The new Yellowbook phone book came today. Before tossing the thing into the recycle bin (who still uses phone books, anyway?), I thumbed through the book’s back pages because that’s where the useful stuff is: The coupons. I clipped one out for Shawnogram favorite Louisa’s Place as well as one for a local Mexican chain called Taco Roco. (Buy one entree, get one free!) Armed with this shiny new coupon, Jen and I decided to take a walk to a nearby Roco franchise for tonight’s dinner. In the 2.5 years we’ve lived in SLO, we’ve had food from this place many, many times. Overall, we’ve found the restaurant’s food to be decent for the price. Tonight, Jen and I each had an order of Taco Roco’s crispy shredded-beef tacos.

Like any self-respecting Mexican joint should, the Raco offers free all-you-can-eat tortilla chips along with a serve-yourself salsa bar.

I chose the spicy, red salsa (does this stuff have a specific name?) ’cause I’ve had it before and I like it. (Jen tends to avoid salsa because she’s white she has a lot of food allergies.) The chips themselves are fine for what they are: Standard, corn tortilla chips. They’re fairly light (i.e. “thin”), and I’ve never detected much in the way of salt or seasoning with these chips. So, if you’re a salsa lover, these are the chips for you. The only salsa I’ve ever tried is the red stuff mentioned above. (I don’t know why I haven’t sampled the others. I guess I’m also white not that adventurous.) It’s got a good flavor and a nice kick, but its spiciness factor shouldn’t cause your cranium to spontaneously combust.

I found the tacos to be a bit bland. I was surprised by this, as I’ve always enjoyed Taco Roco’s steak soft tacos. (This was the first time I’d had the crispy tacos.) The steak soft tacos are an interesting contrast to these tacos. The soft tacos come with a nice combination of onions, cilantro and salsa. The tacos I had tonight were basic: Meat topped with lettuce and shredded cheese. And I don’t actually mind the basic approach. But, no seasoning? No salsa? Not even a little? To be honest, the same style of tacos from Green Burrito have more flavor. For what it’s worth, I did like the taco shells. Warm and crispy, they did a good job of holding the taco filling in without falling apart. (Some taco shells fail in these most basic of taco-shell requirements.)

Understand that I’m not putting Taco Roco down. I’ve always liked the place, and I think the restaurant has some good stuff on its menu. But I doubt I’ll have the crispy tacos again. Not unless I decide to provide my own garnish. Guess that’d give me a reason to be more adventurous at the salsa bar.

A few weeks back, I stopped into Louisa’s Place, a restaurant in downtown San Luis Obispo. Like with my previous food review, I was placing an order to go. I took a seat at the restaurant’s lunch counter:

I had looked at a menu outside, and I knew what I wanted to get. I placed my order with the cashier, and after a short wait received my food. The cashier said she couldn’t find any bags, so I wound up cradling this collection of containers out the door:

Read on …

It’s become a kind of tradition as of late for me to venture downtown on early Saturday/Sunday afternoons to grab something to eat before starting work on those days. Usually, I walk up the bike path, making my way downtown. But yesterday, the weather sucked. It was cold, with a biting wind blowing out of the north. I decided to cut my walk short and just pick up some food from somewhere close to home. I turned ’round and trudged up the hill at the top of Orcutt Road. I was thinking about picking up a sandwich at Cool Cat Cafe, but it turned out that they were closed. I decided to check out nearby Le Ciel Crepe Cafe instead.
Read on …

I was out for a walk a few weeks back. I needed to pick up a few things before heading home. I decided to stop into Laurel Lane Liquor. (I wasn’t buying booze!) I gathered up the few things I was after, including a Don Miguel breakfast burrito. I picked up the burrito so I’d have something to eat later that night at work.

As you can probably tell from the above photo, I chose the breakfast burrito. The packaging is simple, but the heating instructions are impossibly small to read. (They’re at the very bottom of the package in the photo on the left. But hey, it’s not like it’s all that complex to microwave a burrito.) As I was unwrapping the burrito from its paper sheath, the ‘rito started falling apart. Not sure if the burrito wasn’t structurally sound, or if my eagerness to experience its breakfasty goodness was too much. Regardless, I managed to get all of the burrito onto the paper plate. It was now ready for cooking. I placed it inside the microwave and decided on 2.5 minutes as a good warming period for the liquor store burrito.

(Before I continue with the review, I urge everyone to check out the official Don Miguel website. I’m not certain what’s going on in the animated Flash intro, but… mariachi!)

After a healthy dose of radiation, the burrito came out of the microwave nice and hot. You can see in the following photo how it had started falling apart during unwrapping.

I decided to rip it apart the rest of the way to make it easier to eat. The burrito was filled with the usual breakfast fillings: Eggs, cheese, sausage (maybe potatoes?).

There was also a slight hint of pepper. Nothing too strong, though. (However, it’s that kind of peppery flavor. You know, the kind you tend to find in things like liquor store burritos.) Overall, not a bad-tasting little burrito. It’s got nothing on the breakfast ‘ritos from Higera Street Cafe. But, for something out of the liquor store cooler - not bad.

What was bad is how it affected my digestive tract later that day. I’ll spare the details. Suffice it to say, in this regard, Don Miguel’s Mexican cuisine is truly authentic.

(Photos also available through Flickr.)