Kansas City - Central Avenue Taco Crawl

[maftoul]

There is a place just east of Prospect on Independence, maybe at Chestnut Trafficway? called Sabor Central Americano. Very good pupusas. And it's very close to my favorite Vietnamese place, Pho 97.

Back to Tacos, my sister and I recently ate at El Taco Nazo at 4th and Kansas Ave. It was very good! I had barbacoa huaraches and my sister had chicken sopes. Both were great, but the chicken on the sopes was some of the best I've had. Just really good food and service.

[ulterior epicure]

El Taconazo- 624 Kansas Avenue

This was where we decided to meet up.  We were both familiar with Roberto’s and planned to meet there, but alas it is no more. We couldn’t tell if El Taconazo occupied the space or if Roberto’s used to be further down the street. Besides having the coolest name, it also turned out to be our favorite all-around catch of the day.  They provide table service and have what may be the largest menu I’ve ever seen in a Mexican restaurant.  Everything from tacos to tortas to whole fried Tilapia.  Since we were planning to hit several places, we kept things simple.  At least that was the plan.  We got a selection of tacos; pastor, carne asada and the simply titled “cabeza” ($1.50 each if I recall correctly, all served on two small corn tortillas with cilantro and onion).  I also opted for the lengua burrito.  Five stars all around.  I’ll let chile boy speak about the chips and salsa, but they were pretty damn great.  The tacos were all top notch, but the lengua burrito was stupendous.  Packed with slow cooked and seasoned, chopped beef tongue along with a small amount of lettuce, tomato and white cheese.  For $3.95  I wasn’t expecting something that huge, so needless to say it put me off my game a bit for the next three stops.  I will absolutely be back to investigate more of the menu choices.  In my humble opinion, it is a contender for "Best of KC".

Hello? Kansas City eGullters! Has the warmer weather caught us - asleep? Silence is deafening.

So, I've become aware that Taco Nazo has some offerings of interest to me.

For starters, the lengua burrito Zeemanb mentions sounds wonderful. By chance, do they offer lengua in other dishes/forms? Tacos?

u.e.

Edited June 1, 2007 by ulterior epicure (log)

[chileheadmike]

El Taconazo- 624 Kansas Avenue

This was where we decided to meet up.  We were both familiar with Roberto’s and planned to meet there, but alas it is no more. We couldn’t tell if El Taconazo occupied the space or if Roberto’s used to be further down the street. Besides having the coolest name, it also turned out to be our favorite all-around catch of the day.  They provide table service and have what may be the largest menu I’ve ever seen in a Mexican restaurant.  Everything from tacos to tortas to whole fried Tilapia.  Since we were planning to hit several places, we kept things simple.  At least that was the plan.  We got a selection of tacos; pastor, carne asada and the simply titled “cabeza” ($1.50 each if I recall correctly, all served on two small corn tortillas with cilantro and onion).  I also opted for the lengua burrito.  Five stars all around.  I’ll let chile boy speak about the chips and salsa, but they were pretty damn great.  The tacos were all top notch, but the lengua burrito was stupendous.  Packed with slow cooked and seasoned, chopped beef tongue along with a small amount of lettuce, tomato and white cheese.  For $3.95  I wasn’t expecting something that huge, so needless to say it put me off my game a bit for the next three stops.  I will absolutely be back to investigate more of the menu choices.  In my humble opinion, it is a contender for "Best of KC".

Hello? Kansas City eGullters! Has the warmer weather caught us - asleep? Silence is deafening.

So, I've become aware that Taco Nazo has some offerings of interest to me.

For starters, the lengua burrito Zeemanb mentions sounds wonderful. By chance, do they offer lengua in other dishes/forms? Tacos?

u.e.

←

I think you can get it in a variety of forms, including tacos. They also have cabeza and cesos. Hopefully, I'm spelling everything correctly.

[ulterior epicure]

They also have cabeza and cesos. Hopefully, I'm spelling everything correctly.

These are the other two offerings that had gotten my interest.

[chileheadmike]

They also have cabeza and cesos. Hopefully, I'm spelling everything correctly.

These are the other two offerings that had gotten my interest.

←

Somehow, I knew. Now if they only had stinky gorgonzola

[ulterior epicure]

Somehow, I knew. Now if they only had stinky gorgonzola 

Oh, I'll just slap on some right good funky menudo on there.

Anyone know of a good Mexican place that servers riñón (kidney)? If you say Taco Nazo, then it doesn't seem like I need to eat anywhere else! Brains, head meat, tongue, and kidneys, weeeee!

[Zeemanb]

Can't think of anyplace that serves kidneys, but speaking of cabeza....... I did have a great cabeza burrito at Tienda Casa Paloma the other night. When I saw they had added big burritos to their menu I was a bit dismayed. It seemed like they were selling out to the Joco Chipotle crowd, but I do realize they have some hefty competition for the food dollar out that way. HOWEVER, after having one of their monster burritos I backed off my previous assumption. Sure, they are huge burritos, but any comparison with Chipotle or Baja Fresh stops there. The rice and beans are just far superior, as is the tortilla itself. Plus, throw in some of that fatty, sticky, gelatinous CABEZA meat and it's about as far away from chain eatin' as you can get. Very tasty.

[ulterior epicure]

Finally made it to El Taconazo this past week!

I ordered their 5 taco plate. The choices were quite staggering - at least twelve different meat fillings. I ordered the cabeza, lengua, tripa, and buche (which we thought were jowl meat, but later after some due diligence, I discovered it was pork stomach). They were out of cesos.

My friend ordered the gorditos (2) - the chicherones and the chorizo con patates.

You can see the pictures here on my flickr.

[chileheadmike]

Ok, I'm bringing this back from page 7.

I took my daughters to Mariscos Veracruz on Sunday. Its on Kansas Ave in Olathe, about a block South of the JoCo Adult Detention Center (We all know where that is, right?) We were in search of a place to eat after church. We drove past a lot of the Olathe chains that had people hanging out the doors. It was actually Brianne's suggestion that we go here to see if they were even open at 10:30 on a Sunday morning.

The window advertises breakfast, but we didn't see anything on the menu that looked like breakfast. Maybe they have a separate menu. The menu is heavy on the seafood, with fish and shrimp tacos, ceviche tostadas, fried fish, and a caldo featuring shrimp and octopus.

Server was very friendly and brought us chips with 2 salsas, an average tomato version that both girls liked, and a spicier tomatillo salsa which was excellent. Drink selections include Mexican Coca Cola and Inca Kola plus all the usual stuff.

Meghan, my 7 YO wanted chicken nuggets and fries. (The only "American" choice on the menu) She liked it. Brianne had chicken tacos, each taco is two grilled soft corn tortillas, topped with shredded white and dark meat, lettuce, tomato, and cheese. I ordered tacos de cabeza. Our waiter asked me if I knew what it was and if I was sure. I said yes to both, he said he liked the lengue better but that the cabeza was good. A few minutes later we heard the sound of cleaver hitting wood. I told the girls, "Those are my tacos" which got an immediate "Eeewww". My tacos were the same two tortillas, topped with chopped cabeza, diced onion and cilantro. Lime wedges on the side. The meat was slightly fatty and had plenty of gelatin.

I can't recommend them highly enough. I'm definately going to check out the seafood, the tortas, and the caldos.

[ulterior epicure]

Were the chopped up pieces of cabeza soft or crispy?

[chileheadmike]

Were the chopped up pieces of cabeza soft or crispy?

←

They were soft, a few crispy bits. But mostly soft.

[ulterior epicure]

Were the chopped up pieces of cabeza soft or crispy?

←

They were soft, a few crispy bits. But mostly soft.

←

Thank goodness. I really hate it when they fry the heck out of brains. It just defeats the whole textural goodness of the product.

Edited November 6, 2007 by ulterior epicure (log)

[chileheadmike]

Were the chopped up pieces of cabeza soft or crispy?

←

They were soft, a few crispy bits. But mostly soft.

←

Thank goodness. I really hate it when they fry the heck out of brains. It just defeats the whole textural goodness of the product.

←

Its head UE, cesos is brains. This was definately not brains. In fact, I did't see them on the menu.

[ulterior epicure]

Were the chopped up pieces of cabeza soft or crispy?

←

They were soft, a few crispy bits. But mostly soft.

←

Thank goodness. I really hate it when they fry the heck out of brains. It just defeats the whole textural goodness of the product.

←

Its head UE, cesos is brains. This was definately not brains. In fact, I did't see them on the menu.

←

Sorry, mis-typed. Right, head.

Actually, I don't like it when they fry the heck out of any offal, head, or otherwise - like tripe. Tripe gets jerky-like in the deep fryer.

Thanks again for the report!

[kendix]

Which of these KCK places has the best combination of atmosphere and food? I'm looking to branch out from the Boulevard in terms of quality of food but also to sit around and have a couple margaritas.