Authentic tacos hit the suburbs

Less than a week till Christmas, and all I really want is some good tacos.
No, scratch that, I want some great tacos. And I want to eat them with the year old change I found in my winter jacket.

Enter La Taquiza. Its spanish for the Toni Kukoc of taco joints in Toronto. Looks like a below average spot in a strip mall full of crappy stores from the passer by, but its got what the others don’t - Heart. Spicy, jabanero flavored heart. Toni Kukoc got socked to the bench when MJ came back to the Bulls during the ‘95 season but he still racked up the points behind Jordan and Pippen. What I’m saying is La Taquiza is located in one of the shitty strip malls just outside the king turd Vaughan Mills. Not the first place I would expect one of the best taco spots in Toronto to live.

Technically its not even Toronto; technically its in the heart of the burbs at Jane and Rutherford Road. But thats just how the taco gods work sometimes.

Another reason to live in Cali

Its not the loch ness monster, its not bigfoot. Its the Kogi BBQ truck.
Korean style tacos are taking over spots in Hollywood, Venice Beach and UCLA. These taco trucks are rediculous, and I need some in my life. Follow em on twiddle diddle twitter to see where they’re camped out.

Rebozos drive-by

Saturday night, and my buds passed up Rebozos for Swiss Chalet. Not my first choice for grub, mostly because of their forever the same menu. Still good times though, and Jay wolfed down 2 festive feasts. And he’s asian. Legend.

The next day I shoot out of bed at noon and start the gears for a quick Rebozos redemption lunch. The girly and I pull up to Rebozos, and thats when all the head scratching starts. Rebozos is pretty much the Canadian equivalent to a Mexican taco truck. Except up here, we let customers straight into our homes. The place is a converted house, with about 6 tables in the small living room. I use the word converted lightly because they didnt do much converting. We walk in, and most of the people there are already staring at us.

The legendary Tacos El Asador

First off, I’m scribbling this all down straight from the can. I want everything to be fresh in my mind when I do up a review, and this is usually where I end up post-grub.

Its friday night, and I’m meetin up with Jenna and Jon from uni to show them some real Salvadorian food. “Oh have you tried Burrito Boyz?” she asked politely. Thats like asking a mechanic if he’s driven a Geo. I shake it off, and we all end up at Tacos El Asador. The place is packed but we eventually grab a table. This place is pretty well known for having great tacos, but also for being super cramped inside.

Recipe: Salsa de Molcajete

Stolen from: One Particular Kitchen
So you cant go wrong with salsa, and everyone should have a fridge full of it. Makes you look cultured. Heres a recipe for some fire roasted greatness ima try out tomorrow, and see if my Magic Bullet stays true to the commercial.



Ingredients:

• 1 to 2 fresh jalapeño chiles (my late-season ones from the garden weren’t that hot so I used 5)
• 3 garlic cloves, unpeeled
• 1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes in juice, preferably fire roasted
• 1/4 cup (loosely packed) chopped fresh cilantro
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• Salt

Mariachi Mondays

Its monday night, back on the grind, in need of some Mexican to get me through the rest of the week. After consulting the Tacodex, I decided to hit up Mariachis just south of Eglinton with my bud Liza. With the shitacular Chimichangas in the same neighbourhood, I didn’t have too high of hopes for Mariachis.

We get to Mariachis, and its pretty nice looking inside. A little too nice.
The only mention of tacos I found was the $16 Taquiza of 3 tacos. I pretended the 16 was a typo and settled on the chorizo and steak fajitas.

Point of reference

What a fish taco should look like.

Breaded cod, fresh lime, pico de gallo, cabbage and fish taco sauce. 
From the motherland, San Diego. Close enough to Tijuana to make authentic tacos, but still far away enough so I don’t get stabbed by an old lady selling paper mache chihuahuas.