I always like to read taco reviews in the established rags. here’s a good one from the Austin Chronicle…

TACO SABROSO
Rosa Santis sets up shop on East 7th
by RACHEL FEIT, Austin Chronicle

The first thing that the Peruvian-born Rosa Santis will tell you if you ask about her business ethic is that her goal has always been to provide jobs and to serve the community. This was how she approached her construction business when she took it over from her ex-husband 20 years ago. An acquaintance of mine worked for her for eight years and remarked, “Rosa’s good people,” when I asked him about her. “She was always real fair, treats her employees like family.” Santis’ business philosophy seems to have paid off. Since the Eighties, she has made a small fortune in the utilities construction business, expanding rapidly with Austin’s own dizzying growth.

However, when the slowdown hit two years ago, Santis saw her business contract and, for the first time, worried about having to lay employees off. So she turned her attention to a new venture – a taco stand called Taco Sabroso, which she placed on a vacant lot purchased several years earlier as an equipment yard on East Seventh. She staffed it with three of her employees who had previous restaurant experience, and then hired a cook from Guanajuato. “My goal,” Santis says, “was to keep my employees and to offer the surrounding community a quality service.”

What started out as a taco stand perched near the street soon expanded to a full-fledged restaurant serving classic Mexican fare. At night, festive white lights twinkle in the pecan trees that shade the lot. Live Andean and Latin American music enliven the place on Saturday nights, while the occasional wedding spills out into the surrounding parking lot. Santis says she plans to build a banquet hall to accommodate the unanticipated crowds she has had on the weekends.

Taco Sabroso, as its name implies, is primarily a taqueria featuring real foods, cooked slowly to allow them to infuse with flavor. Out of Taco Sabroso’s canteen kitchen comes a tender carne deshebrada (a stewed spiced beef cooked until it falls apart) that is soulful and complex or a gently assertive carne al pastor flavored with achiote and onions. Carne asada or guisada are prepared with equal dexterity, in a taco, torta, or on a plate. However, the real showstoppers at this ever-evolving restaurant are the homemade salsas designed to accompany the meats. These are some of the best I’ve tasted. The fiery yet creamy green chile salsa is probably my favorite. But no less delicious is the dried red chile salsa with its salt-and-vinegar twang. The kitchen regularly turns out four different varieties.

Since Santis built the sit-down restaurant, the kitchen has also started serving such seafood dishes as citrus and tomato coctel de camarones and steamed fish dishes. These dishes are now drawing almost as many habitués as the tacos. A regularly scheduled Peruvian food night, requested by many of Taco Sabroso’s clients, is on the agenda for the months ahead.

Oh, and by the way, she still hasn’t had to lay off her employees, either.

and The Satesman reviews the same place…here’s what they said:

TACO SABROSO
Serving food even a governor will love
By Dale Rice
American-Statesman Restaurant Critic
Thursday, December 25, 2003

Gov. Rick Perry and I have something in common. We both like the pastor at Taco Sabroso.

However, as much as I hate to admit it, there’s one big difference.

Perry has been visiting the East Austin taqueria since it opened more than a year ago; I just discovered it this month.

Owner Rosa Santis purchased the land at the end of Seventh Street a decade ago with the intent of storing large equipment used in her utility construction business.

Then, with the boom in Williamson County, she decided it made more sense to keep the equipment in Round Rock.

When construction began waning along with the economy, she decided to “create some jobs for my guys.” She bought a small cooking trailer and opened a taco shop.

People liked her food, but in winter it was tough to keep the tacos warm long enough for customers to enjoy them. So, Santis decided to expand, building the sleekest taco joint in town.

Now diners can eat indoors, where the white walls, slate floor and expanse could be home to fancier fare.

Instead, Taco Sabroso still emphasizes its simple cuisine.

Its pastor is a delicious version of the traditional sliced pork. However, it doesn’t have the sweetness imparted by the heavy pineapple flavoring used by many Mexican restaurants. The pork gets its distinct taste from marinating in garlic, onion, paprika and achiote.

It’s delicious in taco form ($1.75) served with cilantro and onions or as a “gringa” ($2) with the addition of melted cheese.

Other tasty tacos included the steak ranchero (meat with pico de gallo), suisas (beef fajita meat) and picadillo (ground beef with lettuce and tomatoes). The ranchero and picadillo tacos go for $1.75, while the suisas is $2.

In addition to the tacos, the torta Cubana ($4.50) is a flavorful meal of French bread with ham and a second choice of meat (the pastor is good here, too), with avocado, cheese and tomato.

But it’s those tacos that will keep me coming back for more.

Governor, where else are you eating that I don’t know about?

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You may contact Dale Rice at drice@statesman.com or 445-3859.