After a little mini hiatus, (where we decided to crown our 2017 Champion and then enjoy the carnage that ensued. You're welcome Ernesto), we're back at it again. Tour stop #45 brings us to a place that was recommended by someone who told us that El Pollo wasn't any good and that this was her favorite place. So let me start by saying that right off the bat, I'm feeling like this statement (made on the Facebook post for Dining with Denise online) had little credibility for me for a couple of reasons: First, if you don't think PE is THE BEST (like us) that's fine. Food is very subjective and not everyone is going to agree and that's what makes this so much fun. But if you're going to call PE "one of the worst", I'm already having serious doubts about your taco credibility. Second, one comment out of a hundred against PE vs dozens, if not hundreds, of people who have told us over the past year or so how much they enjoy it. Lastly, zero recommendations from anyone for El Tucan. Heck I hadn't even heard of it before we went and people have been sending us recommendations for a while now. That said, I hadn't heard of a lot of these little joints that we've been to. So, I kept my fingers crossed that we might stumble into another hidden jewel.
A quick Google search for El Tucan in Wichita popped up an address for 1607 S Broadway, so Travis and I decided to head that way. Whoever does the marketing for the restaurant should start by making the place more visible. I drove by it twice because the front looks abandoned. I only stumbled upon the back door by accident as I was cutting through an alley and saw a sign. I parked and went into what was basically an empty restaurant on a Wednesday at noon. Not a good sign. But the menu looked tasty and I was greeted promptly and got some chips and salsa. The green mild salsa was pretty tasty. The hot red salsa was definitely spicy - even Travis found it a little on the fiery side. I placed an order for 5 tacos - a carne asada, a carnitas, two al pastors, and a buche (stomach) taco.
My tacos arrived in a reasonably quick amount of time and actually looked pretty good. Standard street taco dress with onion, cilantro, and lime. I started with the steak and it was a pretty good taco. Plenty of meat, nicely seasoned, and mostly tender. The buche was next and I actually enjoyed this taco as well. Stomach isn't on the menu in a lot of places because a lot of people just don't care for the texture. Imagine the outside of a ham hock, but a little thicker and fried. But I thought this one was pretty good. The al pastor and carnitas both looked great, but were a bit of a disappointment once I got into them. They weren't horrible by any stretch, but they didn't seem to have the flavor pop I was expecting. Both were also a smidge dry. So I threw on a little bit of the tasty salsas and that helped liven them up.
Overall, I'd say the tacos were a mixed bag of tasty steak and dry pork. The tacos were reasonably priced (I think it was $1.50/taco, but don't quote me on it) but if you come it's cash only so leave your cards at home. In the end though, the lack of anything really amazing coupled with the location (in a part of town, I'm never in) means the chances I'll be back are minimal, unless I'm in the area and hungry for steak. My overall ratings on the 5-Taco Scale are below.
Food Quality - 2.5 Tacos
Price - $
Value - 3.0 Tacos
Cleanliness - 3.0 Tacos
Service - 3.5 Tacos
Overall Experience - 2.5 Tacos
Likelihood to return - 1.5 Tacos
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