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.