Togo's - Pastrami Sandwich

Tacographics hadn't been to Togo's before, but was hungry in a shopping area and wanted a sandwich.

Luckily Togo's has daily specials, so it made it easier to decide on the Pastrami (it was on a Monday).

I got the 6 inch with lettuce, mustard, and tomato on wheat.

I'll have to say, it was a good sandwich.  It was thinly shredded pastrami with a good blend of toppings.  You know when you eat pastrami you're bound to have bites of fatty meat that are awful, with this sandwich I only had two.
 
Overall, it kicked Subway's Pastrami sub's ass, and was cheaper (at $4).

 Fat rating: 5/10

Salt rating: 8/10

Taste rating: 7/10

Bobby's Place - Spuderito

In between the giant chunk of time I didn't do reviews (the dark ages of Tacographics) - I found myself starving in an area that I did not frequent.  I did not have a smartphone yet, so I didn't have yelp.  I chose Bobby's because it was a hole-in-the-wall and those places tend to be cheap and good.

I saw "Spuderito" on the menu and asked what the hell that is.  The cashier said it's a burrito with fries, cheese, and hot sauce.   I think she also mentioned a "burrito sauce" and said it was "good, you'll like it". She said you can get it customized with lettuce, onions, and tomatoes, and even with beans.

I ended up getting a "Spuderito" with beans, fries, lettuce, tomato, cheese, and burrito sauce for about $3.  It was awesome.  So I went back recently to get a pic and review.

Why was it awesome?  The shredded lettuce and tomatoes?  Nah, it was just shredded lettuce and tomatoes, dude.  The cheese?  The cheese was fresh grated cheese and great, but nah.  The beans?  Nope, they were beans.  Fries? They were medium cut fries, nothing amazing. Tortilla? Lol.

That obviously leaves the burrito sauce as the reason why Tacographics finds this burrito to be delicious.  I have never had a sauce like it - it's red and tomato-y but it isn't some pizza sauce or anything. I actually have no damn idea what it is, but it's perfect. 

Overall, all the ingredients together created a standard-sized burrito that is pretty unique - full of texture and taste but not salty.  TACOGRAPHICS SEAL OF APPROVAL.

Fat rating: 6.5/10

Salt rating: 6.5/10

Taste rating: 9.5/10

Taco Bell - Chicken Cantina Burrito

Got a haircut and there was a Taco Bell nearby so I ate.  I wanted something a little lighter...huge sign for the new cantina burrito so I ordered it along with a potato taco.

While I'm completely aware Taco Bell (and really any fast food chain) does a ton of doctoring to get their food to look delicious in menu pictures, this was pretty sad.  The picture of the burrito on the menu looked more like a fresh salad in a tortilla - it looked like what I wanted to eat! Yes!

Cantina Burrito, looks good!

What I ended up eating was just a bunch of mush in a tortilla for about $5. 

I should have known better.  This was probably the worst burrito I've ever had.  A mish-mash of standard Taco Bell ingredients but WITH A TINY SCOOP OF BLACK BEANS OOOH SO UPSCALE.

And while I actually like standard Taco Bell ingredients in other forms (see: other reviews), this I did not.

 

Fat + salt rating: 7/10

 Taste rating: 4/10

Texture rating: Mush/10

Lucky Boy - Bacon Cheeseburger and Fries

Tacographics first real entry since April 2012.  Why?  BECAUSE TACOGRAPHICS, BITCH.

Went to Lucky Boy last night with a friend (thank you internet for making that sentence seem a little awkward). 

It was basically Farmer Boys but with more Mexican food on the menu; and gyros.  AMERICUHN FOOD.

I got a bacon cheeseburger no onions and pickels and fries.

The burger had 1000, LOTS OF SHREDDED LETTUCE, tomatoes, cheddar (it usually comes with american), the burger patty, and LOTS OF CRISPY BACON.

For $4.89, it was a pretty bacon-infused entity.  I would even say it was a blt with a burger patty because the patty was thin and not the dominant texture and flavor.

It was a salty burger blt.  You know how you get that salty dry-mouth sometimes after eating? Got that.

The fries were medium cut, unsalted.

This is a burger for fans of crispy bacon.  Might want to ask for light lettuce if this looks more like a salad between a bun than a MEAT BURGER.

LETTUCE

Fat rating: 8/10

Salt rating: 9/10

Taste rating: 7/10

Happy National Taco Day AGAIN

TACOGRAPHICS HERE.  Yes - I haven't been here since April.  Tacographics lost the will to assign salt and fat ratings to various meat and carb combinations. BUT I MIGHT COME BACK SOON. I'M THINKING ABOUT IT.

I actually finally tried tacos from Kogi tonight since I was near one.  SALT AND FAT EVERYWHERE.  I thought the short rib > chicken > spicy pork.

NO PICTURES.

Johnny Carino's - Chicken Parmigana

MOMMA MIA. Tacographics at an italian restaurant chain?  You bet ya. I am not the biggest fan of italian food (even though I'm 1/4 italian) but took my parents here for a dinner out. While eating this I couldn't decide if it was great or simply mediocre.  I mean..I haven't eaten too many chicken parmigana meals out...but know that every time I've tried it at a place the chicken has sort of a weird deal...where it isn't string-y like chicken is suppose to be...

Other than that, I enjoyed it.  The sauce wasn't chunky but wasn't watery either, the chicken breast was pretty damn huge and fried golden brown.  There could have been a bigger helping of spahgetti but eh.

Fat rating: 6.5/10

Salt rating: 7.5/10

Taste rating: 6.5/10

In N Out - Double Double and Fries

Time for some good ol' fashion tacographics controversy.  For the non-west coasters, In N Out is a legendary burger chain with like 3 things on the menu - burgers, fries, and shakes.  Their shakes are really damn good, but I already felt bad after consuming this meal so I didn't get one.

I was starving, so taking the first bite of the burger was pretty damn awesome.  The second and third were too, but after that I sorta felt bad eating this greasy thing.  After a while the veggies got slimy and disgusting.  The burger tasted fine, the charbroiled patties are unbeatable in fast food, but still - the textures of the veggies made this burger gross after a while (welcome to burgers, tacos are superior always and FOREVER).  I know I could have gotten no veggies, but the first few bites w/ the veggies was sorta worth it.

The fries are fresh cut potatoes fried in clean vegetable oil - probably the best thin cut fries ever, they're perfect salted and/or with ketchup.

Fat rating: 8/10

Salt rating: 7.5/10

Taste rating: 7/10

Senor Baja - Carne Asada Tacos

Had a second interview so I went back to get some more tacos at a different place.  These were only 99 cents for a daily special, so damn that's some good eatin'.  The carne asada was decent, having an ok asada texture and taste.  I added cheese to them for 25 cents or something, which was a good idea.  These tacos had cabbage, pico, and cilantro - they weren't that delicious, but the green sauce at the taco bar was (no pic).  The other salsas at the bar were pathetic but the green sauce delivered greatness.

Fat rating: 5/10

Salt rating: 5/10

Taste rating: 5.5/10 (7.5/10 with green sauce)

Taco Bell - Doritos Locos Taco

I'm probably not the only person in existence to think of a Doritos taco.  I did when I was a young kid knocking down taco after taco while eating Doritos with them.  If these came out when I was 12 I would've probably inhaled them.

So how are they? They're exactly what you expect - a taco bell taco with a doritos flavored shell.  It was good, the only negative seemed to be that the shell wasn't as crunchy as the normal shell.

Fat rating: 4.5/10

Salt rating: 5.5/10

Taste rating: 6/10

El Gran Burrito - Shredded Beef Taco and Potato Taco + Chips and Salsa

Going to job interviews sucks, tacos don't.  I ate at this place afterward - tacos are there to aid my jobless existence.  They weren't that great unfortunately.  Yeah, I understand that if a place has burrito in its name that I should probably get a burrito...but once again I will point to the title of this blog, dog.   This shit ain't Burritographics.

This place had a free chips and salsa bar.  The chips were standard and the salsa was pretty bad watery/mild/medium-ish. 

As for the tacos...they came pretty damn fast to my table, I could barely eat a few chips.  They looked delicious but were just ok.  The shredded beef taco had lettuce and cheese.  They needed some flavor so I put some salsa on it even though I didn't even like the salsa.   The potato taco had lettuce, cheese, and somr pico.  I liked it but it just left something to be desired.  It tasted a bit like a tater tot taco now that I think about it.  Not bad, just not great.

Fat rating: 6/10

Salt rating: 5/10

Taste rating: 5.5/10

Lazy Dog Cafe - Tex Mex Salad

By now, it's well established what Tacographics demands: fuckin' good tex-mex cuisine.  If you can't deliver, then Tacographics will not have any reason to purchase your sub-standard food once more.  Lazy Dog Cafe is on the border of being in this category.

I got the Tex Mex: chicken breast, black beans, jack, cheddar, avocado, corn, tomato, bbq &, peppercorn ranch, and tortilla strips.

It was boring.  Sure, it looked nice and tossed, but the fancy way it was presented didn't really have much effect on it being just meh.  There was an overwhelmingly dull ranch taste to the salad - I didn't really taste any "peppercorn".  There was very little bbq sauce, I would be interested in tasting more (in hindsight should have asked for some). 

Aside from the fact that this salad had everything I like in my tex mex, it was a disappointment taste wise.  I think one way to boost the taste would be to have some salsa instead of just plain ol' chopped tomatoes.      Lettuce was boring iceberg, and the rest of the ingredients were just a hodge-podge.  I will say that tortilla strips were a good touch.  Every salad needs crunch in one way or another. 

Fat rating: 5.5/10

Salt rating: 5.5/10

Taste rating: 5/10

Domino's - Parmesean Bread Bites

Bread is pretty good.  Garlic and Parmesean is pretty good.  Add them together and you have bite-sized food from Domino's.  These are basically crazybread from Little Caesar's, but higher quality (more parmesean, subtle garlic flavor) and less greasy.

I didn't have sauce on hand, but paired with Domino's marinara sauce these would be great I bet.

Fat rating: 3.5/10

Salt rating: 3.5/10

Taste rating: 5.5/10