Day 91: Carmelinas

At U.C. Thursday morning to hang with Dr. B, Kazmini, and Jenny for a couple of surgeries before departing for Hawaii at 4PM American. First case finished around 9, and , with no time for breakfast, I was famished. I knew the pizza place in the food court across the street from the hospital was open early, so I decided to head over for a breakfast slice. As I entered, I was pleasantly surprised to see that Carmelina's was bustling with activity. Could they be serving Mexican food already? Was it too early for a taco? I think not! Two grilled chicken tacos were the perfect fuel to get me through the rest of my hectic day.

Day 90: Colibri Mexican Bistro

After the berating I took over not visiting Tortilla Heights soon enough after an as of yet anonymous Daily Taco poster suggested eating there, I decided it would be smart to take action to visit said posters restaurant suggestions with a more urgent determination in the future. My first opportunity arrived with a comment Monday claiming that a restaurant named Colibri Mexican Bistro was, and I quote, "Yumm YummMay!" I researched the location of the afforementioned "Bistro," and planned my Wednesday around making my way to Geary and Mason to experience what "Yumm YummMay" fully entailed. Upon first impression, this place. Looked like it had the potential to be great. we were seated be a man with a strong spanish accent, and immediately provided with a tray of 3 different salsas, and, in lieu of chips, a steaming pouch of fresh little corn tortillas. what a spectacular curve to throw at conventional American taqueria expectations. Freshly made Guac arrived next in a stone moarter, and was creamy, spicy, and all around top notch. After perusing the extensive menu, carnitas and shrimp won the battle to anchor our tacos. A fresh tortilla, some black beans, a little carnitas, a tasty shrimp, salsa, and guacamole combined to create a sublime taco eating experience. Who ever keeps anonymously recommending these great taco joints, please reveal you true identity and claim your proper place in the Daily Taco pantheon (or at least keep up the good work), because Colibri ranks high in the Daily Taco's estemmed opinion!!!

Day 89: Rico's

Too much work today to explore the outer taco world. A quick trip to Rico's was all I had in me by the end of my Tuesday.

Day 88: The Celebrity Cafe

I had a full day of surgery at Peninsula today, and, as usual, the break between second and third case served as a perfectly timed lunch break. As I headed towards the Celebrity, I saw the "Daily Specials" board sitting conspicuously in the main hospital hallway. Todays meal: Beef Taco Plate! I took this as a sign that the Celebrity should be my fooding choice for the day, and walked inside to place my order with my buddy Joe who is usually manning the counter. They arrived along side rice and beans, and made for a spectacular Monday taco-ing.

Day 87: Rico's

Another delicious Sunday meal from Rico's. I used the half hour between the Niners game and the kickoff of night game to make the quick walk around the block to grab my favorite end of the weekend comfort food. Something about those tasty Rico's tacos make the prospect of getting up for work on Monday slightly less harsh. Carnitas as usual, I was asleep by 8:15 with a happily full belly.

Day 86: Mijita

After spending my Friday night at UCSF (I was there till 2AM), I awoke to an overcast sky on a lazy mid-weekend Saturday. With nothing on my schedule, I was able to devote all of attention to tacos. I had recently read an article detailing a taqueria in the Ferry Building opened by Traci De Jardins. Her other restaurant in the city is quite good (although the food is decidedly not Mexican), so I figured Mijita would have some tasty taco offerings for Senor Salty. I rousted the Executive Producer, and we were off for the short walk down the Embarcadero. In spite of the less than ideal weather, the Fery Building was still its usual bustling disaster of wide-eyed tourists milling about aimlessly and families with too many kids trying to run me over with their rediculous double-wide strollers. After a brief battle to fight our way through the crowd to the back of the building, we arrived at Mijita slightly disheveled and hungrier than ever. We ordered our tacos (a carne and a carnitas for the E.P. and a carnitas and a fish for me) which were delivered almosrt immediately upon sitting down at one of the picnic tables outside on the promenade. My fish taco was pretty good, but it was the carnitas taco that really impressed me. Served simply on two tortillas with meat, cilantro, onions, and jalapenos on the side, this was truly an outstanding taco. The tortillas were fresh and chewey (you could see them being made through a window into the kitchen), the meat was crunchy and salty with a certain hint of sweetness (like cinammon or something similar) that was unlike any carnitas I had experienced before. Outstanding! My only regret was that I limited myself to a two taco order. I will definately be headed back to try the carne and pollo tacos very very soon.

Day 85: Casa de Senor Salty

I've been on a cooking roll lately, and after any easy Friday at work, I decided I would continue the trend while using up the pineapple salsa I had made a few days earlier. A quick trip to safeway to grab some shrimps (Product of China! How is it even possible that it only costs $5 American for a pound of shrimp from across the Pacific ocean. It would cost more than that just to FedEx a one pound package from China to S.F. Regardless, I'm fairly certain I shouldn't eat too much seafood shipped from that country) and I was ready to make some tacos.

Day 85: Miraloma Market Taqueria

Miraloma Market has been a key spot for picking up various forgotten food items on holidays since we moved to the present family estate some 23 years ago. Ever since the Taqueria opened inside this little market, it has been a holiday tradition in my family for my sisters and I to arrive at my parents house sometime between 11 and 1 and immediately begin to pester my Mother with complaints about how hungry we already were. After about any hour of incessant nagging, Mom would send us to Miraloma to get Burritos, thus effectively shutting us up until dinner was ready. This Thanksgiving differed only in that I arrived slightly later than usual, and I had but a solitary taco instead of a plethora of burritos. The perfect snack for a pre-dinner tummy warm up, my grilled chicken taco was just the right size to stave off my growing hunger untill the turkey was carved!

Day 84: Quixote's

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, and work taking me to UCSF, I figured Wednesday would be a perfecrt opportunity to grab some tacos with Mom, Dad, and my youngest sister (who was in town for the holliday). After my conference at UC was over, a quick drive up 7th avenue brought me into Forest Hill where I found my family anxiously awaiting my arrival. We decided a quick walk to Quixote's would be the best and quickest solution for a late afternoon taco-ing. We entered the smallish dining room, chose our usual table, and sat down to a basket of crispy tortilla chips and spicy salsa. After perusing the menu for all of thirty seconds (the choice between a regular and a super taco is never really that difficult), we flagged down the waitress and placed our order. Mahi mahi for Mom, one chicken and one pork for Dad, and carne asada for me, the tacos arrived filled with delicious meat, tender beans, and fresh salsa. Bucking the taco trend, my sister ordered what turned out to be a bowl of melted cheese. It was served with tortillas, and seemed to act as a "make your own quesadilla" bar. Very interesting, indeed! Burdened with tummies full of taco goodness, we were thankful for the short walk home. Even though it was but a few blocks, it gave us some much needed exercise after Quixote's bountiful taco offering.

Day 83: The Blue Light

Although the taco eating contest did not go quite as planned (there were some serious taco procurement issues early on), the Blue Light outing was a huge success for the Daily Taco! With upwards of 30 people, this was by far the biggest and best Daily Taco event to date. A hearty thank you goes out to everyone who showed up to eat tacos and drink beers with Senor Salty! Congratulations to Dougie and Malty who both made it to any impressive 17 tacos (with Murph and I hitting 15) in what turned out to be a very unorthodox competition, but I think the winning total could have been much higher if the taco logistics had been better planned and executed. Photos are up in the picture gallery, and they do a better job documenting the evening better than I could.

Day 82: Casa de Senor Salty

I'm not 100% sure why I don't cook every day, cause whenever I do, it turns out amazingly good! This was the case Monday when I decided to broil up some salmon, whip up a batch of my famous pineapple salsa, and pretend I was on a beach in Mazatlan basking in the Mexican sun (or sol as it is known south of the border). Delicious and heart healthy (I got wild Alaskan salmon, not that garbage farmed crap from the East Coast), I was feeling like I could run a Marathon after my taco feast.

Day 81: Rico's

After a miserable Sunday of travelling (can you say 2 and a half hour fog delay on my 50 minute flight from LAX to SFO), I finally arrived back home in North Beach. After parking and dragging my mostly lifeless carcass upstairs to the couch, I realized I hadn't eaten since a quick burger at the airport around noon. I needed tacos ASAP, and Rico's was the closest (and always a tasty) option. Grilled chicken had hit the spot last night in L.A. so I figured I would continue along the pollo path today as well. Wow! They sure hit the spot. Tacos at 6. Asleep by 8. I couldn't have asked for a better end to my weekend.

Day 80: La Velvet Margarita Cantina

I arrived in Los Angeles with the Strategic Taco Undertakings Director on Saturday evening with just enough time to grab about 5 drinks at the hotel bar before heading across Hollywood to La Velvet Margarita Cantina for dinner with my sisters and the one and only Dash Nash. Camel had chosen this trendy spot for it's L.A. atmosphere as well as it's tasty taco offerings. After checking in with the pony-tailed matre-d, we headed to the bar to wait for our table. This place was covered in crazy blue and pink lighting, and above the bar was a strange collection of puppets encased in clear containers filled with some sort of liquid. The liquid was being circulated somehow, and made the puppets sway and gyrate in a very disconcerting manner. Slightly scary! I ordered a round of drinks from one of the midget bartenders (I'm not sure if they were actually midgets because the floor behind the bar was lower that the restaurant floor, but it looked like this might be a clever ploy to cover up their small stature and fool me into thinking the bartenders were regular sized people standing on a sunken floor) which arrived just in time for us to move on to the table. Chicken tacos were the order of the day, and came paired with beans and rice. Delicious. After our Mexican dinner feast was over, we headed to Republic (a persnickety Hollywood club that Dupe's roommate got us into. Thanks Chase) to complete the full L.A. experience. Sadly, there was no drunken Britney sighting, but there are some great pictures of Senor Salty out and about in Los Angeles. You can find them in the new "Photo Gallery" section on thedailytaco.com home page. All around a great weekend getaway for The Daily Taco!

Day 79: T-Bell

With a 2:15 departure from SFO to San Diego this afternoon, I figured it would be prudent to get a safety taco in my system in case things went awry in the Gaslamp District tonight (I know that sounds unlikely, but better safe than sorry when it comes to The Daly Taco). A quick stop by T-Bell in Millbrae after taking care of some business at Peninsula hospital was just the ticket for acquiring a tasty taco. I figured I would go for the gusto and had a Spicy Chicken Crunch Wrap Supreme and a bean burrito thrown in for good measure. Man, those crunch wraps really are good! That being said, it was really the taco that that stole the show. Crunchy, cheezy, and delicious, I felt confident I had made the right call by making a stop at T-Bell.

Day 78: Gordo

What else can I say about Gordo. Always exciting! Always tasty! Today: grilled chicken with black beans and guac! It makes ne wonder how I could ever let a month go by between Gordo visits!!!

Day 77: Impala

In case you are ever craving tacos on a Wednesday night, and only a fancy place with no wait will suffice, look no further than Impala. I had been to this club-like restaurant a few times before, but always for its late night party atmosphere (never for its food). As it had always been crowded on my previous trips (regardless of the day), I expected to find a moderately sized crowd tonight even though it was the middle of the week. You can imagine my surprise when, at 7:15PM, Impala was empty! Now, I'm not talking "20% of the tables were full and there were a couple of people at the bar" empty. I'm talking "there was no one in the entire restaurant except employees" empty. And it was just has empty upon departure at 8:45PM. I found this to be very strange considering the tacos were extremely tasty. I chose a fish and a pork, and both were very good. Perched on corn tortillas, and covered in Mexican queso, savory sauce, lettuce, and salsa, both of my dinner choices pleased my palate in a very satisfying manner.

Day 76: Casa de Senor Salty; Part Trois

Since Saturday nights meal with my sister, the leftover leftovers had been taunting me relentlessly from the fridge. Everytime I opened the refridgerator door, the pungent smell of carne, salsa, and crema would waft out, and my mouth would begin to water has thoughts of my delicious tacos danced through my head. Tuesday night I gave in to temptation, and made one last taco before my tasty creations outlived their edible-ness.

Day 75: Rico's

After a rough Monday at work, a quick trip to Rico's was all I had left in me. Seated at any outside table to enjoy the surprisingly warm evening (relatively speaking), the Executive Producer, the Hype Director, and I enjoyed a delicious combo of carnitas tacos and Mexican beer while relaxing under the pitch black night sky (it was 6:15PM).

Day 74: Tortilla Heights

After being berated by some very adamant Daily Taco fans for not having visited Tortilla Heights yet, Sunday provided a great opportunity to rectify the situation. After an early morning meal at Mel's (2:30AM to be exact), I was able to stave off hunger until 5:30 Sunday evening. This was a fortunate coincidence since that was the time I was supposed to meet my parents and sister at Tortilla Heights for tacos. My sister and I arrived at the restaurant (Divisadero and Bush) to find my parents already seated in the bar at a table with any unobstructed view of the football game. Has I ordered a Dos Equis and began to peruse the menu, I was surprised to see that the menu looked very similar to the offerings at Nick's Crispy Tacos! Apparently the same Dude owns both places. Needless to say, everyone ordered their tacos Nick's way, and Sunday night was a successful foray into uncharted (yet previously charted at the same time) tasty taco territory (that, my friends, is what they call in the Biz alliteration)!

Day 73: Casa de Senor Salty; Part Deux

Leftovers from Friday night made a delicious Saturday feast for my sister and I.

Day 72: Casa de Senor Salty

As much as I like eating out to get my daily taco, there is a certain satisfaction that I can only attain by eating tacos created by my own two hands. After a long Friday at work, heading home to cook up some carne and drink some beers in the comfort of my home seemed like the perfect end to a rather hectic week. A quick stop by Safeway, and I was headed to mi casa to begin the cooking process. First, toss the meat with some lime juice and oil to marinate. Second, throw together some fresh salsa (very spicy, and very good). Third, whip up a tasty avocado-lime crema. And finally, throw the meat onto my super hot grill pan for a nice sear (this always produces copious amounts of smoke, and usually no less than 4 fire alarm incidents). After the meat was charred to a perfect medium rare, I stashed it in some foil to rest, and contemplated how to properly prepare it for consumption. Lacking a pair of huge cleavers (this is inevitably what I see the guys at taquerias use to turn a piece of meat into the small chunks synonymous with carne asada), I turned to the electric knife I had purchased a year ago, yet had never taken off the charging stand. It did a remarkably good job chopping the steaks into proper Mexican-style taco filling (Thanks Sonic Blade! Apparrently all TV infomercial purchaes aren't completely worthless). As I ate my self-made meal and reveled in its deliciousness, I couldn't help but but think "wow, I'm good!"

Day 71: Casa Mexicana

Thursday night found me on 24th street in Noe Valley for a few post-surgery adult beverages. After a couple of Guinness (Guinni, Guinnessesses ? Whatever the spelling, it is definately the beer of choice when it is cold and already pitch black at 6:00PM), I began to feel a familiar hunger creeping into my tummy. I figured the 4 block walk back to my car would be ample time to decide where to get my tacos for the evening, but I began to worry after block one when I realized I knew almost nothing about taqueria locations on this side of the city. Then, out of the darkness, I saw a magnificent light beconing to me. Casa Mexicana, shining like the North Star in the midnight sky, was like a compas directing me on a path towards tasty tacos. And tasty they were. Carnitas again, with beans, salsa, guac, and jalapenos. The perfect finishing touch to my Noe Valley excursion.

Day 70: El Castillito

It has been brought to my attention that lately my posting has been lacking a certain level of quality that the Daily Taco readers have come to expect. I am going with the easy scape goat and blaming day light savings for my lack of inspiration. My most creative hours are between 10 and Midnight, and when I am getting ready for bed at 7:30 because it has already been dark for 3 hours, it severely cuts into my blogging time. That being said, I am beginning to adjust, and hopefully my posting skills will re-emerge like the magical Phoenix after they had burned so brightly for the first 60 days. On to the tacos. Yesterday was another trip to the Mission. With the arrival of Guitar Hero III in stores a week ago, Wednesday was the perfect opportunity to head for the Marquis house for some tacos and some video games. With Jess and Crosby along for the taco excursion, we headed up 17th street to Valencia where we came upon El Castillito. This colorful restaurant looked just dirty enough that I was sure it would be good. The Marquis ordered first and went for the super tacos. Since I had never dined at this establishment before, I looked towards the Marquis for guidance and followed suit with two carnitas super tacos of my own. Was I in for a treat. They arrived at the table stuffed to the point that I wondered how I was supposed to transfer then from the plate to my mouth. Rice, beans, meat, lettuce, salsa, sour cream, and two slices of avocado: "super outrageously stuffed with deliciousness" tacos was more like it! Now, usually I would not get sour cream on my tacos, and I had never really seen a taco with rice before, but everything they put on top of that tortilla shell worked together to maximize tonights taco experience. Washed down with a tasty Dos Equis, my delicious El Castillito meal had me fueled up and ready to kick some ass at video game guitar!

Day 69: The Car Wash

I love Pork! Sausage, bacon, pork chops, BBQ pork ribs, pork loin, and especially tasty carnitas. It should be no surprise that the majority of my tacos over the last two weeks have been filled with that salty, tender, crunchy pork delicacy. I saw no reason to change anything today, so it was off to the car wash for two tasty carnitas tacos. It was a beautiful late-autumn day in the city. Clear and sunny, with a slight chill in the air, it was the perfect weather for enjoying my tacos at one of the little outdoor tables drenched in late morning sun.

Day 68: La Salsa

Day 67: Rico's

Another Sunday night at rico's. Always a great way to close out the weekend!

Day 66: Los Gallos

After a day filled with golf followed by a much needed nap,I was afforded a very small window of opportunity to find myself a Reno taco before our planned dinner at Harrah's steak house Saturday night. It was "dress up night" for the bachelor party, so the Hype Director and I threw on our suits and headed out of the Silver legacy with about 20 minutes to grab a quick taco and make it to dinner on time. We had heard a rumor from other bachelor party attendees that there may be a taqueria next to the McDonalds a few blocks away. We found Los Gallos two doors down from McDonalds, entered the restaurant, and headed for the counter to place our order. As we sat down to wait for our chicken tacos (which turned out to be extremely good) I could feel the stares from other patrons directed at us in response to the level of overdressed we were for this establishment. Apparently a tux isn't the appropriate clothing choice if you are going to be tacoing in downtown Reno. Who knew?

Day 65: Jmboy's

Reno Baby! The biggest little city in the world was our destination this weekend for Dougie's bachelor party. It was a little busy trying to get out of the city in time to beat traffic, so the decision was made to grab tacos on the road. Some how we made it to Auburn without stopping even though the Exec. Producer, Malty, and I hadn't eaten since breakfast. Jimboy's was worth the wait. The hype director showed up shortly after we had ordered our tacos with the bachelor in tow, and we had a jolly good time manga-ing our Mexican fare in the warm Nor Cal sun.

Day 64: El Tesoro

Thursday found me hanging out at UCSF with Dr. B (one of my favorites) for an knee and a hip. We finished surgery at 11:30, and my thoughts immediately turned to tacos. I figured I could hit up El Tesoro (on Leavenworth and Ellis in "The Loin." A taco shop I drive by often, yet had never had the pleasure of eating at.) on my way to the gym, and fuel up my muscles while fulfilling my daily requirement. I parked in a spot that I didn't feel entirely comfortable leaving my car in, and walked the half block to get my tacos. During that short walk, I passed no fewer than 3 crack addicts, 2 hookers, and 8 homeless persons yelling about god only knows what. These better be great tacos!!! Carnitas was the filling of the day, and they were worth the walk. Covered in beans, rice, lettuce, with a tomato on top, these were some of the biggest, messiest tacos I had ever had!!! As I was called back to UCSF mid meal for a surprise hip, I was content to go back to work with a full, happy tummy.

Day 63: Mom and Dad's house

Today we will begin with some administrative details that need attending to. First, we now have an official, tangible Senor Salty mascot!!! Thanks to the diligent work of my Grandmother (a huge Daily Taco fan. Thank you Grams!!!), Senior Salty now has a physical form through which he can attend all of the taco events held in his honor. Look for him front and center (or lurking "Where's Waldo-style" if you don't see him right away) in upcoming photos. Second, There will be a slight change in protocol in the dating of posts from now on. In light of the late night nature many of my taco experiences share, along with the inevitable outings that follow, I will be posting about each days tacos on the next days post (so this post is actually about yesterdays tacos). This will hopefully rectify the M.P.S. (missed post syndrome) that has occasionally plagued thedailytaco.com. Now, on to the tacos. Since my earliest trick-or- treating years, Halloween has always been about heading for my parents house (my grandparents house when I was younger) for a dinner of Grams famous "Witches Stew" (a delicious meal composed of chunks of beef, potatoes, carrots, and peas in creamy gravy), pumpkin pie, and more candy than a healthy person should eat. This year was no different except for the fact that I had not had time to get tacos before I arrived for Halloween dinner. What was I to do? I was not about to miss out on a meal that I look forward to all year long, yet I needed to eat a taco to keep my streak alive! Inspiration struck as I drove past Miraloma Market (the home of a very good taqueria in its own right) on my way down Portola ave. A quick stop to pick up some tortillas, and I was in perfect shape to enjoy what may be one of my most spectacular taco creations to date! A scoop of Grams' stew inside a corn tortilla, a side of salad, and two slices of garlic bread formed what may be the pinnacle of Halloween eateration! As I gazed upon these tacos, I experienced a sense of elation that I can only compare with how Dr. Frankenstein must have felt as he zapped his monster with lightning and saw what had once been but a fanciful dream finally become reality! Surrounded by my family (along with my mothers outrageous amount of Halloween decorations), I reveled in the deliciousness of my "Witches stew" creation, and though about how green with envy my two sisters would be (they were both out of town this year) as they read about this combination of one of our life-long favorite meals with the magical taco! Maybe next year, girls. Maybe next year.