El Loco - Hard Shell Taco

One of the few of my remaining places that I grew up on that I have yet to review.  El Loco is a place I've been to countless times - they have great white people mexican food.  Their tacos have almost always been awesome.  For a stint they were lower quality (greasy shell, dry meat), but they're back for real.

A hard shell taco is what you want to get here (fried shell filled with shredded beef, lettuce, cheese, and tomatoes). I almost always get a taco and tostada when I go (not today).  What I like about this place is the large amounts of everything in the tacos - they don't skimp on cheese or tomatoes. 

The shredded beef was tender and mild but not salty at all.  Like I said before, the ingredients are plentiful, but they're also fresh and delicious.  The fried shell was not too greasy, it's not exactly a light flake-y shell but it's not heavy either.  All I know is these tacos are bonafied Tacographics All-stars.  They may be a little bland for some, but they're near perfect for me.  

Another bad picture

Tacographics sincerely apologizes for not having a better camera and photography taking skills.

Here's a better pic from a couple years ago:

Fat rating: 5.5/10

Salt rating: 5/10

Taste rating: 9/10

Puffy Taco - Carne Asada Puffy Taco Plate

If you have wondered, the picture on the front page that has made you hungry since Tacographics' inception is from this place.  Puffy motherfucking Taco.  It is definitely out of my DTZ (designated taco zone for those who have forgotten) but my dad wanted to go and I was bored as hell.

There is a standard fare of items here, but c'mon.  You go here for puffy tacos. Period, end of sentence.  They have picadillo beef, chicken, and carne asada ones.  The beef is meh, it's greasy.  The chicken is decent, but you want to get carne asada here.  It's good.  I would say it is probably my favorite - it has a slightly charred texture which contains the juices.  I'm guessing the meat is fried inside the corn tortilla in the puffy taco making process.

Anyway, Puffy Tacos rule.  A fried corn shell containing the meat, lettuce, tomatoes and red salsa.  I will say their salsa is too liquid-y and too onion-y -  both the green and red sauce. Other than that, goddamn.  I would eat here a lot more if it was closer.  The plate also comes with a hefty portion of beans, rice, and chips which are great.  I left full but still wanting more because it's just that good.

Fat rating: 8/10

Salt rating: 7/10

Taste rating: 9.5/10

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

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  

Taco Bell Steak MEGA REVIEW

My second MEGA REVIEW, this one will be about 3 steak products from Taco Bell.  As I've stated, I'm not a big fan of the steak in one of my TB reviews, but it's ok once in a while as a break from chicken gorditas.

First the steak taquitos, these were pretty boring.  I'm not a big fan of taquitos and quesadillas because they're just lacking in the texture department.  Melted cheese and meat in a tortilla can only take you so far. 

Fat rating 5/10

Salt rating 7/10

Taste rating 5.5/10

Next, the grilled stuft burrito.  My chicken grilled stuft burrito sucked, but this was better.  It still wasn't "stuft" but had enough to be filling.  The pico de gallo at Taco Bell sucks, onions everywhere.  The texture of onions is god-awful in burritos.  You have mushy textures and all of a sudden you have the crunch of the onion which sucks ass.  Other than that it's rice and beans with cheese and steak, no sauce ever.  As with most burritos, it was fucking salty.

Fat rating: 6/10

Salt rating: 9/10

Taste rating: 6/10

No mention of the steak so far, yeah I'm aware.  For the steak taco, though, it was easiest to taste because there were no other dominant flavors.  The meat just reminds me of beef jerky but moist.  It's not exactly bad, just not real steak.  I mean, it's not like their ground beef is quality either, but I eat it because it's cheap and convenient, two key aspects of my eating decision making.

This taco had the most lettuce I've seen since Rubio's, stems have always been a pain in the ass whilst eating tacos, they will never be conquered. As you can see there is a stack of them on the right.  Fuck them.

Fat rating: 4/10

Salt rating: 6/10

Taste rating: 5.5/10

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

Welcome to Tacographics!

On this blog I will review various foods I eat, featuring REAL TALK analysis of various restaurant and homemade foods.  Tacos are obviously going to be the main dish I discuss, as they are an all around amazing food.  For the people who do not know me well, I may come off as a critical asshole at times but just remember: I do not take myself seriously and this is all for fun, when I use caps I am just putting emphasis on words, not actually SHOUTING!  I'll try to make my reviews entertaining.

Explanation of  rating system: 

Fat rating (how fatty the meal was): 3/10

Salt rating (how salty): 8/10

Taste rating (overall satisfaction): 8/10

Basically if the fat and salt ratings are low but the taste rating is high that's a good thing, if they're high and the taste rating is low that is NOT good.

Origin of name: 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.

Oh, and I use a 2.2 mp camera phone for pictures, that's why they suck. If you would like to contribute to a Tacographics camera fund, I will gladly accept donations.

Jan 2013  Update - photos are better now, my camera phone isn't garbage anymore.