We had dinner at Taco Taco on Sunday, March 6, 2010. My wife had a restaurant.com gift certificate for $10 off a $25 order and we needed to plug a hole in our meal schedule so we wouldn’t have to shop for food on a rainy day. We looked at the menu on restaurant.com that had many interesting things listed. There were separate sections for breakfast, burritos, specialties, plates, tacos, juices, tortas, sandwiches, etc. The sandwich section only seemed to list American foods but the rest of the menu included many different kinds of Mexican foods including pechuga in the plates section. The listed prices were fairly low and it took some work to get the total bill to over $25. To do so we planned an order of four entrees: one for each of us on Saturday for dinner and for Sunday lunch. But that still didn’t total $25. We had to add two drink orders and four orders of papitas at 99 cents each. We figured we could adjust our order if the prices were actually higher than those given online.
We left home soon after 6 pm, drove north on Citrus Ave. and turned left on Foothill Blvd. After passing the former drive-in movie theater that’s now an APU parking lot, the Azusa Civic Center, and St. Frances of Rome Church, we crossed Pasadena Avenue. Just passed a Seven Eleven on the northwest corner was a small parking lot to our right with a sign for Taco Taco. The stripmall-like building consisted of two businesses: a juice bar on the left and Taco Taco on the right. Later we would find that they were connected. It had rained off and on all day and happened to be just barely sprinkling when we arrived at the parking lot. The restaurant itself is more of an eatery where customers order at the counter from a large menu high on the back wall. They only had one plastic hand menu. We noticed that the prices were $1-$2 higher than the ones on the restaurant.com menu.
The restaurant itself is medium-sized with many two-person tables. I seem to remember the wall colors of white and light green. There were prints or possibly paintings of harvest food on the walls and a TV mounted in one corner that was turned off at the time. All the tables were empty but we saw some customers show up to get take-out orders made in advance. With the revised higher prices we recalculated our order and found that we didn’t need to order the papitas so we never found out what they were. I thought I needed to order another bottle of Sidral Mundet to get the order to just over $25. But when they calculated my tab it came out to $32 ($22 with the restaurant.com coupon). I must have miscalculated somewhere. Right before I sat down the cashier/server gave me my two bottles of Sidral Mundet, one opened and one sealed. They had many different kinds of Jarritos soda in glass bottles.
We sat down and the first thing they brought was a small basket of chips. The server said we could get salsa at the salsa bar and that the light green salsa was the spiciest. I got some of the regular green salsa and the red salsa. The chips seemed like regular store-bought chips and not made in-house. The server then brought my wife’s drink order: an extra-large naranja-zanahoria (orange-carrot) juice and it was very large, looking like over a liter of juice. I’m guessing it was made in the adjoining juice bar section of the building. Before it was brought over we could hear what sounded like a blender running. We shared the juice and it was good, very refreshing. They then brought the entrees that I said we would eat in the restaurant: my wife’s pambazo and my Pollo con Mole burrito. Both looked impressive but my burrito had little white flecks sprinkled in the mole sauce that smelled like cheese. Now I had asked what was in the burrito and the cashier said, “chicken, mole sauce, rice, and beans.” I told her to hold the beans and I then asked if the burrito came with cheese or sour cream. She said, “no”. I had to send the burrito back.
My wife enjoyed her pambazo. It was a sandwich of flatbread filled with melted cheese, chorizo, and potato. They soon brought a new burrito without the white flecks. It was very good with lots of spicy brown mole sauce that had a slight chocolate taste. The flour tortilla casing of the burrito had just enough integrity and give. Inside the chicken was fully cooked but still juicy and delicious especially when dipped in the ample excess mole sauce. The burrito also contained Mexican rice with traces of tomato. Both our orders were a lot of food. As we ate, it started raining hard outside.
They were nice enough to make our to-go orders later so that they would be ready and packed by the time we finished dinner. We picked them up and made our way home in the rain. The next day, Sunday, March 7, 2010, we had our to-go orders for lunch. My wife heated her order up in the microwave and I put mine in the oven for a few minutes. I didn’t want to heat it up too much since it was made with lettuce. My wife’s Torta Ahogada looked very impressive: long as a submarine sandwich, full of carnitas, and drowned (i.e. ahogada) in a spice brown sauce (though not mole). It had some raw onions on the side that cooked slightly in the microwave. She enjoyed it down to the last bite. I also enjoyed my Pierna Torta that was shorter and stouter than the Ahogada. The bread was slightly flat and had just enough integrity to keep it together. Within it were lettuce, tomato, avocado, and smoky pork meat that was fully cooked with some juicy and some crunchy, all very good.
Taco Taco was another successful hometown restaurant find. We’ve now tried at least five good eateries in Azusa including Tulipano, El Gallo Pinto, Jake’s Hot Dogs and Sausage (since closed unfortunately), Dino’s Chicken and Burgers, and Country BBQ Chicken and Ribs. And these don’t include the surrounding areas. Taco Taco’s large menu gives us many reasons to return. Maybe we could try their pechuga or their namesake tacos. We also still don’t know what papitas are.
We left home soon after 6 pm, drove north on Citrus Ave. and turned left on Foothill Blvd. After passing the former drive-in movie theater that’s now an APU parking lot, the Azusa Civic Center, and St. Frances of Rome Church, we crossed Pasadena Avenue. Just passed a Seven Eleven on the northwest corner was a small parking lot to our right with a sign for Taco Taco. The stripmall-like building consisted of two businesses: a juice bar on the left and Taco Taco on the right. Later we would find that they were connected. It had rained off and on all day and happened to be just barely sprinkling when we arrived at the parking lot. The restaurant itself is more of an eatery where customers order at the counter from a large menu high on the back wall. They only had one plastic hand menu. We noticed that the prices were $1-$2 higher than the ones on the restaurant.com menu.
The restaurant itself is medium-sized with many two-person tables. I seem to remember the wall colors of white and light green. There were prints or possibly paintings of harvest food on the walls and a TV mounted in one corner that was turned off at the time. All the tables were empty but we saw some customers show up to get take-out orders made in advance. With the revised higher prices we recalculated our order and found that we didn’t need to order the papitas so we never found out what they were. I thought I needed to order another bottle of Sidral Mundet to get the order to just over $25. But when they calculated my tab it came out to $32 ($22 with the restaurant.com coupon). I must have miscalculated somewhere. Right before I sat down the cashier/server gave me my two bottles of Sidral Mundet, one opened and one sealed. They had many different kinds of Jarritos soda in glass bottles.
We sat down and the first thing they brought was a small basket of chips. The server said we could get salsa at the salsa bar and that the light green salsa was the spiciest. I got some of the regular green salsa and the red salsa. The chips seemed like regular store-bought chips and not made in-house. The server then brought my wife’s drink order: an extra-large naranja-zanahoria (orange-carrot) juice and it was very large, looking like over a liter of juice. I’m guessing it was made in the adjoining juice bar section of the building. Before it was brought over we could hear what sounded like a blender running. We shared the juice and it was good, very refreshing. They then brought the entrees that I said we would eat in the restaurant: my wife’s pambazo and my Pollo con Mole burrito. Both looked impressive but my burrito had little white flecks sprinkled in the mole sauce that smelled like cheese. Now I had asked what was in the burrito and the cashier said, “chicken, mole sauce, rice, and beans.” I told her to hold the beans and I then asked if the burrito came with cheese or sour cream. She said, “no”. I had to send the burrito back.
My wife enjoyed her pambazo. It was a sandwich of flatbread filled with melted cheese, chorizo, and potato. They soon brought a new burrito without the white flecks. It was very good with lots of spicy brown mole sauce that had a slight chocolate taste. The flour tortilla casing of the burrito had just enough integrity and give. Inside the chicken was fully cooked but still juicy and delicious especially when dipped in the ample excess mole sauce. The burrito also contained Mexican rice with traces of tomato. Both our orders were a lot of food. As we ate, it started raining hard outside.
They were nice enough to make our to-go orders later so that they would be ready and packed by the time we finished dinner. We picked them up and made our way home in the rain. The next day, Sunday, March 7, 2010, we had our to-go orders for lunch. My wife heated her order up in the microwave and I put mine in the oven for a few minutes. I didn’t want to heat it up too much since it was made with lettuce. My wife’s Torta Ahogada looked very impressive: long as a submarine sandwich, full of carnitas, and drowned (i.e. ahogada) in a spice brown sauce (though not mole). It had some raw onions on the side that cooked slightly in the microwave. She enjoyed it down to the last bite. I also enjoyed my Pierna Torta that was shorter and stouter than the Ahogada. The bread was slightly flat and had just enough integrity to keep it together. Within it were lettuce, tomato, avocado, and smoky pork meat that was fully cooked with some juicy and some crunchy, all very good.
Taco Taco was another successful hometown restaurant find. We’ve now tried at least five good eateries in Azusa including Tulipano, El Gallo Pinto, Jake’s Hot Dogs and Sausage (since closed unfortunately), Dino’s Chicken and Burgers, and Country BBQ Chicken and Ribs. And these don’t include the surrounding areas. Taco Taco’s large menu gives us many reasons to return. Maybe we could try their pechuga or their namesake tacos. We also still don’t know what papitas are.
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