First visit: May 2024 (Barnes)
Locations: Colorado Springs (2); Phoenix (1), Escondido, CA (1)
Where to begin here? I'll start easy and go to the restaurant itself. As noted prior, I've been haunting the Powers corridor much more of late. So this Sunday I was looking for a new taco place to try for lunch. Using my new "pollo asado" method, up came Erickberto's. Never heard of it. The reviews seemed mixed and I was going to take a pass, when I realized that my schedule would have been completely out of whack had I taken option A. So I pivoted quickly while on the road and decided to give Erickberto's a try anyway.
I'm glad I did. It's a nice place in a decidedly gringo part of town, and it appears Erickberto's is some sort of chain - but not really. Walk in and order at the counter. I went with carne asada, pollo asado (of course), and a ground beef taco. She asked if I wanted pico and gauc with the first two. I stated definitely no, but I'm glad they asked! There's a 50 cent credit card fee but at least they don't ask for an unearned tip. A few minutes later out came three very large tacos, stuffed with meat. She also brought two packets of sauce, one a mild green and the other a hotter red. As well as an inhouse habanero sauce. Alright! I'm ready to devour these bad boys.
I started in on the chicken taco. Delicious - loved the flavor and the double soft corn tortillas. After a few bites, I added the green sauce. Not bad at all. Usually these greens are too thin with no flavor. This was probably still too thin but at least you could taste it. Then came the red. This is a good sauce. A little bit thicker (not much) and adds punch and a pepper flavor. I used these same two sauces on taco #2 - the carne asada. One of the complaints I read was that the meat didn't have much seasoning. I have to agree unfortunately. I liked the texture but it was too bland and it was lacking that char grilled flavor one expects. Next came the ground beef taco, this one stuffed inside a super crispy homemade shell. The shell was just as good as Tacos del Gordo, and the meat was heavily seasoned. I tried the habanero sauce, but it strangely wasn't that hot or flavorful. And it was too thin. I feel like that could change visit to visit where as the packet sauces will be the same. Next time I'll substitute the carne asada with something else (rolled tacos maybe?). All in all, an excellent visit, and in goes Erickberto's to the RJG rotation.
Now for the confusing part - who is Erickberto's anyway? Well it is a chain but a very disparate one with no economy of scale to speak of. Their location in the Phoenix area has their own website. I found the one in California via Google Maps. And then there's two here, the other further north on Powers off of Old Ranch Rd. That location would be a lot easier for me to visit if I were to go their on its own without other agenda items.
Berto's seems to be a thing in the far southwest. There's Filiberto's, Riliberto's, and now Erickberto's. More about this phenomena here.
5/19/24 (new entry)
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