Taconeta

311 Montana Ave.
El Paso, TX
(915) 303-8038

Taconeta entrance from parking lot

I am always happy to learn about restaurants in the city that are popular because their food is at a level of flavor and quality that brings in crowds of both repeat and new customers. It is not that I like the “crowd” aspect so much, but there is a reason they are there. Such was the case on my first to Taconeta on a Friday evening during a raging windstorm when I found a long line of eager customers waiting to place their orders. The staff said that the lines are even longer when the weather is better, but in any case people are loyal to this restaurant.

Standing in line waiting to order

I had a special treat being able to share the meal meal with fellow blogger Gil Garduño and his wife Kim on one of their too infrequent trips to the Sun City. His web site Gil’s Thrilling (and Filling) Blog mostly covers Albuquerque and the surrounding area. Occasionally he treks out of town to write reviews for places such as Taconeta and I can point readers to another viewpoint that at a minimum is more well researched than mine and quite possibly will provide more usable information. Nevertheless I have a few thoughts.

Tacos

Baja fish tacos

The menu here consists primarily of small servings so that patrons can get a variety of items. The Baja Fish Tacos, coming in a serving of two, were the main item of my meal. This was tempura fried cod with cabbage slaw and chile mayo. This did not have an overwhelming spiciness, but it was fairly high on the scale. The strong flavors of the toppings, however, overwhelmed whatever taste was coming from the fish. It seems that I might as well have gotten the mushroom taco or anything else that would have been appropriate for a Lenten Friday meal and still have about the same flavor experience. I know Taconeta is lauded for its innovative and gourmet level food, but to me it appeared as the kind of cooking that would not earn an apron on Gordon Ramsey’s program. Still I would give it five stars because the fish was good.

Más

Aztec salad

The “Más” section section of the menu includes items that might be considered to be appetizers including the Aztec salad,” made with quinoa, black beans, poblanos, grilled corn, tomato, onion, and avocado” (What? No Aztec broccoli?). In this case I wished the toppings had overwhelmed the base because I think quinoa must be an acquired taste. The dish had a medium spiciness. Overall the dish was pretty good and I could tell it was healthy.

Drinks

Horchata

Taconeta is probably noted for its drinks as much or more than the food. With 23 refrescos, 30 beers, 63 cocktails and spirits, and 15 wines the acclaim is probably understandable for a taco restaurant. I was thinking, though, that acclaim is given to restaurants with notable recipes or a very high standard of quality rather than the number of items that they put on the menu. I did not find any of that with the Horchata, a drink that tasted as if it came from a mix. Restaurants around town make fresh horchata in a large jar with small pieces of cinnamon floating around in a bath of rice, water, and sugar with every purveyor’s touch of secret ingredients to make sure theirs is better than the others. I told Gil that this was not real horchata, or at least it did not taste that way. He looked at me with an expression that seemed to say “Ese…. I know. We have horchata in Albuquerque too…. We ain’t no campesinos.” (At least this looked like what he was thinking).

My thought was that getting a James Beard Award nomination for the food might be plausible, but my experience with the drinks (the category for their nomination) was in another world beside the one of national recognition.

Dessert

Tres leches

The Tres Leches dessert was very good, and was one of several I have tried recently. This one was particularly spongy (which I think is a good thing–at least to me it was).

An Overview
This was a good restaurant that is experimenting with making Mexican food that is a little different from the standard things made in almost every restaurant in the city (it seems). I enjoyed my meal and it was not overly expensive for this type of food. It just wasn’t to the point that I thought I just have to come back.

One reason for my indifference is that I did not enjoy the noise level of the restaurant. In fact I think it may be incorrect to call it a restaurant, and people should think of it as a noisy bar (although one with good tacos).

RATING: 24

Mexican Food Details

Chile Index:
Cooking Oil:	N/A

 

Special Ratings

	Baja Fish Tacos
	Aztec Salad
	Horchata
	Tres Leches