Lisa Fain of the Homesick Texan blog gives an entertaining and informative recap of her experience as a preliminary judge for the 2008 Austin Chronicle Hot Sauce Festival.  There’s even a bonus tomatillo salsa recipe at the end of her post..

There were about 30 of us gathered around the table, and as there were over 1,000 salsas for us to work our way through, we didn’t try each one. Instead, each little group seated in the immediate vicinity would go through a stack of salsas with three votes of yes meaning the sauce moved on to the next round to be judged by local food celebrities, and three votes of no meaning that salsa was out of competition. Read the Full Post >

From ViceLand (also check out the DOs & DON’Ts while you’re there)

¡AY CARAMBA!
Mexican Food in London Mostly Tastes Like Sewage.

This we know because we grabbed a Mexican who we found doing capoeira in a park with a bunch of Brazilians and dragged her around three of what purported to be London’s best Mexican takeaway joints. Turns out that if they were trying to peddle their burritos back home, they’d be hounded out quicker than the spring break kids being chased out of Tijuana by the warring Sinaloa and Gulf drug gangs. read on>

cabeza

while browsing Roadfood.com the other day, I stumbled upon our namesake in restaurant form – a taco destination hidden in the unlikely state of Nebraska. Taco Town, the restaurant, claims that is the “tac-0 the town” and roadfood critic Michael Stern agreed. Looks like an OK joint, respect. [full review here]

The Austinist has posted a review of their favorite ATX vegitarian breakfast tacos.. with the infamous Dirty Sanchez from Torchy’s landing at the top of the pile..heres an interesting comment from 1 reader:

Speaking of, not to be all nit-picky, but vegetarians can’t eat egg. Egg is meat. Egg is pre-animal, not animal lactate. Egg is meat for the same reason aborted fetuses aren’t breast milk and semen isn’t yogurt. Sorry to be all gross, but eggs are gross.

well put. but  let me add, soyrizo is excrement.

The folks at Apartment Food Hobos have reviewed the gorditas at the little Taco truck on Airport called La Canaria. hard to miss- its bright yellow. Anyway- this gordita looks mighty tasty. Check it out>

Cabeza

SAZON
1816 S Lamar Blvd
Austin, TX 78704 | (512) 326-4395
official website

Taco Town hasn’t tried Sazon (yet), but the other bloggers have and they’re weighing in- Metroblogging Austin gives a quick but informative review of this newish South Lamar joint. They love the mole and the margaritas. Full review here >

for even more opinions try the Yelp entry for Sazon

UPDATE: We finally tried Sazon for lunch the other day: i had the  Pollo En Pipian: a tender chicken leg, smothered in a greenish pumpkin seed sauce, served with rice and fresh corn tortillas.  The dish was very interesting, though i probably would not order it again.  Maybe just not my bag.  I did eat the whole thing though.  The service was outstanding and the atmosphere was nice too.  Return trip is needed for the full review, but it looks very good so far. – Cabeza

Metroblogging Austin gets a quickie review in of Jorge’s..they were spurred by an extensive review done by the Austin Chronicle….all good, but if you want an account thats “from da streets”.. you best check out Taco Town’s reviews #1 and #2

dont forget the brisket taco review we did as well..  tacotown on the beat.. we got your back.

The great Robb Walsh recently wrapped up a mini-series of Houstoned blog reviews on Houston taco trucks entitled the Taco Truck Gourmet.

Need credentials? Robb’s the founder of the Austin Chronicle Hot Sauce Festival, Lead Food Critic for The Houston Press and author of several books including The Tex-Mex Cookbook. If you thought taco journalism was a relatively safe form of reporting- think again. The seedy, nomadic and oft-times unsanitary world of taco trucks has claimed the bowels of more than one taco explorer. Mystery meats abound- Robb even tried sweetbread tacos for Christ’s sake…so move over Geraldo, there’s a new face on the front lines of batlleground taco journalism. Taco Town salutes you Robb Walsh!

Below: highlights from Robb’s blog mini-series, Taco Truck Gourmet:

Taqueria Tacambaro [2520 Airline Drive - behind Canino Produce]
The sweetbreads were white and just barely cooked through. They had a delightfully mild flavor and a lovely fluffy texture that might remind you of the filling of a German veal sausage, like bratwurst or weisswurst. The tartness of the lime juice and sweetness of the onion were beautiful complements. But it was the addition of that dark brown salsa that made me close my eyes and sigh. Full Post…

El Mapache III [Renwick Dr & Gulfton St]
The barbacoa taco was by far the best –a huge mound of hot cheek meat nicely shredded and very moist. I was offered my choice of flour or corn tortillas, which is pretty unusual. I went for corn. The salsa was a thick and creamy green concoction and it packed a major kick. The truck also sells roast chickens and the beans are free on the weekend. Full Post…

more after the fold… Read the rest of this entry »

Houston is BIG.  And Cabeza has but one stomach.  I was happy to find out some other Houston blogs have joined the taco review party.  Shit, the more the merrier.  The Houstonist Bites gives a berry favorable review to this unassuming Heights joint.

Chilosos has six varieties of breakfast tacos, all of which are $1.35 (add $0.30 for additional toppings). As we walked up to the counter to place our order, we were greeted with a smile and could see the fresh tacos being prepared in the background. We opted for one bacon, egg, and cheese (for comparison purposes) and one chorizo, egg, cheese and guacamole. Although there were no chips and salsa to munch on while we waited, we did enjoy the checking out the house’s decor…Full Review>

Another blog called Food In Houston skews their review of Chilosos to the lunch fare with equal enthusiasm. they say:

The breakfast tacos are good, but my favorites are two lunch tacos: carne guisada and puerco en salsa verde. Carne guisada is a stew of beef tips in gravy. Chilosos’ version does not have quite as much cumin as my favorite carne guisada recipes, but it is far above average. Even better is the puerco en salsa verde, chunks of pork in a mild green salsa. This thick, yummy salsa is not as spicy as I might expect, but it is full of flavor. Chilosos also makes a good chicken fajita taco, which is greatly improved by a liberal dousing of the salsa verde. Although the default tortillas are flour, I prefer the corn tortillas which are thick and taste homemade…Full Review>

Chilosos Taco House
701 E 20th St
713.868.2273
Mon.-Sat. 7am – 4pm