2009: The Year of the Taco

At least it was for the Taco Journalism team. We probably ate more than 300 tacos this year and if you look at my belly, it shows! 2009 hit some people pretty hard but luckily for us, we mostly ate at cheap taco joints and were able to survive "these economic times." We did eat a lot of tacos, met some cool peeps, collaborated on projects (yeah, just like the hop-hop moguls), traveled a bit, ate more tacos, got our 15 seconds of fame, added a girl Taco Journalist to the team and watched a man eat 26 tacos in 15 minutes! All this and we all managed to keep our day jobs!

So here's a quick recap, from our taco world to yours!

Austin Taco Tours
Who knew tacos would bring so many people out for the rainiest East Austin Taco Bike Tour we hosted with TastyTouring? Yeah, I remember seeing all those bike riders (40+) at Porfirio's then it rained on our way to Piedras Negras & Marcelino's but the troopers stayed strong (20ish) finishing at Mi Madre's. We ate a lot of tacos aguados that day!

We also searched the best Taco Al Pastor in town. We did a video for Dishola and recruited some pretty committed pork eating peeps. Austin is not D.F. and we don't do our al pastor trompo stlye but we can definitely pass the health inspections. For this tour, we had to try the best al pastor taco in town. We searched far and wide; not really, we just went to 5 taquerias: El Taquito, Rosita's Al Pastor, La Guera, El Primo y La Flor. La Guera won hands down and we got a vid to prove it! We also had a pro photographer (Penny De Los Santos) taking the most amazing photos of any taco you'll ever see!

World Taco Tour
We'll go where ever the tacos will take us and where we can afford to go. This year, we teamed up with Austin & Houston food bloggers for the H-town Taco Tour. Addie Broyles was our fearless leader in this tour and the Catrachas closed the deal for us. Great times were had by all Americans, Mexicans and Hondurans.

SF - We also ventured to the west coast to rip on the burritos and take a taco tour of The Mission. Dishola's Lindsey Simon helped us out with some pretty good places and one joint to be remembered by all. Visions of the taco dorado at La Taqeria will be 4evah engraved in my belly!

We went all the way to San Antonio to try the "best tacos in America" and were not disappointed. In S.A. the tortillas bring it home. That pretty much wraps up the world tour.

Pissing people off
Yeah, we pissed some people off but we're sticking to our taste buds. El Chile, La Condesa, Zocalo, Flaco's, Curra's, Rio Grande, Cafe Hornitos, El Sol y La Luna, Ken's Tacos & Jalapeño Joe's: No Thanks!

And I thought we ate a lot of tacos!

Nope, there are some serious taco eaters in this town and that included Joey Fulcher, the winner of Open Door Preschool's taco eating contest. This guy downed 26 crispy tacos in 15 minutes beating out 14 other contestants! He barely stayed for the trophy ceremony cuz he had to go.

The Taco Journalista
We had one try out and she made it. This year, we welcomed the Undercover Mexican Girl to the team, mixing it up for the puro vato taco team.

RIP: Magic Taco Box
Yes, this year, we said good-bye to the Magic Taco Box aka Alayna's Taqueria. You will be forever in our hearts.

Our 15 minutes
Tacos: you love them, we love them and the media loves them too! This year, we were very fortunate to talk about tacos with media types including...

Austin360: Tour de Tacos
Austin Monthly: Will Work for Food
KGSR Food Show w TastyTouring: Breakfast Tacos
We Are Austin: A Convo with a Taco Journalist
Austin Vida: Meet Austin's Taco Experts
SF Weekly's SFoodie: A Texas Taco Blogger's Crawl Through the Mission
and we made the cut for Austin American-Statesman's Top Blogs

Finally, the 3 Taco joints to eat in Austin for 2009 are...
Taqueria Olivas by the Undercover Mexican Girl
San Juanita's by Jarod
Amaya's Taco Village by Cornbiter Deluxe

So what's in store for 2010? We don't know but mibbe we'll get more organized, the quality of our photos may improve (or not) and there's rumors of a Taco Council??? We'll see but I hope you will join us in our taco adventures!

Adios Mofos!

The TJ Team
Jarod
Cornbiter Deluxe
The Commish
Undercover Mexican Girl
El Mundo de Mando