Taco Nazo - Potato Taco

I got two of these along with my fish taco for the Fish Taco MEGA Review (scroll down to see it if you haven't).  They're a $1 during Happy Hour.

Simple taco, a fried shell filled with potato and topped with the same ingredients as a fish taco (cabbage, white sauce, pico de gallo).  The potato was skimpy which kinda sucked, and this thing was greasy (well duh, it's fried).  Just like the fish taco, it was a mess to eat.  I guess Taco Nazo is too lazy to actually put fillings INSIDE the taco, like other potato tacos I've had. 

Tl;dr - It had a very similar taste and texture to the fish taco - with the addition of crunch from the shell and subtraction of fishy taste. 

Fat rating: 6/10

Salt rating: 4/10

Taste rating: 6/10

Fish Tacos - MEGA REVIEW

How did I spend my spring break?  Well, I had more fish tacos than I'll ever have in the rest of my life.  What have I learned from all this?  I'm not a fish taco guy, period end of sentance. 

El Pollo Loco - Baja Fish Taco:

My first fish taco was the advertised one from El Pollo Loco.  They got rid of steak but brought in this?  I can't remember what exactly the commercial stated, but I recall it saying these are "bursting with flavor".  More like bursting with NOTHING.  These fish tacos literally had no taste, I couldn't believe it.  The cabbage - nothing, cilantro - nothing, sauce - nothing, the fish - nothing, and the tortilla (which overwhelmed hints of anything with a resemblance of taste) - nothing.  On the bright side, at least the texture was ok and I now know what eating something without taste buds must feel like.

Fat rating: 4/10

Salt rating: 2.0/10

Taste rating: 1/10

Rubio's - World Famous Fish Taco 

Went here on Tuesday and brought them home.  Worst mistake I've made.  The tacos came out mushy from the slathered on white sauce.  Only the edges remained slightly crisp - what was left was one flour and one corn mush taco.  From what I could eat, these had decent flavor from the sauces (white and mild salsa)  The fish fillet was elongated and full of fishy goodness.  No, fish is not good. It sucks.   

Fat rating: 5/10

Salt rating: 4/10

Taste rating: 4.5/10

Taco Nazo - Taco de Pescado

Today I went here to round out the local places.  These were the cheapest (at regular price) at $1.69.  The first thing you'll notice is, damn, they do look a lot better than the previous two.  They taste slightly better as well.  The fish fillet is rectang-lish, so you have to fold it to one side of the tortilla before taking a bite.  This made it a bitch to eat, the sauce is messy as hell.  The shreddy cabbage was the best out of the three places - I liked the texture of it the most.  The pico de gallo didn't add much flavor.

After eating most of this taco, it dawned on me - Del Taco makes the only fish taco I'll probably ever get again.  I'm just not a fan of fish, like I said earlier - it sucks.  At least with Del Taco I don't recall it being messy or having an overwhelming amount of smelly-ass fish in each bite.

Fat rating: 5.5/10

Salt rating: 4/10

Tast rating: 5.0/10

Rubio's - Grilled Steak Burrito Especial

Back to Rubio's once more.  If I waited I could have done a Burrito Showdown with  Chipotle's Steak Burrito but sorry, I'm not a Showdown Review machine.

While still big, this was slightly smaller than Chipotle, and about the same taste-wise.  The ingredients were similar - rice, black beans, cheese, pico de gallo - differences being Rubio's adds a little guacamole (mine was mostly buried at the bottom).  The one thing Chipotle could benefit from is what this Rubio's burrito had - a whole wheat tortilla. 

Pro - Slightly healthier

Con - Every time I remember to get it, the tortilla is ripped from failed wrapping.  As a result, burrito control is near impossible and ingredient spillage is a normal occurance.  GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER RUBIO'S, LITERALLY.

The steak wasn't as great as I remembered, and seemed a little skimpy.  I didn't have any problems with fatty pieces, though.  Chips were included, I'm not sure if the amount they gave was one or two servings, but I was surprised how much there were. 

Awesome picture, NOT. This is what happens when you use a camera-phone with no flash

SPARE ME THE HATE MAIL

Fat rating: 7.5/10 (9.5/10 w/ chips)

Salt rating: 9/10

Taste rating: 6.5/10

Subway - Pastrami Sub

I like pastrami and eat it like once or twice a year.  How about it Subway?  What I didn't know going in was the atrocious amount of fat in this thing, I knew coming in it would be a high salt rating THIS IS SUBWAY AFTERALL. 

The meat had some fat on it but wasn't that chewy.  It was definitely pastrami - salty and a distinct meaty taste - WELL NO SHIT, IT'S MEAT.  I liked how it was sliced thin, every lunch meat ever should be thin - thick sucks ass.

I wouldn't get this again, the swiss was negligable, along with the mustard (pastrami is the only thing I eat mustard with, it works).  Pastrami -  just another thing that tastes good because it's loaded with salt and fat, but ultimately not worth it.

Fat rating: 7/10

Salt rating: 9/10

Taste rating: 6/10

Arby's - Bacon Cheddar Roastburger

Two summers ago, Arby's had one of the most god-tier sandwiches I've ever had.  It was the BBQ Bacon Cheddar Roastburger.  It was everything I like on one sandwich ingredients wise.  Flash forward to now and I get this because they don't have the BBQ version.

Lettuce, tomatoes, roast beef, cheddar and bacon on a soft toasted kaiser (?) bun.  Lettuce was great, shred-y and no detected stems.  Tomatoes were eh, roast beef was Arby's - I like it.  Cheddar disappointed me, I don't remember it being this American-cheese-ish.  Fuck that, I ended up taking off half of it.  Bacon was also great, but it was skimpy as hell.

I ate it with some bbq sauce which tasted well enough, but I miss my BBQ Bacon Roastburger - it had a different bbq sauce and onion strings (along with the ingredients on this one)

Fat rating: 5.5/10

Salt rating: 7.5/10

Taste rating: 4/10 (6.5/10 with no cheese)

El Pollo Loco - Chicken Taco Al Carbon and BRC Burrito

El Pollo Loco - more white-washed mexican food.  The taco al carbon is probably the most mexican thing you can get here.  As a white guy, I will not stand for this - so I did my white person duty and got no onions/cilantro, add lettuce. The lettuce reminds me of Taco Bell's, they might be from the same lettuce manufacturer even WHY AM I TALKING ABOUT THIS. 

I added medium salsa to the taco, the mild is too mushy.  Even for me, El Pollo Loco's salsa is laughably tame.  I sometimes mix the medium pico de gallo with the "hot" avocado sauce. 

The chicken is thigh meat and has decent citrus-marinaded flavor.  I wouldn't recommend eating this without salsa, very dry.

Fat rating: 2/10

Salt rating: 3.5/10 (5/10 with salsa)

Taste rating: 4/10 (5.5/10 with salsa)

 Onto the BRC, another one of the dollar menu items.  I was introduced to this in high school, where I was a picky dumbass.  I ate pepperoni pizza pretty much everyday, but once it was sold out and this club was selling BRC's for $2.  I liked it and have gotten them ever since.  They are a great compliment to the al carbon taco.  (Pinto) Beans, Rice, and Cheese in a flour tortilla = very filling for $1.

I would rather eat two or three of these over a Chipotle burrito.  The gooey tortilla is probably the best fast food one on the market, along with the decent beans.  The rice is meh but you can barely even taste it, it's mainly there for texture purposes.  With some chips and salsa (not pictured), this is some good eatin'.

Fat rating: 5/10

 Salt rating: 6.5/10

  Taste rating: 7/10  

Chipotle - Steak Burrito

Went here for dinner with my brother earlier today.  Damn, it was packed.  A lot of people were using the buy one get one free coupon, as was I.  I was gonna get a steak burrito bowl but then decided FUCK IT, I'll just get a burrito.  There was some unexpected spice to the burrito - I'm guessing from the steak.  I'm white. Moving on...   

This will probably be the last time I get steak, as it was full of grisel (lots of chewing and spitting out fatty pieces).  Every other time I've gotten it I've had the same result, I don't know what the deal is with that.  Other ingredients I got were black and pinto beans, rice (cilantro-lime rice is meh), cheese, and their mild tomato salsa.  The salsa was definitely solid, but I find it kinda odd how it has more sodium than the steak on the nutrition facts.

I appreciate Chipotle's fresh ingredients - it's a nice break from the usual stuff I get. However, I don't exactly find their food all that great. Huge, yes, but I prefer many other places.

                                                              Chipotle is for hipsters.

Fat rating: 7.5/10

Salt rating: 9/10

Taste rating: 6.5/10

Del Taco - Crispy Shrimp Taco

Wanted to try this to compare with their fish taco .  The difference between the two is the slight spicy aftertaste and different tortilla (this one has flour).  Both have a cabbage blend and generic tomato salsa.  I'm not a fan of shrimp raw, but fried, hell, I'll eat it.  I'm not sure which I prefer, I do like the kick this one has to it, but at the same time I don't.  It's weird, but of course you'd know I'm weird if you're a Tacographics vet.  By the way, first person who gets a (visible) Tacographics logo tattoo will be my favorite person by default.  I will buy you tacos and maybe other things.

Fat rating: 5/10

Salt rating: 5.5/10

Taste rating: 7/10

CHICKEN TACO SALAD SHOWDOWN - Taco Bell vs. Del Taco

I've been to both of these places countless times, but have not tried these items until NOW.  Let's get down to BUSINESS.  I got no sour cream on both.

Taco Bell's salad was bottom-ed with rice and beans. As I recall the beans had some red sauce on them.  The stem-y taco bell lettuce was ample on this salad (no shit, it's a salad).  The grilled chicken was the salty white meat chicken I've grown accustomed to, along with tomatoes and cheese.  I didn't touch the ranch it came with because it was like liquid fat, and the chips were like a thicker, crappier Tostito's.  Taco Bell's chips are bad.

Fat rating: 4.5/10 (w/ chips, no ranch)

Salt rating: 6.5/10

Taste rating: 6/10

Del Taco's salad was about a dollar cheaper.  It did not contain any rice (Del Taco is really weird about rice, barely any of their menu items have it), but the other ingredients were similar.  The beans were red sauced, there was less lettuce than the Taco Bell salad (not as stem-y too), the chicken is not white meat but tasty;  a little too salty perhaps.  The tomatoes were standard, but paired with the guacamole sauce it created a good combo.  The salad as you can see was contained in a flour tortilla shell.

Fat rating: 6/10

Salt rating: 7.5/10

Taste rating: 7/10

WINNER: DEL TACO