I had written about Tacos Martinez a while back, so no need to go through the entire place with a fine tooth comb, but I did want to offer a comparative analysis of two well-visited taco places after our report on Taqueria la Tapatia which is a bit closer to The Five Oh.
My wife and her mother enjoy this place for tacos, but in my personal opinion (based on a one time lunch) their plates aren't that great. My wife says I went at a bad time (lunch?). Anyway, I will tell you that for breakfast tacos, they are quite tasty indeed.
If you recall, I reported that La Tapatia has fairly smallish tacos. Tacos Martinez serves up some much bigger portions, but I think the price is just slightly higher as result.
My wife ordered a potato con chorizo taco and a barbacoa with avocado, both on the home made corn tortillas. I'm not a fan of corn tortillas unless they involve enchiladas, but I have to admit, these things are pretty good. Needless to say, my wife was sitting in the booth doing her happy dance.
I laced em up tight and ordered my usual carne guisada with government cheese, chorizo and egg, and a country sausage and egg. Is it any wonder I am morbidly obese?
This carne guisada is worth making note of. I'm not sure what the story is behind the recipe, but there is some sort of spicy flavor to it, and it is extremely tasty but certainly not over the top to ruin it. Man it was good.
The chorizo and eggs (and this is true for most places you order chorizo from) are pretty darn greasy. You may want to take a napkin and soak it up before you start eating, or you can just do like me and double up on your high blood pressure meds! Just kidding. The soft freshly made flour tortillas are great for sopping it up.
I was not impressed with the country and egg at all. I soaked it in green sauce so as to mask the taste of what may have been week old sausage. Or it could just be prepared differently, who knows.
Like La Tapatia, this place seems to be always packed with a steady stream of diners. But for the price, you get bigger tacos and more importantly, the carne guisada race goes to Taco Martinez. Give 'em a try between heart bypass surgeries.
I think San Antonio could use some more places specializing in breakfast tacos. Oh look, another one just opened on Culebra called Taqueria's la Tapatia, and neighbors and friends have been telling us to get over there and get some. So Saturday morning, my wife and I decided to get some vittles before hitting a few garage sales.
If you have driven by, you've noticed that this place is packed all the time. The building is a former Popeye's Fried Chicken and right off the bat, the place is too small for the amount of business they get. You could easily double the size of the dining area and it would be well worth it.
Already, they are increasing the size of the parking lot.
Inside, we were pleased with the extremely clean, and nice looking transformation from Popeye's to Jalisco. We had to wait a few minutes for a table, but during the course of our meal, we saw a minimum of ten different customers walk in, see no available tables, and simply leave.
With all this traffic, I was really expecting some sort mouthwatering, savory feast, but the fact is, it's just breakfast tacos. They do have a full menu and I even thought about ordering pancakes, but opted for the 99 cent girth enhancers.
My wife ordered a bean & cheese and her favorite, potato and chorizo. First thing to note is that these are handmade flour tortillas, though in my mind on the smallish size. My wife was especially pleased that the potatoes were cooked.
I went all out and ordered three tacos including my favorite, carne guisada with cheese. I'm a firm believer in the heavy use of what we call, government cheese. You might know it as longhorn. (Some people call it a Kaiser blade, I call it a sling blade). I'm not sure what the deal was with this cheese, but it just appeared to be less WIC'ish than you see at a good hole in the wall. Also, no offense, I just didn't care for the texture of the meat. Not everyone does carne guisad with cheese to my liking, so this is no slam. Most people order breakfast tacos that involve eggs, not dinner.
I also got the standard Country Sausage and egg and the ol' standby, chorizo and egg. Standard, no complaints and they remained hot during the full consumption process. Also, I tossed on some of the green sauce and it had a nice flavor and a little kick. Good stuff.
In the end, with tip, we were out for $10.00 and that just aint bad at all for five tacos and two coffees. And maybe, that is the reason for the crowds.
Give it a try if you like. I'd like to try them for lunch someday just to see how that goes. But for tacos, we'll probably have to revert back to our standard place, Taco Jalisco which is up at the next intersection.
My wife and her mother enjoy this place for tacos, but in my personal opinion (based on a one time lunch) their plates aren't that great. My wife says I went at a bad time (lunch?). Anyway, I will tell you that for breakfast tacos, they are quite tasty indeed.
My wife ordered a potato con chorizo taco and a barbacoa with avocado, both on the home made corn tortillas. I'm not a fan of corn tortillas unless they involve enchiladas, but I have to admit, these things are pretty good. Needless to say, my wife was sitting in the booth doing her happy dance.
This carne guisada is worth making note of. I'm not sure what the story is behind the recipe, but there is some sort of spicy flavor to it, and it is extremely tasty but certainly not over the top to ruin it. Man it was good.
The chorizo and eggs (and this is true for most places you order chorizo from) are pretty darn greasy. You may want to take a napkin and soak it up before you start eating, or you can just do like me and double up on your high blood pressure meds! Just kidding. The soft freshly made flour tortillas are great for sopping it up.
I was not impressed with the country and egg at all. I soaked it in green sauce so as to mask the taste of what may have been week old sausage. Or it could just be prepared differently, who knows.
Like La Tapatia, this place seems to be always packed with a steady stream of diners. But for the price, you get bigger tacos and more importantly, the carne guisada race goes to Taco Martinez. Give 'em a try between heart bypass surgeries.
