El Novillero

The Location: El Novillero. 4216 Franklin Blvd, Sacramento

The Taco: #23, Carnitas Taco Dinner

The Price: $11.95 for two tacos plus rice & beans

The Verdict: El Novillero celebrated its 40th year of operation this year, and as I've said before, any business that manages to survive that long must have something going for it. They have racked up three "Best Mexican Restaurant" awards from KCRA, not to mention being specifically recommended to us by an acquaintance as "the best mexican food in Sacramento", so we made our first visit expecting greatness. The restaurant itself has enough charm to go around and inside you could just as easily imagine yourself in Mexico as Sacramento.

I ordered the carnitas taco plate which came with two well-stuffed tacos and a healthy portion of rice and beans on the side. The tacos were filled with plenty of meat, a generous layer of guacamole and topped with some lettuce, cheese and sauce. The meat was juicy and flavorful and had just the right amount of chewiness. I found the sides to be acceptable, but not great. The beans were tasty but a little dry. The rice had a pronounced tomato flavor that I didn't find overly objectionable, but I would have enjoyed a more subtle flavor.

Overall, this is a taco blog and I did enjoy the tacos. By the stated criteria, this was a delicious well-prepared taco that I would recommend to friends. Maybe we encountered a fluke but the side dishes, would not earn as much of a recommendation.

The Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)

La Fiesta Taqueria

The Location: La Fiesta Taqueria, Sacramento

The Taco: Plato de Carnitas

The Price: $9.80

The Verdict: La Fiesta Taqueria is a Sacramento Mid-town lunch time favorite! When I stopped in today at noon the line was out the door. This line continued my entire half hour in the restaurant. This also meant lines for chips and salsa, which are self serve bars whether the food is for there or to go. The salsa bar is diverse with blended salsas to chunky pico de gallo and slices of lime.

Not knowing what I was getting myself into, I opted for the Carnitas plate. I got exactly that. A plate with a very generous portion of Carnitas meat, rice, guacamole, sour cream, a little bit of ice berg lettuce topped with a gigantic slice of tomato. It comes with beans as well, but I chose double rice instead. I received 4 tortillas in a separate tortilla warmer. I had a choice of corn or flour and I chose flour.

Next, I got building! I built a gorgeous soft taco. The carnitas were scrumptious. They were soft and juicy but crispy in spots on the outside, practically perfect. I topped my taco with all sorts of goodies from my plate and then... I got full. I had to bring half my plate home with me.

Note that La Fiesta Taqueria does not take credit cards and they charge 50¢ in ATM fees. My plate combo did not come with a drink so after I ordered my drink and paid my ATM fee the total for my lunch was $13.34. The portion size was most definitely dinner worthy.

The Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)

Sacrag & Tacramento: BFFs!

Sac Rag has a new favorite blog, and what do you know, it's us! Thanks guys! Welcome to all the readers heading over here from that neck of the woods. Keep the suggestions coming for your favorite local taco joints and we'll do our best to check them out!

Feel like writing your own review? (We can't keep up with every taqueria in town, no matter how hard we try). Send us your notes, following the established format, along with a decent quality photograph and we'll post it up and give you the the credit! Contact is at the top of the page there, so get going!

Agree with one of our illustrious and well-written reviews? Think we're morons who wouldn't know carnitas from caramel? Leave a comment and let us know.

La Favorita Taqueria

The Location: La Favorita Taqueria, Sacramento

The Taco: Carnitas Super Taco

The Price: $3.60 each taco. ($2.50 extra for rice/beans combo)

The Verdict: La Favorita is tucked away off Florin Road behind a Del Taco, but it couldn't be any more different than its neighbor. When I stopped by there was Futbol on the TVs, plenty of guys in cowboy hats in the restaurant, and a vendor outside selling churros from a cart.

I decided to sample the Super Taco with carnitas. When they say "super", they're not kidding. The tortillas were completely covered with lettuce, tomato, sour cream, guacamole and plenty of meat. And not just any meat, they were filled with moist, chewy, unbelievably flavorful chunks of carnitas. The tacos were so huge that they almost demanded a knife and fork but I managed to persevere in the way nature intended a taco to be eaten with plenty of napkins close by.

The portion of rice and beans was also delicious, and like everything else on the plate steaming hot and obviously prepared just moments before. By the end of the plate I was stuffed and satisfied. (But not being one to pass up a good Churro, I saved room so I could stop at the cart on the way out. $1 well spent!)

I almost hesitate to say it, because we haven't rated a 5-star taco yet and my standards are so high, but this one deserves a top spot. Highly recommended.

The Rating: ★★★★★ (out of 5)

Baja Burrito

The Location: Baja Burrito, Elk Grove

The Taco: Carne Asada soft taco

The Price: $1.79 each

The Verdict: A simple taco for a simple price. This taco features choice of meat, with onion/cilantro mix and guacamole. While there was plenty of carne and it was tasty enough it didn't truly wow me. Just a little extra seasoning or flavor to the meat would have gone a long way. Liberal application of one of the several fresh salsa choices (all excellent) did the trick for me. The onion and cilantro mix was well proportioned but the guacamole almost went unnoticed underneath. For the price though, I don't exactly expect half an avocado on there so this is about as expected. During happy hours when the price drops by $0.50 these would be an even better value for money. Overall, a good quick bite at a good price that just misses the mark of being excellent.

The Rating: ★★★ ½ (out of 5)

Valencia's Carniceria Taqueria

The Location: Valencia's Carniceria Taqueria, Citrus Heights

The Taco: Carne Asada two taco plate

The Price: $5.99

The Verdict: If you want atmosphere, this is it. Valencia's Taqueria shares space with a Mexican grocery and carniceria where you can pick up any number of packaged food items or prepared meat from their counter. Overhead there is a continuous stream of upbeat mariachi music playing over the speakers and scarcely a word of English seemed to be spoken while we were there. My spanish being a tad rusty, I did run into a little communication breakdown with the young man working the register at the time we came in for lunch but that was soon resolved and didn't end up being a problem. What the restaurant has in character however, was somehow lost in translation to the plate. The tacos in my carne asada combo were small and mostly unremarkable. The doubled-up corn tortillas were overly greasy and while the small splash of red salsa had a good flavor, the meat itself wasn't especially flavorful. The included beans and rice arrived on a separate plate about 5 minutes after the tacos. While my dining partner and I both agreed that the salsa verde from the small salsa bar was very good, it seemed a bit too little too late to save my rating. If given a choice, the far superior El Forastero directly across the street would win out over this place even if it means I have to give up the mariachi music.

The Rating: ★★½ (out of 5)

Free Jack In The Box tacos - today only

They're not exactly gourmet, but if you just gotta have a free taco today then check out your local Jack In The Box. Be sure to bring along this coupon to get two free tacos.