Epic quest 'On The Taco Trail' leads Village Voice to JaxHts

Village Voice restaurant critic, Robert Sietsema, leads the quest for the best taco on Roosevelt Avenue, from 111th St. to 85th St. (in Jackson Heights) where 'taco exhaustion' ends the journey... almost...


On the Taco Trail
by Robert Sietsema for the Village Voice, September 25th, 2007

...near 96th Street is the first evocation of Taco Veloz, a chain that counts three storefronts along Roosevelt in its empire. The tacos have more meat filling than usual, and when we later passed another Taco Veloz down near Elmhurst Avenue, a guy eating tacos shouted at us in English, "These are the best tacos around!" We didn't agree... Nearer 95th Street is a pair of establishments: Veracruz Foods... and Puebla Food, a related bodega next-door that also turns out tacos... One block south, at Suaderos Tacos, we ate our first oreja (ear) taco, which had a crunchiness that pleased some and repulsed others.

Nothing that had gone before prepared us for Tacos Morelos. When we first saw this cheerful, gleaming cart at the corner of 94th Street, we noticed that one of the proprietors was wielding a tortilla press, making fresh tortillas for each new order... As far as I know, this is the only place in town you can get food from Morelos. In addition to gorditas and cheese-stuffed tlacoyos, the main output was tacos de arroz: tacos filled with rice, for a double-carb wallop! The one featuring sautéed pepper strips and boiled eggs ($1.50) was a revelation, but even more amazing was the one that dumped a freshly fried and cheese-stuffed poblano pepper on top of the rice. It was spectacular...

... Esquina Tierras—a window adjacent to a modern restaurant at Whitney Avenue—seemed so awful was that we'd just eaten at Tacos Morelos... We were soon compensated for this dull taco by a pair eaten across the street at El Aguila Real ("The Regal Eagle")... The truck got an overall score of 62...

Tacos HNS Rodriguez at 89th ... offered to make a pork, beef, or chicken taco, of which we chose the first two. Though bland, the tacos were bulging with meat and nicely dressed with guacamole. The elote looked even better—an ear of corn rubbed with margarine and red sauce, then dusted with dried cheese. The cart called Delicias Isabel glowed at the corner of Elbertson Avenue, and Isabel herself made us lengua, oreja, and cecina (tongue, ear, and dried beef) tacos, though she was out of tripa (tripe). Though the ears put some people off ("It tastes Chinese," was one comment), many found the pungency and chewiness of the beef appealing...

Finally, we found El Fogoncito #2 ("The Little Hearth"), a truck at the corner of 85th that slung a menu of Ecuadorian delicacies like ceviches and secos (stews) in addition to tacos and tortas... The goat taco had a skanky savor that some adored, and the tongue taco was greasy and good, garnering middling marks overall for the truck.

...As we trailed footsore down Roosevelt to the Jackson Heights station, we noted three more places that looked promising. Tacos Guicho was a cart at the corner of Baxter Avenue thronged with happy taco eaters, while Tacolandia, in addition to having a wonderful name, is a long-running window that consistently provides the full range of fillings. Finally, right in front of the gleaming new subway station at 74th Street, there are a pair of dueling taco carts, each with its own knot of dedicated hangers-on. We'll be going back soon to check these places out....