should have done a long ass time ago.  For the grand total of 68 cents (plus tax), I fuckin' made one myself.  Behold, the fusion of a crunchy taco and a soft taco with beans instead of beef:

BACK THE FUCK UP

New York Pizzeria Cheese Pizza

I had one of my birthday's here when I was a kid. Only reason I went was because my dad wanted some.  It's greasy, but aside from that it's definitely... PIZZA.  The best part is the crust, it's light and crispy, not some shit pizza that falls apart.    The cheese to sauce ratio was good, the pizza looks red-ish because of it.  I don't know what else to say HERE'S THE PICTURE OF THE PIZZA 

Fat rating: 5/10

Salt rating: 7/10

Taste rating: 6.5/10

Denny's Mozzarella Sticks

For $4, I got a 5 piece.  I would buy these more often if they let you buy 2 or 3, but nope.  I don't understand how anyone can actually eat these as a meal, I got them with a fruit cup for balance.  The sticks are pretty decent, both in size and taste.  The marinara it came with is very generic (welcome to Denny's) but not bad.  In a nutshell:  Cheese = good, fried cheese = very good, fried cheese dipped in pizza sauce = mmmmmm.  If I get these again I'll take them home and eat them with some plain whole wheat pasta cause I'm healthy as shit.

Fat rating: 7/10

Salt rating: 6/10

Taste rating: 7.5/10

Tacos on Campus

Not all tacos are created equally, sadly.  On Thursday I finally met up with a super c00l friend (and fellow taco lover) at uhour to have lunch (or in my case breakfast, woke up at 11am).  The line was pretty long and didn't seem to move for minutes at a time.  It was probably the longest I've ever waited for a taco (I have not tried Kogi or any of those food trucks though), and I would have never waited if I was by myself.  When we finally got our tacos, I got no onions or cilantro but got some LIMES.

For 3 bucks I got 3 tacos and a water.  I would have paid another dollar for some salsa and cheese, but they were n/a.  Without those ingredients, these tacos were about as bland as you can get.  The limes added a little to to the slightly marinated/decent carne asada but could not save them from being low tier. 

Fat rating: 3/10

Salt rating: 3/10

Taste rating: 3.5/10

Arby's Roast Beef Sandwich and Curly Fries

Aside from Taco Bell, I ate a lot of Arby's as a kid.  The greatest thing in the world was called "The Ultimate Combo".  It included a Roast Beef sandwich, 2 chicken strips, and curly fries with a drink.  Shit was so ca$h. I would do chores or something and get rewarded with it.  Flash forward about 10 years and my dad randomly brings home Arby's last friday.  I basically had all the ingredients of the combo, but I'll review the chicken strips and compare them to Denny's and Carls Jr.'s new ones later. 
So, the roast beef sandwich is good for what it is.  Yes, I know that it's not exactly genuwine roast beef, yes the bun is generic white bread.  But with curly fries and some ketchup, I'll take it once in awhile.

Fat rating: 4/10

Salt rating: 6/10

Taste rating: 6.5/10

As for the curly fries, they're goddamn greasy.  I loved them when I was a kid and still like them (pretty much with all fries), but yeah.  As I already stated, these complement the roast beef sandwich well. 

Fat rating: 8/10

Salt rating: 6/10

Taste rating: 6.5/10