Jalapeños

The Location: Jalapeños, 1413 21st Street Sacramento, CA  

The Taco: "Tacos Special" 2 crispy carnitas tacos with lettuce cheese and sour cream served on a plate with beans and rice.

The Price: $6.95

The Verdict: The menu clearly states no substitutions, however, I was able to order my carnitas just the way I like them. Carnitas on a crispy shell with lettuce on top.  I seemed to have received a double portion of rice, since I asked for no beans, which was alright by me. The rice was pretty typical of what you'll find at most taquerias, fairly dry fluffy orange rice with nothing special added to it. Specifically, just the way I like my taqueria rice.

The staff was extremely friendly and the gentleman that took our order also brought us our food. He even noticed we hadn't helped ourselves to the silverware so he brought us forks and knives even though our table was just behind the self serve station.

Upon first impression, the tacos looked small, but it was late, I was hungry and I had a long night ahead of me. In the end they did fill me up, but I was not stuffed. The taco shells were perfectly formed so you could get a clean crisp bite every time. The carnitas meat was fried really well. Crispy edges, juicy meat in the middle. I did have one bite in one of my tacos that seemed overly fatty, but we'll just chalk that up to them being carnitas after all.

Now, I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Salsa can make or break a taco restaurant review. I noticed when we walked into the small establishment with just about 7 tables there was no salsa bar. Each meal came with one tiny cup of really thin red salsa, not a lump of tomato or jalepeño to be found.  The salsa was so thin, it didn't seem to have much flavor at all, on top of that, it was relatively spice-less. It's no wonder they keep Tapatío on every table.

I marked deductions for the salsa (or lack there of) and the less than perfect carnitas meat.


 The Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)

Sacramento Mobile Food Festival

The Location: 1st Annual Sacramento Mobile Food Festival. Fremont Park.

The Taco: Chando's Tacos & Tacos La Piedad.

The Price: $2/each (Chando's), $1.50/each (La Piedad)

The Verdict: After a long hiatus from writing reviews we ventured out, along with most of the rest of Sacramento, to the 1st Annual Mobile Food Festival in Fremont Park at 16th & Q. The local news stations are reporting that there were close to 10,000 attendees and I can believe it.

We waited about 25 minutes at our first truck stop - Tacos La Piedad, usually found in the vicinity of Northgate and Peralta Ave in Natomas. We sampled the carnitas tacos here which came loaded up with meat, caramelized onion and serve-yourself helpings of salsa, cilantro and lime wedges. The carnitas had a good juicy flavor with just a hint of chewy crunch and the chunks of caramelized onion were a nice touch that added a kick of sweetness. A delicious bargain at $1.50 each.

By the time we hit our next stop at Chando's the festival lines had swelled to immense proportions. I dug in and waited out an almost 2 hour line to sample both the chicken and carne asada tacos at this truck. Chando's restaurant location on Arden Way has been receiving rave reviews so I went in with high hopes. By the end of the line two hours later I probably would have eaten anything put in front of me, but Chando didn't disappoint as both the chicken and steak tacos were excellent with a good spice kick from the generous amount of salsa splashed on top. I look forward to trying their restaurant location soon.

Overall we were very satisfied with the food at the Festival, hopefully the organizers can find a way to control the lines next time (perhaps Sacramento needs a monthly or even weekly food truck event?) because waiting up to two hours for a taco is a little extreme, no matter how good they are.


The Rating: Food - ★★★★ (out of 5). Wait time - ★

Tacos La Piedad:


Chando's:

524 Mexican

The Location: 524 Mexican.  524 12th St, Sacramento

The Taco: 3 item combo. One chicken & two carnitas tacos, plus rice and beans.

The Price: $11.49

The Verdict: We hit up 524 Mexican after reading some good reviews expecting to find the greatest gift to Mexican food since the flour tortilla. Unfortunately, we left sorely disappointed. I tried the chicken and carnitas crunchy tacos and found both to be bland and uninspiring. The meat had little flavor of its own and I encountered several inedible bits of gristle in the carnitas tacos. The reviews had led me to believe that the food here was consistently excellent and delicious, so either we ended up at the wrong restaurant or they were having an off night.

The Rating: ★★ ½ (out of 5)

Luis Jr.'s

The Location: Luis Jr.'s, 2901 K St.

The Taco: Carnitas Taco Dinner

The Price: $10.95

The Verdict: After spying Luis Jr.'s while driving through midtown looking for a different restaurant we decided to change our plans and stop in. Despite having no obvious parking the restaurant was doing swift Friday night business (there are a couple of meters across the street, and a gas station — I honestly have no idea where you are supposed to park. We got lucky at the meter). Even so we were able to sit down right away and got to work inspecting the menu. I opted for the carnitas dinner plate which comes with two crispy tacos, guacamole, pico de gallo, rice and beans.

No complaints about the portion size — the tacos were loaded up with meat and while the sides appeared small they were dense and very filling. I found the taco shells to be a little greasy for my liking. I can assume they were freshly made, so maybe a little more time to allow the grease to drop off would have been warranted. The carnitas itself was nicely shredded and had that pan-roasted crust that seems so difficult to get right, BUT overall it was too dry. A little more of the carnitas' natural juices and a little less flavorless grease on the taco shell would have gone a long way towards earning this one an extra star. In summary, this one probably has the potential to be very good but, at least on this trip, it just missed the mark.

The Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)

Centro Cocina Mexicana

The Location: Centro Cocina Mexicana 2730 J St, Sacramento

The Taco: Taco de Carnitas y Taco de Pollo.

The Price: $10.75 for 2 taco combo dinner plate served with rice and beans (though I ordered my plate sans beans)

The Verdict: Upon arriving I dove straight into the chips and salsa. The chips were warm and fresh and there were two blended salsas to choose from, one red, one green. I enjoyed both immensely. Neither were particularly spicy, but had plenty of flavor and a tiny kick. When we got around to ordering our waitress told us the tacos from the combo plate were small, and she was right. This entree certainly needed the sides to go along with it to complete the meal for me.

I was disappointed when my plate arrived and the rice was only long grain white rice instead of your traditional orange spanish rice. The chicken taco was advertised as "seasoned chicken" however I could not find the seasonings. The meat seemed bland and boring with no flavor. My chicken taco was loaded with cabbage though and I thought that was an odd selection, as opposed to the more standard lettuce topping. The meat in the carnitas taco was really good. It sure was crispy and had great pork flavor. It wasn't too chunky and I quite enjoyed that taco. Though both tacos advertised salsa on them, I did not find that it was nearly enough so I made sure to dump some from the chip dipping bowls to spice up my tacos a bit more.

Overall since I did not enjoy half my meal, I cannot give a glowing taco review.

The Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)

Ernesto's Mexican Food

The Location: Ernesto's Sacramento, CA

The Taco: 3 Original Crunchy Taco Combo

The Price: $12.49

The Verdict: 3 crunchy carnitas, sans cheese and beans was the order and boy were they tasty! The tacos were crispy and not greasy. The meat was plentiful full of flavor. The only downside was the mess factor. The tacos were very wide so there was no possible way to take a taco bite without completely crushing the taco first. Also, the meat could have been shredded a bit more. I ended up with large chunks of meat which made it difficult to take dainty bites, as a girl should when she's out in public. Overall, a fantastic super size meal worth the drive!

The Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)

Ernesto's

The Location: Ernesto's Mexican Food, Sacramento

The Taco: Mexico City Taco Combo (Longaniza)

The Price: $8.49

The Verdict: Ernesto's is arguably the best known Mexican restaurant in the midtown area, and for good reason. While some of the prices tend towards the higher-end of the casual dining scale the food is almost always delicious, fresh and very quickly prepared. Not to mention their impressive selection of Tequilas, which could probably encompass a blog of their own. We have eaten at Ernesto's a number of times, so this evening I decided to step out of my normal routine and try something different. I had never tried longaniza before, and frankly I can't even name another restaurant that offers it as an option. I settled on the Mexico City Taco plate (also available with chicken, beef, carnitas, shrimp or fish) and just a few minutes later they were whisked to the table. The meat had an interesting, slightly smoky flavor and the onion/cilantro topping was fresh and well proportioned. The tacos were on the small side, but they are described on the menu as "mini" so I can't fault for that. I could have easily eaten another one, but if you're saving room for dessert then three is probably about right. The sides were standard mexican rice and pinto beans — nothing remarkable, but nothing to complain about either. Conclusions: tasty taco plate, and one of the more reasonably priced items on the menu. Would be perfect as a lunch portion, or as a light dinner.

The Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)