Thursday, March 5, 2009

68 Tacos: The golden taco

The little town of Alviso is about as isolated as it gets in the Bay Area, which is home to over 7 million people. Bordered by the San Francisco Bay on the north, about 1/2 mile of hilly plains and then the CA-237 freeway to the south, and swamplands to the east and west, Alviso is not exactly an action-packed hot spot. However it does do one thing well: tacos. Along the main drag, N. 1st St., sits the El Taco de Oro taco truck, parked right in front of the El Taco de Oro Taqueria. For those of you out there who are Spanish-illiterate, "el taco de oro" literally means "the taco of gold."

El Taco de Oro truckTruck yeah!

Rush LimbaughWhen you roll up to this joint, you will find yourself immediately faced with the quandary of whether to patronize the truck or the building. Some people ponder this question for hours before finally deciding on one or the other. I, however, had my mind made up before I got there and had no time to second-guess myself. I made a beeline for the truck like Rush Limbaugh for the last piece of cheesecake.

So, were they good enough to be called "tacos of gold?" No, they were much better than that. Seriously, who wants to eat gold? It's metallic, awful-tasting, and expensive as hell to boot.

El Taco de Oro tacosNot even the radishes and lemon wedges were spared.

Here's the rundown:
5) Pollo asado. Pretty solid, but not spectacular. 6/10.
4) Al pastor. Not quite as flavorful as other places' tacos of this kind. 6.5/10.
3) Carne asada. Meat was not quite as tender as I would have liked. 6.5/10.
2) Pollo. The chicken was great and it was the only one with salsa verde (green sauce), making for a nice mid-taco scarfing session change of pace. 7.5/10.
1) Carnitas. I didn't even recognize this as carnitas initially. It was excellent though, and came without the usual sensation of instantly clogging your arteries and expanding your waistline. 8.5/10.

5 tacos consumed.
68 total tacos this year.
Current pace: 388 tacos.

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