Taqueria Garibaldi

The Location: Taqueria Garibaldi, 1841 Howe Ave, Sacramento.

The Taco: Crispy taco. Chicken, carnitas.

The Price: $3.10/each à la carte

The Verdict: When I drove by this restaurant with a vaguely Italian name I thought maybe I had stumbled upon some kind of cosmic Italian-Mexican mashup. Carnitas ravioli? Fettucine al pastor? Sadly it was not to be. (Note to the internet: please work on this).

Instead I found a typical taqueria with the usual burritos, enchiladas, and, yes, tacos. I opted for two of the crispy tacos - one with carnitas and one shredded chicken. Each one was loaded up with sour cream, guacamole, salsa cheese and meat. Speaking of meats, they offer at least eight different choices on the menu as well as four different types of tacos (regular, super, crispy & vegetarian); a return visit would definitely be required in order to sample every possible combination.

As for the tacos themselves, I found the shredded chicken to be pretty bland. The carnitas was chewy and had a hint of crisp on the outside, just about right — but it suffered from being a bit too fatty. Fat is flavor, but there can be a fine line between flavorful and over-fatty. The crispy shells were obviously freshly prepared and were not too greasy, a plus. For my taste the tacos were too heavy on the sour cream and not heavy enough on the guacamole but that may be a personal preference. Overall, I found these to be average – definitely an edible meal but one that could have been much more enjoyable with a few tweaks.


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)

El Mariachi

The Location: El Mariachi, Davis - Farmer's Market stand

The Taco: Large Taco

The Price: $7.50/plate (includes rice & beans)

The Verdict: We found this taco plate on a recent trip to the Davis Farmer's Market where a number of food vendors set up temporary shop on Wednesday evenings throughout the summer.  This one came from El Mariachi whose regular storefront can be found on G St in Davis.

I ordered the "large taco" with carnitas, and it was prepared quickly in the little tent and served steaming hot.  As far as tacos go, this was definitely on the large side, stuffed full with lots of meat as well as a dash of pico de gallo and… well, frankly I don't know what else because it was almost all meat.  Thumbs up!  My only complaint was that the meat was a little on the dry side.  No doubt serving from a temporary tent in the middle of Central Park isn't the most optimum kitchen environment, so I will give them the benefit of the doubt and look forward to giving them a second chance at their bricks and mortar location sometime soon.


The Rating: ★★★ ½ (out of 5)

Taqueria Davis

The Location: Taqueria Davis. 505 1/2 L St, Davis

The Taco: Carnitas crunchy tacos

The Price: $2.89/each a la carte

The Verdict: Straying outside our Sacramento boundaries isn't unusual (we just hit up a few choice spots in San Francisco) but we try to keep this blog as locally-focused as possible. That said, Davis is just a short trip over the causeway and we will always have a soft-spot in our hearts for the hamlet and it's many taquerias. On this most recent trip I found myself at Taqueria Davis for the first time. It is tucked away in a somewhat rundown mini shopping-center sandwiched between a pizza place and 7-11.

After hearing warnings that the soft tacos were too small I decided to sample the crunchy tacos. I ordered mine with carnitas, and after a wait which seemed a little longer than it should have been they appeared at our table. Each taco was loaded up with meat, lettuce, sour cream, guacamole, salsa & cheese. The tacos themselves were a good size so the previous warning may only apply to the soft shell. The toppings were plentiful and while the taco was satisfying it wasn't particularly memorable. The meat was flavorful but not outstanding and seemed to be a little lost among the pile of sour cream and guac. A little more focus on getting everything arranged in the right proportions might have given this one a chance to earn an extra star.

The Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)

Trader Joe's Pork Al Pastor

pork al pastor from trader joe's
Originally uploaded by jenniferjpan

The Location: Anywhere with a stove

The Taco: Trader Joe's Pork Al Pastor

The Price: Varies

The Verdict: I spotted this at TJ's recently and decided to give it a try in the name of science. It comes in a handy frozen package that you can prepare in just a few minutes. The contents of the bag are pretty much just meat with some seasonings so to round it out I grabbed some ingredients that I already had in the fridge -- a handful of diced yellow onion sautéed briefly, tomatillo salsa and a dash of guacamole with some corn tortillas to hold it all together.

Overall I give this dish a few points for ease of use. It literally only takes a few minutes to heat up on the stove with a microwave option also available. On the other hand, the flavor left something to be desired. I wasn't expecting miracles from a frozen entrée, but I found the meat to be pretty bland and not a very good representation of what true spicy pork al pastor should be.

As frozen tacos go, if you're in a hurry you could do a lot worse but as a substitute for a good example of pastor? Not so much.

The Rating: ★★ ½ (out of 5)

Super Taco (Laguna West, Elk Grove)

The Location: Super Taco 4720 Laguna Blvd, Elk Grove

The Taco: 2 Taco Combo Dinner Plate (1 crispy chicken, 1 crispy carnitas)

The Price: $7.75

The Verdict: We've seen the "Coming Soon" sign for months and finally Super Taco in Laguna West has opened up. Once inside we come to find out they have two other locations in/near Elk Grove already.

When you first enter there is a counter to order at but we went for the full sit down dining experience. The paint on the lovely decorated chairs was so fresh you could still smell it. We were started off with an amazing array of salsas served with a piping hot basket of chips. The salsas included one house (chunky red with cilantro), one green (very thin and drippy), one red (spicy and thin) and the last was interesting. It was habanero peppers, onion and lime juice. If you like spice, you will like this combo!

My tacos were standard issue corn tortilla shells stuffed with the juicy meat I ordered, topped with lettuce and tomato. They come with cheese but I left the cheese off. The carnitas meat was perfectly shredded with a nice meat flavor but it definitely needed some salsas on top. It was also missing that pan fried crisp to it, but that didn't take away from the lovely flavor. The chicken was shredded with a nice marinade. I added salsa to this one as well. The side servings of rice and beans were plentiful. (Note: I always skip on the beans and order double rice because that's how I roll.)

Overall it was a pleasant dining experience with great food and excellent salsas minus the exceptionally long checkout time. We were done and we couldn't flag down our waiter for the check. I think the 3 waiters were overwhelmed on opening weekend. The place was surprisingly busy for its first Saturday!

The Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)