Travis - Taco Tour stop #47 - El Viejito Mexican Restaurant - 5518 W Central

I started seeing signs for a new Mexican restaurant a few weeks ago on west Central.  Since I work on Central, I drive by the place every day and finally noticed they were open.  I immediately put them on our list and today, with actual advance planning (thanks to your truly!), we went to the new El Viejito Mexican Restaurant.  The place is pretty small - but oddly it feels bigger inside than it looks outside.  I think there were only 5 tables or so, but it's spacious and not cramped. They've done a good job of converting it from the Chinese place I can't remember and never went to. It's clean, furnished with matching tables/chairs, and you can even pay with a card! No seriously though - it looks nice inside and out - they've done well on the remodel.

I arrived just ahead of the other two fools so made my way inside and ordered 3 tacos a la carte ($2.25/ea). Al Pastor, carne asada, and carnitas. They also had a chorizo that I skipped - and I heard Shon order a fish taco from somewhere else on the menu.

We sat down and in a few minutes, we were served complimentary chips and 3 salsas. A mild red, a mild green, and a reasonably spicy red sauce.  They were all enjoyable and different and I mixed it up and even used a few on my tacos later.

Even though I ordered first, I was served my tacos last.  I wouldn't say they were slow, but I would have said that if they took any longer.  The tacos looked pretty good and seemed to have plenty of meat.  One tortilla per taco.

I started with the al pastor - it was very hot temperature-wise. That's a welcome thing because sometimes when "open" tacos sit out, they cool off.  It had plenty of meat and in fact spilled out some as I ate. The tortilla started to crumble as I ate it, so I'd say they should probably use 2. It was a little greasy also which didn't help the tortilla.  It wasn't bad but it wasn't anything special either.  It had a nice red color to it that also made its way onto the tortilla, but the flavor wasn't as bold as I expected.  I kind of wanted it to be more than it was but it wasn't bad.

The asada was next and also had plenty of meat - but I managed to keep most of it in the taco.  It had an ok steak flavor but I still felt like something was a little lacking. I think with a bit more seasoning it could have been better.  I did add some green sauce and that helped - but I kind of don't like doing that on this tour because I want the tacos to stand on their own.  This one won't win any awards but it was acceptable.

Last was the carnitas and it ended a little disappointing.  It was dry - and seemed to be overcooked.  The meat was chewy so made it kind of tough to eat. In fact the tortilla managed to be a little dry and chewy too.  Again there wasn't a lot of seasoning - the meat had flavor but just nothing to "write home" about. I added some of the mild red sauce and that helped a little but couldn't overcome the dryness and chewy bits.  I want more flavor so this was a bit of a let down.

Side note, they have very small napkins - and since some was a bit greasy and messy, I used quite a few.  Not a complaint, just an annoyance.  Overall I'm going to call this new spot "middle-of-the-road".  They are VERY close to work for me, so I'll probably slide in again sometime to see if anything changes after they've been operating a bit longer.  I wouldn't call it a bad visit, but it just wasn't memorable.  It's worth my time to make one more stop, but I need the carnitas to be much better or I probably won't return very often (if at all).  They're also a Coke place, so that lowers my returnability by a slight tick.

Out of 5 tacos, here's my review:

Food Taste:
Value:
Cleanliness:
Service:
Overall:
Likelihood to return:

Shon's Take - Taco Tour Stop #45 - El Tucan

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

Travis - Taco Tour stop #46 - El Pollo Dorado al Carbón de Wichita - 2117 E Central

Per our usual behavior, we weren't sure where to go this week. Do we hit someplace new? Do we go to an old favorite?  So I guess we sort of combined that and decided to return to try El Pollo Dorado again - but to hit their now brick and mortar location on E Central.  The thing I'm slightly confused about is their Facebook page still shows their location on W 21st - and there is news on the internet about them moving to a spot on West Street. So, honestly, I'm not entirely sure if this is a permanent new location or temporary or exactly what.  Regardless, that's where they are as of writing this review.  If you plan to go, just check their page to see I guess!

This is a very small building tucked in a corner of a parking lot. Due to this arrangement and a large smoker taking up one space, there were literally 2 spaces and they were both taken. So I parked in the "liquor store parking only" spot.  I'm already annoyed - it's been one of those morning already and this place is getting on my nerves - but maybe they'll redeem themselves.  Chris and Shon are already seated in the very small dining room and inform me that they've already ordered at the counter.  I see there is another table of patrons who are finishing their food.  The cook/cashier was preparing tacos for the two dorks so I waited (impatiently) at the counter. And waited. And waited. And waited. Never greeted. Never even acknowledged. In fact I stood at the counter for about 8 minutes. Ironically, before he ever talked to me, he talked "past" me to the ladies that were leaving.  Had I been alone and not wanting to eat with the guys, I would have left. I was pretty much ready to walk anyway.  But since we were there for the tour, I waited.

I knew their tacos were small, so I ordered 2 of each: al pastor, carne asada, and chicken. "We're out of chicken". Hmm - El POLLO is out of chicken at lunch time - and not a late lunch. Right in the middle of the lunch hour.  This place is kind of known for their good chicken, so that's not great either.

The food was prepared in a timely manner and when it arrived it looked good (even though no chicken).

So the reviews are going to be short and sweet - because I'm frankly annoyed and not in the mood by this point.  Here goes:

The al pastor was decent and had a solid kick.  Nothing to complain about here, nothing memorable.

The carne was ... there. Not a lot of flavor.  They serve grilled onions and that helped.

That's it. No chicken. Seriously annoying and poor service. Parking sucks. Location is tiny. TV was loud. And I wasn't in the mood. Maybe I'll go back sometime - but there won't be a rush to go.  At least they had Mtn Dew.

Out of 5 annoyed tacos, here are my ratings:

Food Taste:
Value:
Cleanliness:
Service:
Overall:
Likelihood to return:

Travis - Taco Tour stop #45 - Mariscos El Tucanazo (El Tucan) - 1607 S Broadway

So after a very brief hiatus, we decided to get back into this crazy tour we started! Because...tacos.  It was very nice to so many positive comments about Pollo Express on the various posts on FB - both on our page, on Dining With Denise, and on the Eagle's page.  They are a great place to eat and a very nice family who takes pride in what they do.  If you haven't made it there, go check them out. They've been SWAMPED, but it's still worth it.

But as I read the comments, I came across a reader who said that Pollo Express was actually one of the worst. Okay, so everyone is certainly entitled to their opinion. Not everyone will like the same things - but this stuck out like a sore thumb. One of the worst? Even if you don't agree that it's the best, I think it would be pretty hard to categorize them among the worst.  So I reached out to this reader - genuinely interested in what it was that made Pollo one of the worst and what they would recommend.  I'll spare you the details - but the cliff notes is, when asked multiple times, there was no specific feedback AT ALL about Pollo Express (which casts doubt in my mind as to the validity and authenticity of such a claim).  At this point I'm not convinced they have even been there... (moving on)

But, I'm not bitter - I wanted to know what recommendations they had! I mean anyone who might be able to say this may have some inside knowledge about AMAZING tacos in town. And let's be honest, that's what I'm all about!  So their recommendation was El Tucan on S Broadway (Mariscos El Tucanazo).  Chris decided he needed to sell cars that day, so Shon and I made our way down there.

Shon made it there first - and how he spotted this place is beyond me. The entrance is NOT off of Broadway. You actually have to enter from the back. There is nothing on the facade to indicate they are there. In fact the only thing remotely close is what appears to have been another Mexican restaurant that is now condemned due to fire damage.  But somehow, Shon spotted them after missing on the first drive by and catching a glimpse when coming around the block.  I still had trouble locating it - only after Shon pointed out it was where they were painting.  I walked up to the door and pulled but it didn't open. So I stumbled around looking for another entrance when someone came and opened the door from the inside. Okay...  Inside the place is a collection of mismatched chairs and tables and piles of things and boxes. Lights are flickering and there is a space for what looks to be a sound system that must be used at other times. Plenty of space as there was maybe 1 other group there.  Oh, and bring cash - yep, this place doesn't accept any other form of payment.  By the way, this isn't the best part of town - but you probably already knew that.

Okay okay, let's step back a moment and get real. MANY great places are holes-in-the-wall - so I'm still VERY interested in what they have to offer!  The chips were pretty good actually. The red salsa is dang hot. Not for the weak. The green salsa is tasty and mild.  A blend of the two would probably be just about right.

I ordered a carne asada, 2 carnitas, and 1 al pastor.  I don't remember them taking long to arrive so the service felt adequate.  They came out street-style with 2 tortillas that looked like they may be made from scratch (not ordered in).

I started with the asada. It definitely had plenty of meat and the seasoning was good.  It had a little bit of chewy texture to it, and there were some parts that were crunchy that had been slightly overcooked.  Overall though it was not bad at all - I enjoyed the flavor.

Next I went for the carnitas.  Absolutely not as good - in fact it had a bit of a greasy flavor to it. More chewy bits in this taco made it unappealing. In fact I didn't even finish the 2nd one - which says something because carnitas are among my favorites. Meh.

Last was the al pastor. It also had a greasy flavor.  We were both a bit surprised too because we could see the meat being cut from the spit from our table. It had a nice red color to it like it had been marinated and seasoned.  But for some reason, the flavor just wasn't there.  It wasn't bold like I expected it to be.  It was mediocre at best - and the chewy bits and some overcooked spots just made this not worthwhile.

Overall, El Tucan didn't live up to the hype - it fell well short actually.  Had the the carne asada not been slightly overcooked, it would probably be in the upper ranks of our asada tacos.  I'm not sure what the motivation was to hype this place and call out PE as one of the worst, but clearly it wasn't legitimate feedback.  Sorry!  Honestly, with the location, the cash only, and the barely mediocre outcome of the food, I wouldn't bother sending anyone here.

Out of 5 tacos, here are my ratings:

Food Taste:
Value:
Cleanliness:
Service:
Overall:
Likelihood to return:

Shon's Take - Taco Tour Stop #44 - Gaga's Grub Food Truck

Ok, I admit... I'm a little behind on this one. But honestly, it's not going to affect my review. The tacos were pretty darn tasty and I remember them well! So let's just get into them, shall we?


First of all, I don't know whose idea it was to go to a taco truck in the middle of winter, (actually I do know, it was Chris. Of course.), yet despite the slight chill this was a stop definitely worth finding. You'll need to go to Gaga's Facebook page to find out where they are on any given day. When I arrived, Thing 1 and Thing 2 were already face deep into their taco plates. I got a glance of the menu and there's a lot to take in, especially when it comes to salsa choices. Only downer: just two meat choices. Chicken and pulled pork. But the owner, Dustin, does a great job with both. I decided on the 3 taco plate, which was a pretty good deal for only $8.00. I went with two chicken and 1 pork taco and decided to try the roasted poblano and mango chili salsas.


If you're looking for a quick lunch stop, this truck is ideal. Everything is already cooked and ready to go, the owner just has to put the tacos together with your salsa and topping choices. I received my plate in just a couple of minutes, and they looked awesome. No shortage of meat here at all, and all of it was very tasty. A nice flavor that wasn't too overpowering and went with my salsa choices perfectly. I especially enjoyed the mango chili which had a nice sweet/spicy combo. When I was finished with my tacos I was pleasantly surprised to find I had some bonus bites from all the extra meat that fell out. I grabbed a fork and polished it off in quick order!


Overall, I was very happy with this find. I'm looking forward to going again and making new combos of toppings and salsas in the future. My overall rankings on the 5 Taco Scale are below.


Food Quality - 4.0 Tacos
Price - $
Value - 4.0 Tacos
Cleanliness - ? I didn't inspect the guys truck so I guess I'll leave it with a question mark. :-)
Service - 4.0 Tacos
Overall Experience - 4.0 Tacos
Likelihood to Return - 5.0 Tacos

2017 Taco Tour Champion!

So a few weeks ago, we ended 2017 and thought, gosh we really love tacos, now what?  Should we keep going, stop, or do something else?  So over tacos, we contemplated, discussed, called each other names, and stuffed our faces. I have no idea if all of you out there in internetland are enjoying this, but I know we are! I look forward to harassing Shon and Chris every chance I get - but I also enjoy getting together, chatting, seeing how each other's weeks are going, building stronger friendships, and eating tacos!

So after very little deliberation, we decided to keep going at this thing - knowing that at the very least, we are entertaining ourselves.  While we missed a few weeks, I think we made it through 42 (?) in 2017 and I think there are probably easily 30+ more places that we could hit in 2018.  But we also decided that to cap the year off, we should probably crown a Taco Tour Champ of 2017.  I mean, our original goal WAS to find the best tacos in Wichita.

We have quite a few favorites in town. We found a lot of places who serve pretty good tacos. We found a few that have great tacos. We even found a few that sucked.  Do we need a "Rotten Taco" award for the worst?  We all have slightly different rankings in our lists, but you'll see some consistencies as well.  Places like: Molino's, Uno Mas, El Pollo Dorado El Carbon, Taco Fajita, Los Pinos, and Las Mananita's.  But there is one place who, as of right now, is a clear winner on all of our lists. In fact they are WAY out in front.... *drumroll* ..... Our choice for the best tacos in Wichita...

The 2017 Wichita Taco Tour Champion is Pollo Express!  So if you get NOTHING else from our blog, go try them. For tacos at PE, our recommendations are: Carnitas, Transmission, and the Al Pastor.  Also, make sure you try the carne asada, barbacoa, and even the lengua! (Yes I tried it, and yes it was pretty darn good!)

Ernesto and his family are great folks. They bought this place about 10 years ago and have transformed it into a place that we all now regularly go. Thanks to this tour, we all discovered something we didn't know existed. I suspect that between the 3 of us, we've probably gone here cumulatively 40-50 times and maybe even more (sometimes as a group, sometimes separately).  It is THAT good. I'm not ashamed to admit I've gone more than once a week.  So you should definitely stop by and try them out. Also, venture off the taco menu and try their other stuff too - all of it is very well made.  They take excellent meat - only quality stuff - and marinate it for ages (sometimes over 24 hours) to make it perfect for you to enjoy.  I could go on and on, but I won't!

Please go see the amazing folks at Pollo. Talk to the family, get to know them. Very humble and great people and it's been a great experience to come and enjoy amazing food.
Pollo is located at 2501 W Pawnee in Wichita - that's the SW corner of Pawnee and Meridian.

Ernesto, I know you're following us now, so thank you again. From all three of us and our extended friends and family who've now been there and enjoyed it also, thank you. Keep up the amazing work - you've made lifelong fans of all of us!

Shon's Take - Taco Tour Stop #43 - Cactus Cantina - 2802 S Hydraulic

Thing 2 (Chris) was getting ready to roll out of town for an undeserved vacation cruise. So, we decided to double up on our stops for the week. Our first one brings us to an out of the way joint in south Wichita - Cactus Cantina.


CC is in a stand alone building in the 2800 block of S Hydraulic. Which is, of course, problem #1 - I'm never in this part of town for anything. But, someone recommended we try it, so naturally we've gotta give 'em a go. We pulled up about noon and Chris was already inside hogging all the chips and salsa. The place is more of a sit down style restaurant than what we've seen most often, which was a nice change. Unfortunately, it was noon on a weekday and there was hardly anyone there, which seemed like an auspicious beginning. Anyway, I sat down and immediately started in with the chips. The chips were fine, but the salsas were a tale of two extremes. The mild was pretty much just tomato juice. The hot had a pretty good kick to it, probably more than most people would enjoy. And that's coming from a guy who likes some spice in his salsa. I was, however, able to find a decent medium by mixing the two together.


We hadn't even ordered yet, but Travis was already whining about dirty dishes... over...and over...and.... make that a third time. Not sure how that happened, because all of mine were fine. Bad luck I guess, but something to note for our readers. I went with 5 tacos - carne asada, al pastor, and chicken street tacos, and a chicken and a ground beef taco in the fried shells. The street tacos came with onion and cilantro and the fried shell tacos came tex-mex style with lettuce, tomato, and cheese. Since I'm a little biased toward the street tacos, I decided to save those for last and started with the fried shell chicken and ground beef. I thought both of the tacos were pretty decent for what they were. Compared to our other fried shell tacos on the tour, I would say they were above average, taste wise. But a little skimpy on the meat underneath all of my salad toppings. The chicken street taco was a decent taco - tender meat, lightly seasoned. Same for the carne asada. Both of these were decent tacos, but I wouldn't say they were special. The al pastor was definitely the winner for the day. Had a nice peppery taste to it and plenty of tender meat. This was definitely my favorite of the three.


In short, if I were down south again and needed some tacos, I wouldn't mind going back and getting a nice plate of the Al Pastors. The waiter (I think he may have even been the owner, by the way he was talking) was friendly and took good care of us. So in my mind, there wasn't anything that would scare me from coming back, other than the fact that it's out of my way and I run into 10 other taco places before I get there. My overall ratings on the 5-Taco Scale are below.


Food Quality - 3.0 Tacos
Price - $
Value - 3.0 Tacos
Cleanliness - 2.0 Tacos
Service - 4.0 Tacos
Overall Experience - 3.0 Tacos
Likelihood To Return - 2.5 Tacos