Mi Nidito Restaurant Taco Review 2009

Mi Nidito Restaurant 1813 S 4th Avenue South Tucson AZ 520-622-5081

Hey back again trying to survive the driest August in years. What happened to our monsoon rain? Damn, it is hot and dry. Well we went to one of our longtime favorites in the Mexican restaurant row on South 4th Avenue in South Tucson. It was Friday and I was with some business pals. We made a pact to go early so we would not have to wait. One of the reasons I have not been to Mi Niditos in years is that I am a bad waiter. I hate lines for food. There are those that say this place is worth it and I say there are just too many good restaurants available. That being the case I was kind of excited to come back to my comfortable "Little Nest" which is the translation for Mi Nidito. I recognized the owner right off and thought, "Geez, do I look as old as this guy". I have been going here for 30 years. The answer is probably yes. Once we got our table the service was fast, courteous and very fast. This place knows how to turn tables. I forgot to say that this was the one Mexican food restaurant where then President Bill Clinton sat at the table next to ours and ate the dickens out of a giant combo plate. There are many pics of Wild Bill around the place and obviously, they are quite proud he ate here. It also raised prices about $2.00 per plate in my opinion. This place is not cheap. I opted for a medley of different tacos. I ordered the carne seca (dried beef), ground beef patty, and machaca(shredded beef). When they came to the table, it was hard to see the tacos through the lettuce. I have to say, one of my favorite things about this place was this is where it was automatic you got green peas and radishes on your tacos. Not any more. They were absent. The hamburger patty taco might have been the best. It was a nice mixture of patty deep fried slightly with the taco shell. The carne seca was spicy but just a little too moist. It should have been drier. The machaca was so so but it was good. This place holds a solid middle of the road score for the Taco Trail of 2009. Three tacos and iced tea was about $11.50. My pals had a combo plate $9.50 and a green chile plate $9.00. They all said their food was good. Once again, our solid favorite still holds the numero uno spot. Maicos.

Next week, we begin to hit the taco vans. Hopefully it will be cooler. Keep following us as we begin the "mobile cart' phase of our mission.

Sorry, but we have no pics this week.

Lili's Cocina Restaurant Taco Review

Tucson Dave’s Taco Trail 2009 Review July 28, 2009

Lili’s Cocina, 2205 S 4th Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85713 622-6351

This Taco Trail thing is hard work I have found out. We are at our fifth stop on the Trail taking another turn down to the heart of Tucson’s famous Mexican food on south fourth avenue in the City of South Tucson. For those not in the know, this is the largest concentrations of Mexican food restaurants in the area. Lili’s opened a few years ago and as grown to be a local favorite. It happened to be 110 degrees today and there was a nice cool spot in the back available. Lili’s was started by Grandma and then her daughter came in and helped. The service is quick and friendly and you feel right at home like you are actually in their home. I had a client from northern California with me and he liked the ambiance of the place. I found their taco meat selection to be rather limited. Chicken or Beef. Where is the cabeza or lengua? I don’t understand. So, I order the carne asada taco plate with rice and beans ($7.95). The meat was served on a flour tortilla with a side of lettuce and tomatoe. No cheese. Hmm. Where is the cheese. In fact, where is the queso blanco (white cheese)? There was a pile of meat on the tortillas that was rather taste less and kind of rubbery. There was nothing really bad, but nothing really good. There was no seasoning on the meat. Unlike our earlier visit to BK’s, these tacos just were not real special. If you want more bang for the buck, go to BK’s or our first stop, Maico’s. My client pal had the chicken enchiladas. They looked pretty good. I restrained myself from even extending the reach across the table. I do recommend the red chile plate here. That is what they excel at here at Lili’s.

On to the next spot. It is unbearably hot with no monsoon at all this week.

Chaco's Tacos Review Tucson Dave's Taco Trail

Hi everyone. We sense the end of summer approaching. It certainly is not connected with the weather as it is of course just about unbearable at 103 degrees just about every day this week. We made a Friday dash to one of our favorites, Chaco's Tacos. We had not visited our pals Brenda and Chaco for some time and looked forward to some good tacos. I have had the pleasue of eating here for about 13 years and their daily specials are pretty good. No if they could just get that evaporative cooler working better................ Once again, I brought a business pal to join me in the blog trail. The fog of taco joints. One after another. Most everytime I have been here you are met by owner's spouse, Ms. Brenda. Service is quick and they crank people in and out of here. There are enough Border Patrol patrons to chase every dishwasher this side of the Mississippi back to Mexico. Headquarters is right down the street. We started by tackling the salsa bar and getting huge quantities of their homemade avocado sauce to go with our chips and salsa. Good stuff. I ordered a la carte once again to get the ulimate combination of tacos possible. Chicken, Carne asada, ground beef. The ground beef taco was deep fried and I asked for it that way. The meats here are good. The store bought tortillas, both corn and flour, seem like what happens to a bag of potato chips with your evap on high. They get a little "pliable". Even the deep fried taco had lost some crunch to moisture. The carne asada was good. They serve a lot of these on Carne Asada Tuesdays. The chicken taco was served on a flour tortilla. It had large chunks of white chicken meat and was pretty good save the tortilla. I making a guess here that there brands of tortillas must have some shelf life to them. They could do better. My pal Marshall ordered the green chili plate and he just about polished it all off. He is a small guy and he was challenged. All in all, Chacos serves some good home cooked style Mexican food and you get a lot for your money. Our lunches were $18 all together. This place has a solid following and their location down the street from the Border Patrol and also Davis Monthan provides them an endless supply of customers. This spot ranks in the middle of the pack of those places we have visited.

Las Cazuelitas Restaurant

Hi guys and gals. Yes, the lack of monsoon madness has created more madness. Its time for a business meeting and I need a taco post. This trip was quick and necessary. I met my business appointment at Las Cazuelitas on Ft. Lowell just west of Dodge. I tend to think that most good Mexican food stops geographically at 22nd Street to the south but I went here because it was convenient and I had not visited a Las Cazeulitas restaurant in years. This is their third location located at 3535 E Ft. Lowell (784-0405). It was still hot and there was a small lunch crowd. Everyone there was a friendly crowd and very welcoming. Service was quick with the usual chips and salsa and beverage. The salsa was a little liquidy but had some spark. I ordered tacos a la carte so to try as many differnet tacos as possible. One ground beef taco, one machaca taco, and one fish taco. My appointment friend who I was trying to recruit to be a taco blogger ordered two fish tacos. We both admitted that we were each the best taco makers ourselves. She specialized in fish tacos and I specialize in machaca tacos. Once they arrived they arrived quite hot and they were quite good. The fish taco was a little bland and a little soft in texture. We both admitted we like a little crunch. My ground beef taco might be the best basic ground beef taco I have had so far. Here they excelled. The meat was cooked inside the soft tortilla until it came out crunchy. It was old fashioned and of course plainly unhealthy but good to the palate. Once again, mums the word with my friends at Bluecross. The machaca taco was cooked the same way and was a little overdone in my opinion. It was a good plate overall and receives a middle of the pack ranking. One thing that we have never experienced at a Mexican food restaurant during the Taco Trail 2009 is the over supply of well dressed people coming to our table to make sure we enjoyed our lunch and how was the service. By the third time by yet a third different person, my lunch appointment accused me of calling ahead to identify myself to get better service. No. I did not. These guys were generally interested in how we perceived our visit and the food. These were not professional mystery hosts. We thanked them. Service was great. While not quite as good as those joints on the southside, this place offers a reasonable alternative to driving 20 minutes south.

Tucson Taco Dave Taco Trail 2009

Hi everyone. The Taco Trail entries so far are on my business website at http://www.tucsonindustrialrealty.com/ and will be transferred over to the blog site soon. They are located at the end of my profile. We have had 7 taco trips including the "ringer" that I am about to write about.

Every taco eater, taco maker and taco expert has an ace in the hole for tacos. A hidden treasure that no one can visit or knows where it is. It's called a ringer. Mine showed up at the house with all of the fixins for fish tacos, one of my favorites. The only thing my young pal Brian did not bring was the fish............I got the call to rush home from work and that future Chef, Brian was making sea bass tacos. My son's friend Brian knows I am a food snob and taco worshipper. He still remembers several years ago when I returned from southern Mexico with 200#s of fresh yellowtail and cabrilla and fish tacos at our house were a regular weekly deal. I know Brian through my son Connor (another taco worshipper). Brian wants to go to Chef's school some day and is currently working under the tutelage of Chef Albert Hall, the owner of Acacia Restaurant here in Tucson. Brian made a killer avocado sauce with fresco cream and cilantro and jalapenos that was over the top. He pan seared the chunks of sea bass with different peppers in a little olive oil. We heated up some corn tortillas and added some cabbage, radishes, and onions. While the tortillas were store bought, Brian did a good job of heating them up a special way. How do you lightly deep fry a tortilla? I don't know but he did. The bottom line was that these were some of the best fish tacos I have ever had and Brian secured a spot within the top taco category for the Taco Trail of 2009. Brian, you are the man. Thanks. If you want to sample some of Brian's handiwork I imagine you can find a fish taco at Acacia. Chef Albert is crazy if he doesn't give the kid a Taco Night shot. Make it Sea Bass!

Tucson Taco Tour Summer 2009

We decided to have some fun this summer with a whirlwind tour for Tucson's finest tacos. While we certainly enjoy practicing industrial real estate brokerage in Tucson for 25 years, we really like to break up the summer duldrums by chasing the best tacos in Tucson. We decided to share this experience because many of my pals know me as a foodie and a southside taco expert. I have also been known as Chorizo Dave in my earlier years before cholesterol checks. A good taco is defined by the tasty meat option and most important is the condition of the taco shell, flour or corn. The store bought hard shell stuff does not cut it and will result in a very low rating by this afficionado. I worked for about 40 years on Tucson's southside and have enjoyed eating off of trucks and vans and visited Tucson's southside 4th avenue restaurant district. I can't keep track of all the taco joints I have frequented during this time but I do have some favorites and I continue to find more new ones each week. I also like to cook my own and have some great recipes. So, off we go. Hopefully, by the middle of September we will have covered 15 different spots. If you have any questions about tacos, we would like to hear from you.

BK's Restaurant Taco Review

Tucson Dave’s Taco Trail 2009 4th Stop

Hi everyone. It’s hotter than you know what here in Tucson with today’s temp about 105. Perfect for tacos. The Trail of 2009 leads us to one of my favorite places for years that specializes in carne asada (skirt steak) tacos and Sonoran style hot dogs. Their flank steak is grilled over mesquite which adds some great flavor. We visited their north side location at 2860 N First Avenue. Having spent +/- 40 years working on Tucson’s southside, I had discovered their south side location at 5118 S 12th Avenue about 14 years ago. BK’s started as a traditional taco and hot dog shop on south 12th. It is nice to have a closer alternative on the north side of Tucson. It is very popular and carries a good crowd all day long. Service is friendly and is fast paced. On this particular visit, I brought a client from Phoenix who considers themself a taco aficionado.

BK’s has a varied menu and I ordered a taco combination of one carne asada (their staple), one fish taco (deep fried fish), and a cabeza (head) taco. You have a choice of flour or corn tortilla and they are all fresh. You will not find one of those hard shell bought at Safeway shells here. BK’s has a great self serve salsa bar which has a great array of condiments. Their salsa is fresh and homemade and there are several different types. I particularly like their cabbage, tomato, cilantro mix for the fish taco. The guacamole is good but is laden with cottage cheese for cost reasons I am sure. It is cheating, but it still works here at BK’s. The bottom line is that if you are not careful, you can find yourself downing about six of these tacos without blinking an eye. Three is usually the magic number.

My son Connor who has been in denial about his taco problems, favors the fried fish fillet taco. They are served darn hot and fried crunchy filet is dropped onto the flour tortilla. They add a little bit of mayonnaise concoction for the fish taco and I always opt out. Next up is the cabeza taco. I still think a good judge of a taco spot is their varied varieties and that includes cabeza. BK’s was tasty without any gristle and a bit on the leaner side for cabeza. Perfect. The carne asada is excellent and with an abundance of condiments, they go down perfectly.

I informed my client that he was part of the Taco Trail Review. He bragged that he was a real taco aficionado and I believed him. He ordered a fish taco, a carne asada taco and a Sonoran Style Hot Dog. Since I covered the first two, let’s talk briefly about the Sonoran Dog. Firstly, one of the most important things about the dog has nothing to do with the dog. It is the bun. I don’t know where they are made in Tucson’s southside bakeries, but they have shelf life of 8 hours and they are the beginning of a great Sonoran Dog. You get a bacon wrapped hot dog with some chili beans, tomatoes, salsa, mustard and if you wish, a huge squirt of mayonnaise. Once again, don’t tell your health care provider you have ever been here or eat these. They are awesome. This could be a whole new summer adventure chasing the Sonoran Hot Dog vendors around Tucson.

Finally, BK’s takes a #2 position thus far on the Trail right behind Maico’s where we started over a month ago. BK’s is consistently fresh and consistent. It is relatively inexpensive. Lunch for two was $16.75 before tip.

BK’s is located at 2860 N First Ave. Phone is 207-2245 http://www.bktacos.com/

Leo's Restaurant Taco Review

Tucson Dave’s Taco Trail of 2009

Hi everyone. Well, it is hotter than a tamale in the pressure cooker at 108 this past Monday, July 13, 2009 and the Taco Trail led me to Leo’s Mexican Food at 5114 E. Speedway (325-9180). For those unfamiliar with this territory, it is located in a small strip center adjacent to one of those adult entertainment dance studios. No, I have never been in there but I have been to Leo’s which is a typical local hangout within one of Tucson’s many strip centers. Kind of a sleeper spot and definitively local. Nothing fancy on the outside unless you count some of the dancer’s vehicles in the parking lot. I was joined by one of my banking pals who, being a recent transplant from New Jersey, is really not a Mexican food fan. I did not know this and he was a good sport. Firstly, Leo’s fixed the air conditioning. A good sign. I ordered the basic ground beef taco and a machaca taco. Ala carte. The chips and salsa were good. The salsa had just enough heat but barely.. One of my criteria for a killer taco is the corn tortilla that carries the goods. It was a highlight at Maico’s from our first stop on the Trail. These were generic kind of hard taco shells you might find on the store shelf at Safeway. They have shelf life and they are not my cup of salsa. The ground beef was pretty plain stuff without much seasoning. My pal from New Jersey could have eaten these with no problem. For me, they were just plain simple fare. They were however, a big step up from our discouraging visit to El Dorado. The machaca was kind of plain as well. Nothing over the top. Mediocre. It was all I could do to not eat some of my Jersey partner’s chicken enchiladas. He was not as accommodating as my wife though. One quick look at his plate and it was obvious this guy came from a large Italian family. He held his ground. They were part of the lunch special and were good value. Lunch for two came to $13.78 with tax. Leo’s holds a precarious #2 position thus far on the Trail Ride. It won’t take much for it to lose it’s spot. We are going to have tackle some of the more obscure spots and I have been asking around. More stories later.

Thanks for reading and I hope to have a good spot soon.

Maico Restaurant Taco Review

Tucson Taco Dave’s Summer of 2009 Taco Trail

First stop: Maico Restaurant 835 E 22nd Street (just west of Park on north side of 22nd)
Well here we are at the first stop on the Trail and this place will certainly be in the running for the best Tacos. I have to make some disclosure here. People who know me and my food habits well, know that I take great pride in personally knowing about little hangouts. This time, my son Connor took me straight to the mother lode of great home style Mexican food. When I told young Ramon Jr. son of owner, Ramon Sr. that this was my first trip on the trail, he said, “you do not need to go anywhere else, as we have the best tacos in Tucson”. Wow. You gotta like the enthusiasm. I went there with my wife, Susan and Connor. We ordered our food and sat down on the outside shaded tables with a mister in July and it is 103 degrees outside. The perfect tasting environment. So, I like different types of taco ingredients and have been known to eat just about everything. This day I chose a Lengua (tongue) taco and a shredded beef taco. Susan ordered a carnitas (shredded pork) tostada and Connor ordered the veggie burrito. I know this article is about tacos but thought I’d share about the other stuff as well.

Well prepared beef tongue has a consistency and flavor of tender roast beef. The meat should be lean and tender and simply shredded in a corn tortilla. Butta bing. Ramon Jr brought our plates over and the two tacos could be in a museum. The Lengua taco meat was plentiful and mixed with cilantro and onions on two corn tortillas. I think the extra corn tortilla was there for stability. The tongue was tender and tasty and the homemade salsa was excellent from a refrigerated bottle. A touch spicy and it only added more dimension to the tongue meat. My shredded beef taco was meat fried within the taco shell. The old fashioned way. Lettuce and tomato and some onions were added. It had great crunch and the meat was solid lean shredded beef. This was good stuff.

I am also a fan of carnitas. Carnitas are shredded pork butt that has been slow cooked for hours, shredded, and then kind of crisped a bit on a grill. The tostada for $2.69 was a bargain. The tostada was a meal for Susan and we helped her finish it off. About this time, Ramon Sr. came outside to check out the heat and advised us to step it up a notch by eating some of the Serrano chilis in the trays on the tables. Hmm. All ready hot. Don’t want to commit suicide. I have a lot more taco joints to sample. We enjoyed talking to Ramon and learning of his difficulties in setting up his storefront and kitchen. This place is classic Tucson. These guys are proud of their food and it shows. Our whole meal for three people was $10.59 and we drank waters. A bargain. Thanks Ramon Sr. and Ramon Jr.

Maico Restaurant 835 E 22nd 520-294-2836 THEY DO TAKEOUT!

El Dorado Restaurant Taco Review

Tucson Dave’s Taco Trail of Summer 2009

Hi everyone. It had to happen. It can be a bumpy ride on the taco trail. Earlier this week the bar was set so high by our pals at Maico restaurant on 22nd. Today, we experienced the lower end of the bar. We visited an old Tucson classic that has been around for years, El Dorado Restaurant, 1949 S 4th Avenue, the heart of many of Tucson’s classic Mexican food restaurants. It was about 107 degrees outside and being Friday, well, we were craving a beer. My wife Susan joined me again. There was no server to be found. Not a great start. Long story short, our server was hosting, working the bar on the other side of the restaurant and bussing and just generally speaking, over worked. It happens. With the arrival of the beer, it took a little pressure off. I once again stayed with my goal of eating different tacos Today, I had the old fashioned ground beef pattie deep fried taco in the tortilla. (No one tell or forward this to my pals at Blue Cross Blue Shield). I also ordered a cabeza taco. For those not knowing cabeza, the meat comes from the head of a steer and is cooked for hours and hours and the bones and gristle are removed so that you have delicate meat that is shredded and simmered in broth. It can be really good. I chowed down the cabeza taco and someone had forgotten to remove the gristle stuff. Kind of nasty. I moved into the hamburger patty taco. My pal Doug Buck makes these at home and if inside the house, the cooking smell stays on my shirt for days. The memory lingers. His are the best. This one was pretty bad. Someone in the kitchen forgot most of the patty for the taco. About this time, I started eyeing my wife’s plate. She had ordered the machaca taco plate of three machaca tacos. I know she can’t eat them all. Machaca is usually made from chuck roast with spices and cooked for hours and then shredded and often crisped on a grill (for drying) and then fried hot for placement in the corn tortilla. Susan’s first comment was, “yours are so much better”. What a love story. I almost cried. Needless to say, these were salty, damp, over done and generally speaking, just not very good. But hey, the salsa on the table was good. The waitress kind of wondered why I was taking pictures. She never asked. Warning. The pictures make the food look better than it really was. Out the door with two beers and food, total bill was $20.00. I kept wondering how many lengua tacos I could buy back at Maico’s.

Don’t know where the next stop is, but I have an idea.