Pete's Tako House

On Sunday, January 25th, We Taco Bout It visited Pete's Tako House.  The spot is outside of our usual Westside and Southside hunting grounds, but it came to us highly recommended by our friend Angelica Guzman-Jeffery.  Apparently, this spot has been around since 1978, but recently moved to a location, next to the Brooklynite.  Not knowing what to expect, we ventured in with Eddie's kids in tow.

We found ourselves having a highly enjoyable meal and could see ourselves coming back for more.  Here is our review.

Ambiance - Pete's Taco House is a very comfortable, relaxing restaurant.  The yellow walls are inviting and the decor is very eclectic.  There 's a mix of Texas, religious, artistic, and kitschy decorations, including someone's trophy from a competition (seemed like that of a proud parent) and a picture of the "Pope-mobile" that apparently drove by the old location on his previous visit to San Antonio in 1987.  And while it was pretty easy to find a table at 9:30 am when we arrived.  An hour later, it was pretty packed and almost at capacity.  Surely, the locals like this place. 5 Tortillas

Service - The service was pretty great.  The friendly staff checked on us right away, provide ample refills for our waters and coffee, and checked on us throughout.  Even though a line was building for seats, we never felt pressured to finish up and the food came out fast and hot.  In fact, for future visits, they even take reservations. 5 Tortillas

Menu - The menu options at Pete's are pretty standard from what you'd expect from a Mexican restaurant.  All of our usual favorites were represented, along with some classic lunch items.  They even have options for the taco-averse (yes, those exist) as Eddie's kids ordered the 'pancake plate.'  (He didn't make a scene, but did seem perturbed when confronted their choice.  "Your father co-writes a taco blog and you order a pancake plate?") 4 Tortillas

Food - The food was excellent overall.  Teno tasted the Chorizo and Egg, Machacado a la Mexicana, and the Bean and Egg.  The Chorizo and Egg had a perfect grease level.  The Machacado was tasty and spicy.  If he found a flaw with anything, it would be the Bean and Egg.  Not a bad taco, but not a great one either.  The bean to egg ratio could be adjusted a smidge.  Eddie ordered a Bean and Cheese taco and the Machacado a la Mexicana, and then ate the bits of egg, pancake, and bacon left behind by his kids. He did this despite the waitress asking if he would like another taco.  "No, I'm just going to finish off their plates."  (That's what my dad would've done.) 4.5 Tortillas 

Overall - Pete's Tako House is a solid restaurant with great ambiance, service, and food.  We would certainly bring our friends and family here on a future visit.

Pete's Tako House

502 Brooklyn Ave

San Antonio, TX 78215

(210) 224-2911

Teno's Tidbits - I was pretty impressed that Pete's gives you the option to make a reservation. This is pretty common at many restaurants these days, but it was a first for me to see it at a taco spot. I made a reservation anticipating a packed house, but luckily we were early enough to not really need it. Good to know for the next time. 

Eddie's Extras - Hipsters. They're everywhere.  Given the location, I thought this place would be full of them. We did see a few, having coffee, eating omelettes, reading the paper.  Fortunately, it was 9:30 when we arrived and most of them were likely still sleeping off their PBRs. Then Teno noticed I was wearing a hat and sporting a beard. Ok, fine. There's room for everyone in this town. Austin may be weird, but San Anto is eclectic. 

I'm keeping the hat, but going back to a proper Gen X goatee. Excuse me as I go back to my Counting Crows station on Pandora. 

Las Cazuelas

It's 2015 and despite our resolutions to get healthier, we remain committed to finding and discussing the best breakfast taco spots in San Antonio.  Tacos are good for the soul, so we can't go wrong.  However, we will exercise a little more moderation this year.  As a matter of fact, we only ordered two tacos each.  (Ignore the fact that we were eating barbacoa two hours later.  See Teno's Tidbits below.)  

As we mentioned in a previous post, we will also start venturing out further from the Westside, in hopes of finding the best spots in the city.  This first visit of 2015 took us to the San Antonio Southside!

Las Cazuelas is located off of IH-35, between Division and Southcross (though closer to Division).  The site looks recently remodeled and boasts ample parking.  Now, in full disclosure, the restaurant is owned by the family of one of our friends from St. Mary's.  We knew this going in and we did our best to remain impartial.  We both walked away having both enjoyed a good, filling meal, and we'd recommend you check it out, too.

Ambiance - The decor of Las Cazuelas is simple and comfortable.  The yellow walls are soothing and the simple decor includes some colorful animal ornaments.  Our favorite decoration though, was the two large cazuelas on the wall.  They made us yearn for a meal served in one of those.  We also noticed a white Christmas tree on display.  The tree had red hearts as ornaments.  Valentine's Day tree, perhaps?  Bonus points for re-purposing the tree!  4.5 Tortillas - 

Service - Service was good at Las Cazuelas.  We were seated promptly, checked up on regularly, and the food order came out right and relatively quickly.  No complaints here.
5 Tortillas

Menu - The menu options were adequate.  No surprises.  No frills.  All the usual suspects.  We did notice several different prices for tacos, tough.  Maybe this is a philosophical question, but shouldn't there just be two price points?  One set for simple tacos (bean/cheese, potato/egg, chorizo/egg, etc.) and one for premium tacos (machacado, chicharron, nopalitos, etc.).  (Teno reminds Eddie that if he wants to write a "taco-philosophy piece," he should do that separately.  This is a review, for crying out loud!)

Food - (Um...sorry, Teno.)  The breakfast tacos we each had were pretty good.  Above average, we'd say.  Teno ordered a bean and egg and a machacado and egg.  The bean and egg featured an "egg-splosion" since it had so much egg.  One could have made 2 or 3 tacos out of it.  The beans were delicious and held a good taste.  The machacado was also pretty good - not too spicy and very flavorful.  You didn't need to add any salsa to improve on it.  Eddie ordered a bean and cheese taco to go with a papas a la Mexicana taco.  The bean and cheese was everything a bean and cheese should be.  The papa a la Mexicana featured an "papa-splosion" and really was nothing more than potatoes with some finely chopped pico de gallo dropped in.  Eddie would have preferred the pico sauteed with the papas.  4 Tortillas

Overall - We both enjoyed our outing to Las Cazuelas and would certainly return with friends and family.  The other breakfast items on the menu, along with the lunch and dinner options, seemed to hold much promise.  It's definitely worth a drive to get there, no matter where in San Antonio you live. 4 Tortillas

Las Cazuelas

645 Chalmers Ave

San Antonio, TX 78214

(210) 932-1785

Teno's Tidbits - After breakfast, we had another event to attend at a friend's house.  Our friend had made some barbacoa from scratch and invited family and friends over.  Even though we'd just eaten, we wanted to go and show support.  Our only requirement was to bring a side or accompaniment.  We chose to bring some sweet bread and found a small family shop on the Westside.  We got a box, loaded it up nicely with all manner of items.  Conchas, quequitos, churros, empanadas.  About 16 items in total.  Being from the Valley, we remembered being able to buy a similar amount of food for around $5.  We thought it'd be about that.  Maybe $8.  Much to our surprise, the total was over $13.  That's a little less than $1 per piece.  Are we wrong for being shocked at that level of pricing?  Has time passed us by?  What are your experiences buying sweet bread in town?

Eddie's Extras - First, the last time I lived in the Valley, Ann Richards was governor. (I really miss Ann Richards.)  So, maybe we're stuck in early-90s pan dulce prices.  

Second, those cazuelas. They looked beautiful.  Now I want one. I want to make mole in a cazuela.  I want to make mole, with my girlfriend at my side, for my family in a great, big cazuela.  I've never made mole without Doña Maria, my family lives in the Valley, and I don't have a girlfriend, but those are all minor details. 

Looking Back and Looking Ahead

Friends, 

As we kick-off 2015, we wanted to take a moment and look back at 2014 and the beginning of our personal little blogging world about tacos.

 

We started our adventures in March and formally launched the site in May.  We’ve been to countless (seriously, it’s hard to count how many we visited) taco spots on the Westside.  If you remember, this all started by us wanting to test what the SA Current listed as the best breakfast spots on the Westside.  We visited all of those and decided to find our own favorite spots.  Here we are, in January 2015, and we are comfortable saying that of all the spots we visited, our two favorites are:

 

Los Angeles Restaurant y Panaderia

http://wetacoboutit.blogspot.com/2014/06/review-los-angeles-restaurant-panaderia.html 

La Bandera Molino

http://wetacoboutit.blogspot.com/2014/09/review-bandera-molino.html

 

Those are the places we visited most often. The places we took our friends and family to. The places we will continue to visit moving forward.

 

Now, we feel it is time to expand our search for the best tacos to the greater San Antonio area.  We will start by visiting some spots on the Southside that have been recommended to us.  This isn’t to say we are done exploring the Westside.  Rather, it just means we’ll have that many more places to choose from.

 

And, in the spirit of a new year, we are making some resolutions.  We want to be better reviewers for you.  So, we are challenging ourselves to do the following:

 

1)   Be more consistent and prompt with our reviews.  We’ve visited many more restaurants these past few months, but just haven’t written and posted the review.  This isn’t to say the places weren’t worthy, but just that LIFE got in the way.  

2)   Launch a new site/logo.  We’ve done some work on our logo, now we just need to work on the look/feel of the site.  Sadly, neither of us has much experience in web design or layouts, but we’ll make it work.  

3)   Create some fun events.  We’d talked about approaching a restaurant and arranging some kind of deal or discount for people visiting on the same day we do – like around a birthday or milestone.  We’d still like to make this happen and we’ll keep you informed.  

 

So, that is where we are as we head into this new year.  Thank you for joining us on our journey so far.  Don’t stop believing in us and, together, we’ll find the best taco spots, a place where WE can TACO BOUT IT.

 

-Teno & Eddie    

Friday's Turkey Tacos

It's Friday afternoon.  Kitchen activities of the previous day have made you cooking-weary. Black Friday shopping has made you exhausted. But it's not enough to be tired, you're also hungry. What do you do?

The keys to this day's eating activities are simplicity, quickness, and turkey. The solution is El Tacólico's Friday Turkey Tacos.

You'll need:

Turkey (about three-four handfuls, deboned.  Enough to cover the bottom of the pan.  Who wants to look for a measuring cup on Friday after Thanksgiving?  Not us.)

Vegetable oil

1 can of chopped tomato and green chiles (hopefully you bought it before Thursday and you have it on hand. Don't have one?  That's ok. You can use any cheap salsa you might have on hand or if you want to be fancy - and complicated, thus defying two of our keys to success - cut up a medium tomato, about half of an onion, and one chile of your preference.)

Tortillas (I prefer corn, but it's your world - do as you wish)

Garlic powder (enough to lightly dust the turkey)

Salt and pepper to taste

Coat the bottom of the pan with the vegetable oil and warm it up.  Add the turkey. Add salt and pepper and garlic powder. I've been known to also add a touch of cayenne at this point, but you don't have to. Let it fry for a bit to your personal level of crispness on medium high. Add the can of tomatoes and reduce the heat. Simmer for about five minutes while you warm the tortillas. When the tortillas are warm enough, fill them up. 

There you have it. Simple. Quick. Turkey. Tacos. 

Buen provecho!

The Taco That Ends All Discussions About Tacos

The Hippo

It was only a matter of time

Before I wrote a poem about a taco

It happened after going to Linda's on Guadalupe Street

I opened the menu and perused the taco list

The usual suspects were all there

Bean and cheese

Potato and egg

Chorizo con huevo

Papa ranchera

And so on

And so forth

Until I reached the most profound depth of the list

And there it was

There I saw it

The words glowed on the page as a choir of angels sang a perfect note

Laaaaaaaaaa

beans, 

bacon, 

country sausage, 

chorizo, 

cheese

All in one taco

This was it

This was the ultimate

This was the apex

This was el supremo taco

The taco to end all tacos

The taco to end all discussions about tacos

The taco to end any aspiration I ever had of healthy living

The Hippo

So named, in my estimation,

Because "pig" wouldn't do it justice

A larger, jollier mammal was called in 

to represent

I was compelled

I was self-dared

I was Francis McComber on safari

Facing death from his prey

Served to him by a woman 

Who thought she knew what was good for him

Like the wildlife photographer

I snapped a picture of the specimen

And posted it for the world to see

The commentary and advice poured in

"Wow"

"It looks like a heart attack waiting to happen"

"My arteries are clogging just looking at it"

But I dove in anyway

And was rewarded with a taco-rgasmic experience 

The ingredients combined in my mouth

Enriched my palette

Enlightened my taste buds

Entered my esophagus and

Reached my stomach

In a state of euphoria

"Delicious" does not do it justice

It reminded me of being the last one at the table

After a big family breakfast

Alone with the one tortilla that made it through the morning

And a morsel from each pan on the table

So I scooped the beans

And I spooned in the chorizo

I added the three bits of sausage

And grabbed the last half-strip of bacon

Then I went to the fridge and found the shredded cheese

Before putting it in the microwave for thirty seconds

Soft tortilla

Smooth texture with hints of crunch

Cheese-chorizo-bacon grease

The effects on my health were but a small price to pay

For these mouthfuls

Of bliss