Defining Tacos

We should probably all agree that there must be at least two types of hot dogs.

It really feels like The Atlanta Journal-Constitution polls its readers every other month on the best of this food in Atlanta or the best of that. I want to say that it was burgers most recently. Proving that people just don’t define anything the same way as anybody else, whenever it’s time for people to nominate and argue about hot dogs, scores and scores of people name The Varsity. They do this in much the same way that the runaway nominee for the “people’s choice” for best milkshake in the city is that machine-pumped peach-flavored goo that shows up in the summers at Chick-fil-A stores. Continue reading “Defining Tacos” →

Perla Taqueria, Atlanta GA (CLOSED)

I don’t know whether they’re ever apparent to you good readers, but I do like to occasionally find some kind of an angle to a chapter here, especially when I write a chapter with two different restaurants. Well, beyond just “here are two places where we ate recently,” I mean. Last week, I thought that I was onto a good one when David suggested that we follow up our lunch at Decatur’s No. 246 with a visit to Perla Taqueria near Cheshire Bridge. He had eaten here a couple of weeks previously, and emailed just about all his local friends as soon as he got back to the office to warn everybody about their incredibly hot sauce. Evidently, he seemed to think that I had not actually read that email when he then told me how I really had to try this place. Continue reading “Perla Taqueria, Atlanta GA (CLOSED)” →

Two Meals on Buford Highway

A couple of Saturdays ago, Marie and I made a long overdue trip to Doraville to finally start sampling some of the restaurants along Buford Highway. Now, I imagine that locals are probably wondering what the heck took us so long, and for that, I plead not knowing where in the world to start. Out-of-towners may not know that this is a huge and very eclectic neighborhood full of traditional cooking and restaurants that cater to Atlanta’s huge international community, from Guatemalan to Vietnamese. Continue reading “Two Meals on Buford Highway” →

Mas Tacos Por Favor and The Wild Cow, Nashville TN

When we first told our friends that we were going to make a blog out of our hobby of traveling and eating at fun local places, our good buddy Brooke piped up with a suggestion in Nashville. She told us that we needed to try Mas Tacos, a food truck that has, in the nearly two years since she told us about it, found a brick-and-mortar base and has been serving up some ridiculously good Tennessee-styled takes on traditional Mexican dishes. We visited Nashville twice in 2010, but neither visit really coincided with a good time to go meet up with Mas Tacos, either the truck or the shop, during their limited hours. Continue reading “Mas Tacos Por Favor and The Wild Cow, Nashville TN” →

Taco Roc, Chattanooga TN

I’ve mentioned before that the main draw that persuades some of my local friends to visit Chattanooga with me is McKay, a frankly remarkable used bookstore that deals in the consumption of mass quantities of books, DVDs and CDs. There are three stores in Tennessee and the scale of this place is just eye-popping. It is always crowded and books are constantly moving. They made the decision years ago to treat the guests coming to sell or trade books as suppliers and not act like customers are bringing them a burden by asking them to look through a box. You know that heavy sigh you almost always get before the guy at the used record store tells you that they probably won’t be able to sell most of what you brought in, but they’ll take about a third of it for pennies in store credit? That doesn’t happen at McKay. McKay’s not doing you a favor by taking some of this off your hands; you are doing them a favor by selling them your books, and the staff acts like it. No, they don’t take everything, but they take a darn good chunk of it and give you a fair price. Cash, too. No wonder we keep seeing Cobb and Fulton license plates in their parking lot. McKay is undercutting the bejezus out of every similar store in Atlanta. Continue reading “Taco Roc, Chattanooga TN” →

Sr. Sol, Athens GA

Two weeks after he was born, Marie and I took a trip to Athens to show off the baby. A month later, we made a somewhat more low-key trip to just visit a new-to-me restaurant and swing by the place where Marie and I used to work to see some old co-workers and friends. She and I did not start dating until 2006, but we first met around 1995 or so. I left that job in the spring of 2000 and she eight years later. Naturally, darn near all the people that I knew have moved on in the last eleven years since I was there, but I did get to speak with four people from all that time ago. Continue reading “Sr. Sol, Athens GA” →

Taqueria del Sol, Decatur GA

Last weekend, Marie and our son took a trip back down to St. Simons Island to visit her family, and had a couple of good meals that she will tell you about presently. In their absence, my daughter and I joined David for a day of record selling – it’s like record shopping, only you come home with fewer things that you didn’t need in the first place and a little more money – and had a pretty good lunch at the Decatur location of Taqueria del Sol. I’ve been meaning to eat at one of these places for ages, and actually tried a couple of times but gave up for lack of parking, so I’m glad we finally got the chance.

We didn’t even have to stand in the line very long! This place is pretty infamous for its long line, but, as the Mendoza Line once sang, it moves quickly. Taqueria del Sol serves simple food very fast, so there’s never a long wait for your meal. I figure that’s how they know who ordered what without giving your table a number or card for the server to find you. In the time it takes you to order your food and get your water and silverware and sit down, your food’s almost finished being prepared, so the server maybe only has two or possibly three different tables which could be the destination.

I genuinely do not care at all about reporting news about which fancy restaurant is employing which big-name chef, and my eyes glaze over whenever I see such business in blogs, but in this case it is worth a mention. Taqueria del Sol’s menu was devised by a guy named Eddie Hernandez. Once upon a time, he was in charge of the food at a wonderful place called Sundown Cafe on Cheshire Bridge Road where I never ate enough. I’m happy to note that the food is very similar at the taqueria, which was devised as sort of a quickie kid sister to Sundown and eventually took it over. The table salsa – available as a separately-priced Salsa Trio on the taqueria’s menu – seems to be the same, for starters.

Mr. Hernandez never really stops experimenting, so there’s apparently always something neat to try here. Sundown Cafe was known for having wonderfully eclectic and fun specials, and this tradition carries on here. Last week, they were offering tacos with the chicken fried in a potato crust, and I found these to be very tasty. I had one of those along with a fish taco and a “Memphis” (pork and slaw, natch). The tacos are very tasty, served quickly and cost only two bucks and change each. If it wasn’t for the line, you could call it fast food, really. Skip the chips and salsa and you’ve got a fine meal for seven dollars.

Taqueria del Sol has expanded to a small chain with four locations: the one we visited in Decatur, which is across the street from Farm Burger and one of our town’s best record stores, Decatur CD, the original on Cheshire Bridge, one on Howell Mill and one on Prince Avenue in Athens. It’s certainly worth another visit soon; I have more tacos to try.

Other blog posts about Taqueria del Sol:

Adventurous Tastes (Aug. 7 2008)
Amy on Food (May 1 2009)
Food Near Snellville (July 10 2009)
Foodie Buddha (Sep. 18 2009)