TACORAMA - Good for the tacos, good for da communitaay!

Next time you selfishly eat tacos to satisfy your belly, you might not ask yourself, "Will one taco make a difference" or "How can I keep eating tacos and help someone in need?" Well, now's your chance to let your conscious be your guide while looking good in front of your friends while eating tacos while helping da communitaay! We're big fans of all things tacos and we're so glad the fine folks at LatinoMetro are hosting a weeklong taco fiesta called TACORAMA. I know many of you will be partying it up Drinko de Mayo style but why not step it up and get your TACORAMA on! Do it. 

via LatinoMetro.com

TACORAMA will take place May 5-12, 2012 to raise awareness of hunger in the Latino community while celebrating Latino heritage, culture, music, art and…tacos!  Proceeds will benefit the Capital Area Food Bank. Latinometro , the new Austin-focused website, has teamed up with community partners and media sponsors to present the city-wide festival, which will be an annual event.

Saturday, May 5, 12-3 PM: TACORAMA celebrates Cinco de Mayo with free food, refreshments, music and activities for children from 12-3 PM at the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center. Please bring non-perishable food items to be collected by the Capital Area Food Bank.  Performances by A.J. Castillo at 1 pm and TRAMPIA at 2 pm.

Tuesday, May 8, 6-8 PM: Town Hall Meeting for community leaders and concerned citizens to address hunger at the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center.

The Forum will cover topics such as food insecurity among Latino elderly, SNAP outreach, nutrition and wellness, childhood obesity and other issues. The audience will then participate in a question and answer session with panelists and speakers, including:

Linda Irizarry Crockett, Emma S. Barrientos MACC

Kathy Green, Sr. Director of Advocacy and Public Policy, Capital Area Food Bank

Juan Sanchez, Founder and CEO, Southwest Key

Victor Azios, Executive Director, El Buen Samaritano

Jeremy Everett, Director, Texas Hunger Initiative

Karen Patyk, Program Manager, Hunger Impact Area, AARP Foundation

Wednesday, May 9, 7-8 PM: Book reading by Gustavo Arellano, author of Taco USA, at BookPeople.

Thursday, May 10, 6-8 PM: Special film screening by Cine las Americas and cocktail reception with tacos by Austin chefs and silent auction at the Mexic-Arte Museum.

Saturday, May 12: Latinometro readers’ choice tacos to be announced at the Pachanga Music Festival at Fiesta Gardens.

For processed cheese, go to Dos Hermanos

It was not my taco night. Saturday evening is a good time to eat tacos on East 6th Street. You have plenty of choices - Pueblo Viejo, Selene Tacos, Veracruz Taco House and unfortunately for all of us, we also have Dos Hermanos. These taco joints are all located in the food trailer parks in the hottest side of town, according to los hipsters - East Austin. La familia cruised down to get some good grub - gotta feed Preggers McGee y'know. Naturally, I was drawn to the newest taco trailer on the strip - Dos Hermanos. It was right up my alley, grungy, nice taco pics on the menu and family owned.

As I was looking at the menu, I was drawn to the creamy green salsa that was on the photo menu display. Yes, that Austin green salsa. I was like "yes let me have that!" Turns out they didn't have it and the photos didn't necessarily represent the food they served either. Que Trip'ao! That's "what a trip!" for you non Spanglish speakers and soon to be inducted into catchy phrase categories such as WTF, Duh and No Doy!

I ordered probably the dryest carnitas and beef fajita tacos I've ever had from a teenager that later went to a make-out session in the alley where we parked. Actually, the carnitas were okay, not great just okay. They did have a nice crispy texture. They were both topped with lots of pre-grated processed cheese, kinda like the one you get at a convenience store that reads "Fiesta Cheese." The fajita was so dry, not even the process cheese helped smooth things over. While the tacos weren't bland, the mix of spices just didn't help either. It was as if the spices were cooked separately and were just added to the carne in the re-heating process. All that and they are charging dollas a pop! No bueno.

So what was I supposed to do? Go to the taco trailer next to it of course! I'm sorry but Dos Hermanos had me craving for some real good tacos -  Veracruz Taco House. VTH also runs Veracruz All Natural and these sisters make some fresh tacos. That's their thing - All Natural with fresh ingredients and avocado on every friggin' taco. I kinda didn't read that on the menu and if you know me, y'know that I'm allergic to avocados. It's the curse I have to live with as a Taco Journalist. So no fresh tacos for me. :( DAMN YOU FRESH INGREDIEEEENTS!

I actually did take a bite and had to counteract the avocado poison with salsa shots and it worked. I'm still alive!

Dos Hermanos - 1 Star
East 6th Street Food Trailer Park
East 6th and Waller

Behind the Tacos: El Pollo Rey

It only took me a month and a half to post this one. See we're getting better! Here's the next installment of Behind the Tacos series. Love the tacos, love the people!

Behind the Tacos: El Pollo Rey
Photography by Joel Salcido

And my review of El Pollo Rey....

Pollo estilo Charcoal

                                  

Los Tacos: Al Pastor y Carne Asada

Los Sabores

El Pollo Rey - 4 Stars - El Mundo de Mando

2209 E. Cesar Chavez

512-924-6672

www.elpollorey.com

Viva La Revolución

Tacos are nationwide. They are global. People all over the place can get a taco, even if they don't enjoy the kind of access to the best quality tacos that we Texans do.

The breakfast taco, however, is different. It's deeply ingrained into the culture and cuisine of Texas, but is largely unknown further north. This situation is baffling to many of us, and dire for miserable, hungover ex-pats who must go through life without the balm of the BT. I know that in the short time I lived and worked in NYC, it was a lack I felt daily.

Happily, it looks like there may be change afoot.

http://nymag.com/restaurants/reviews/underground/gueros-brooklyn-whirlybird-2012-1/

Let's all hold hand and look forward to a day when no man, no matter how yankefied his locale, must be without access to a breakfast taco.

p.s. - The photo above was taken at my favorite breakfast taco destination in the world, Fina's Coffee Shop in Brownsville, Tx. Full review coming soon.

-Cornbiter Deluxe

Behind the Tacos: Pueblo Viejo

It's 2012. Have you eaten a taco yet? Well, here's some ganas for you! Introducing...bam ba ram bamm....

Behind the Tacos series

In the series and by series I mean more than 2 episodes, okay mibbe 3, we will explore the stories and people who make the tacos we all love to eat. Yup, that's about it. 

In this segment, we interview Margarita Mendez, owner of Pueblo Viejo Taco Trailer in East Austin. Margarita gives us low down on her tacos and a reason to live!

Special thanks to the great photography by El Mero Mero Joel Salcido. Joel hails from the West Texas town of El Chuco and really knows how to capture the feeling of the tacos and the taqueros. You can check out his work here.

Pueblo Viejo - 4 Estrellas - El Mundo de Mando
1006 East 6th Street
In the food trailer park on 6th and San Marcos

Haz click aqui (abajo) to play the video....

Tacos for a Cause: Joe's Bakery

We're helping and you should too! Joe's Bakery is having a fundraiser and we want to invite you - the taco fans - to join us. We're meeting up at Joe's on Friday to eat some good tacos and help out East Austin families too. RSVP on Facebook and check out their snazzy flyer. For once in your life, stop hanging out con Los Lazies and eat some tacos with us!

Eat a taco. Photo a taco. Type a taco!

We are trying out this new tumblr thing and would love for y'all to submit mini-taco reviews. Eat a taco. Photo a taco. Type a taco! Try it out here: http://tacojournalism.tumblr.com/submit

Help Aqui! Austin Bakes for Bastrop

While we're not "baking" tacos, we think this is a great cause to support. So stop hanging out con Los Lazies and show your support for Austin Bakes for Bastrop!