tacobaby has Arrived: Tastebud Nirvana
When I heard tacobaby was having their Grand Opening, I immediately scrapped the family’s dinner plans, scooped everyone up and set sail for the unveiling of what will undoubtedly become one of downtown’s coolest places.
With a name like tacobaby, you can’t help but smile but one look at their menu and it’s easy to see that their food is serious business! Duck confit tacos?!?! Jackfruit?!?! Smoked ginger tamarind pork belly?!?! Be still my heart and bring me a new face mask because I’ve just drooled through mine.
Faced with the dilemma of wanting to order every single item on the menu and realizing there was no way I could eat it all, I enlisted the help of my family and we made a valiant effort of trying most of the items on the menu.
Tostones Mojo with roasted garlic aioli was delicious, golden brown and so good that even picky teenagers fell in love with requests for another order. If that’s not an indicator of how good they were I don’t know what is.
Street corn with citrus aioli, cotija cheese and cilantro always gets my vote but tacobaby serves it in a cup! What?!?! Oh yeah, in a cup! No messy hands or remnants in your teeth, and I will openly admit that I drank the last part of mine from the cup like a soup or broth and I’m not one bit embarrassed.
Our taco selections were all over the place and gave a perfect cross section of tacobaby’s capability, making one heck of an impression on my tastebuds! It also left us with options to order on our return visit which might actually be tomorrow, but I digress.
tacobaby tacos with duck confit are culinary nirvana, served with mole, green cabbage slaw and mango pecan salsa. Whoever invented tacos a gazillion years ago would be proud to see how it has evolved into this!
The fact that Jackfruit is even on the menu is a testament to how tacobaby tacos has hit the Port City food scene like Godzilla ripping through Tokyo. Chefs be warned, tacobaby has raised the bar VERY high! The Jackfruit is served with jalapeño, avocado crema, slaw and cucumber mango salsa. I’m not vegetarian but I’d actually consider turning in my carnivore card after eating these little flour tortilla wrapped spicy bundles of heaven.
I could go on and on but I’ll be honest, I’ve got a box of two leftover tacos with my name on it and I’m going to devour them before these ravenous teenagers can get to them.
tacobaby has arrived and if you want to try some amazing food, you’ll arrive at their front door on Grace Street. Follow tacobaby on Facebook to stay up-to-the-minute on taco-happenings.
Contributing blogger: Ed Walsh grew up in Las Vegas, the son of an accomplished chef. Traipsing all over the world to more than 35 countries during a 21 year Marine Corps career allowed Ed to sample and appreciate all types of food from grass hut family dining to Michelin star rated fine dining restaurants. “I know my way around a dinner plate and I just like what I like,” he says. Asked what his absolute favorite dish from all of his international travels was, Ed quickly says it was his Mom’s spaghetti. Ed considers tacos to be his spirit animal and enjoys long romantic walks to the taco truck. He also loves spending time with awesome food almost as much as he enjoys spending time with his awesome kids.