The Best Tacos on a Budget

When we were planning our latest foodie adventure, we sought help from local Taco Enthusiast, @TacoTrail and asked him where he thought we could get our “biggest bang for our buck” taco deal. He led us to La Nueva Fresh and Hot Tortilleria located off Webb Chapel and NW Hwy in Dallas. While traveling to our destination, we realized we were in an area pretty unfamiliar to us. There is a plethora of local taco shops and tamale stands so we were eager to find out what La Nueva did that separated them from the pack.

La Nueva Fresh and Hot is located in a tiny strip next to a Metro PCS and a beer and wine store. It has no A/C or seating for patrons. As you walk in, smell fits the name:  fresh and hot. It feels almost as though your friend invited you for dinner at his abuela’s house.  We went to the counter and placed our order. I ordered two types of guisado tacos, the guisado rojo and guisado verde. This was my first guisado experience. For those who are unfamiliar, guisado means stew. Sara ordered the guisado verde taco and a barbacoa taco. My order totaled $6.50 for two tacos, chips, salsa, and a bottle of water.  We took our meal to the nearby Bachman lake area, so we could sit down and enjoy.

 Sara started with the barbacoa taco and enjoyed it. The tortillas are spectacular, and you can tell are made fresh all day long. They are fluffy for a corn tortilla, and do not fall apart on you. Sara enjoyed her taco and noted that she could taste how everything was made with really quality, fresh ingredients.  We also enjoyed the chips and salsa; the chips are out of this world.  

I started with the guisado rojo taco that was made with pork, cactus strips, and a red based sauce. It was clear that this meat had been marinating for awhile. It was tender, flavorful, and really delicious. The spice level of this taco was nice, but nowhere near a level of the taco that followed. The rojo was definitely my favorite of the two tacos I had.

Sara and I both ordered a guisado verde taco, a pork taco with tomatillo sauce. It was love at first bite. It was delicious, flavorful, and spicy. Then the fifth and sixth bites came, and the love was a little overshadowed by the spice. It was one of those meals where halfway through your mouth is on fire, but you want to keep eating because the flavors are so great. We both finished the taco and enjoyed it after eating some chips to cut the spice. Even though we both admitted it was spicy, we agreed that it was the kind of spice that was pleasant. It did not detract from the flavor of the taco and with chips and water, it wasn’t too much to handle.

Sara and I quickly headed back to our cars to escape the 100 degree weather we had just downed spicy tacos in. I texted Sara about 10 minutes later and said, “now that I have cooled off, I can really appreciate how delicious that just was.” That text message, my friends, really sums up how great our guisado taco experience was. Thanks @TacoTrail for the great recommendation, we will definitely be going back!

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Company Cafe - The Jury's Still Out!

We’ve wanted to check out Company Café for months, especially since I (Sara) had to give up gluten. We decided to swing over for brunch on Sunday because A: brunch is by far the best meal, and B: I have been craving pancakes for the longest time. We went to the Greenville location because we had heard a few comments about the Katy Trail location and wanted to go the tried and true route for the full experience.  Our brunch consisted of some hits and some misses – I’ll go in descending order of cravability.

We started off with a French press for the table which was fun and then ordered the loaded sweet potato fries to share. We got a half order so we would still have room for our own meals and it was the perfect portion for 2. The sweet potato fries came with cheddar, bacon, green onion, FRESH jalapeños and a side of ketchup. If you love jalapeños and spicy food, you’re in luck! These peppers were super spicy – I literally ate one slice and that was enough for me. The loaded fries were really delicious and are definitely worth coming back for.

Haley ordered the Urban Hippie Scramble for her meal which consisted of three cage-free eggs scrambled with sautéed grass-fed beef, onion, squash and tomato topped with goat cheese served with organic salsa, and gluten-free toast. Haley decided to go for the gluten-free toast so that we could do a full-on GF review. The scramble was ok – nothing really to write home about. To be honest, she was really in it for the goat cheese…but then again who doesn’t love goat cheese? The gluten-free toast was really good, however. It was a thick slice and had a great taste and texture. We couldn’t really even tell it was GF, which is a huge compliment!

I ordered the gluten-free pancakes which comes with butter and maple syrup. Like I mentioned, I was super pumped for pancakes since I literally haven't had them for almost a year. They looked yummy but had a really strange texture and taste. Actually, “gross” was a word that was thrown out to describe them. Trying to be optimistic and really wanting to indulge in pancakes no matter what, I kept taking bites hoping they would grow on me. They didn’t. I got through half of one pancake and had to give up. Luckily, the loaded fries filled me up enough.

Both the service and the brunch experience were ok. All that said, though, numerous waiters kept walking by with plates of food that looked so much more delicious than what we had ordered. We are convinced that there must be better items on the menu and we have to give it another go! Maybe we will even branch out and go to Katy Trail…

http://companycafe.net/