Taqueria Burritos Locos ~ Grapevine, Texas

First visit: Aug 2013

...And so after returning from my cattle drive, I spun tales to Mrs. RJG about my day with Mr. Music in the far off land of Denton. Most of the stories were met with an eye roll, or "better you than me", but it was my description of Taqueria Guanajuato that had her salivating. Mrs. RJG, born and bred south of the border, is always up for a true taste of the homeland. With that backdrop, we decided it was high time to finally try Taqueria Burritos Locos, a very successful taqueria that we once remembered being a Chicken Express.

The first thing you will notice is that Burritos Locos is not a small, fast food place. It is in fact a full service restaurant. And as such, they cater to a much larger audience than a traditional taqueria would. But we were there for tacos and sopes, and so we stuck with the game plan. One advantage of the sit down restaurant, of course, is the complimentary chips and salsa. They provide two salsas, both with a pretty good spice kick. Mrs. RJG and I enjoyed the green slightly over the red. The chips were of average flavor.

I went with my standard trio of al pastor, pollo, and carnitas. The Missus also went with the al pastor taco as well as a carne asada sope. The carnitas, as is typical for the RJG unfortunately, was not very good. The textures and flavor just aren't there, making me pine for the wonder that is Taqueria Guanajuato. The chicken, although all white meat, lacked flavor. We asked if they had a special "taco sauce", which they did. But unfortunately it was one of those lime tomatillo sauces, that are always way too sour, with no fire at all. It was frankly terrible. On the flip side, Mrs. RJG very much enjoyed her carne asada sope, so there's one for the plus column.

Doesn't sound that great so far, huh? Well, the main reason for us to revisit Taqueria Burritos Locos, is for the al pastor. It's one of the best al pastor tacos we've had outside of Mexico. And why would that be? Because they actually have the spit with the pineapple on top (hmm... sounds funny doesn't it? - anyway, hopefully you know what I mean by spit!) Now I'll be the first to admit that I've hardly sampled even a small fraction of the taqueria's in DFW, but for the ones that I have, this is the first one to feature that. It makes all the difference.

Service was not Taqueria Burritos Locos long suit either, and it seemed there were many impatient diners on our visit. Since we've only been once, it's too early to gauge if that's a trend or one-time unfortunate event. I mention it simply because I think if we're to revisit Taqueria Burritos Locos again, we would forgo the restaurant experience and take a bag of al pastor tacos for the cattle drive home...

8/15/13 (new entry)