First Review - Tacos y Mas!
I like Nachos. I do. I really really really do. Notice how I capitalize the word Nachos like they are some kind sort of forgotten but tasty god? Since Nacho can be short for the Hispanic name Ignacio, I technically could be saying “I like Ignacios” but this is not the case. I don’t even know who Ignacio is, much less multiple Ignacios, or why he/they taunt me with his/their delicious name, but I digress. This will be my first review in a series of food reviews all revolving around my one true love, Nachos (the food). You see, as much as it would make me happy to marry some Nachos and procreate with them, thus creating hundreds of delicious offspring, it is illegal in all 50 states of the US of A as well as most of its territories, except maybe Guam. The only thing I know of to ever come out of Guam is Ann Curry, which is not enticing enough for me to make a trip there. I guess I will have to keep my relationship with Nachos purely platonic. Sigh.
Ann Curry
My first victim lucky establishment to review was Tacos Y Mas! No, I’m not excited because I’m writing a review on this place, the “!” is actually part of their name. By doing this, a fun/delicious atmosphere is being portrayed that may or may not be there, thus creating high expectations that they might not provide. Sure you have the tacos, but can you truly 103% guarantee that you have and can provide the “Mas!”? How about omitting the unnecessary punctuation and let us, the customers and our taste buds, make up our mind on whether you do or don’t bring the “!” to our table.
There’s not much to this place really, it’s just part of the food court near my work. Just like every other food court on this planet, it’s basically composed of one of every type of restaurant so each is without competition for their type of food. Hence, sometimes it is referred to as “the Mexican place,” which happens to sit between “the Japanese place” and “the (greasy) Chinese place.” It’s located somewhere around Carson and Compton, California. It’s so new I can’t even find it on a map, so I just marked it on Google Maps to put a stop everyone’s undying curiosity.
The N stands for Nachos.
The restaurant offers multiple items, but really one I really care for is the Nachos. Upon looking at the menu I realize there are two types of Nachos.
In case it’s hard to distinguish in my blurry camera phone picture the Nachos on the right, simply referred to as Nachos, are composed of the bare minimums: Chips, pico de gallo, Velveeta cheese and jalapeños. While the picture on the left, the Nacho Macho, has everything Nachos has, but in addition there is guacamole, sour cream, refried beans, and your choice of carne asada or chicken. Nacho Macho could be referred to as Nachos’ hot older cheerleader sister, while Nachos seems like the younger dorky sister with the lazy eye. Naturally I chose the Nacho Macho (sorry Nachos, you’ll eventually grow some beans).
It seems I had showed up right at the golden hour where everybody in the surrounding 10 miles had decided to take a lunch. As I waited for my order I decided to take a look at the salsa bar. Salsa bars are a pretty important part of your Nacho eating experience, at least for me. They can add deliciousness to your Nachos that are already delicious (mmm deliciousnessness), or make them at least edible if they are bland.
The salsa bar can make or break your Nachos
This particular salsa bar some had very good aspects. It offered some good varieties of salsas, condiments and garnishes. The main draw to me however, and one that is hard to find, is the fact that it had guacamole. Not just any guacamole, but the good chunky tasty guacamole that totally outshines that green liquid gunk a lot of places tend to offer (I’m looking at you El Pollo Loco). In most places guacamole is a commodity, and sometimes it costs more just to add an extra scoop. I for one believe this is ridiculous, as guacamole is to Nachos as Nachos are to me (oxygen). Said Nachos cannot sustain life without the right amount of guacamole, and will eventually suffer a form of hypoxia before inevitably dying a slow and uncomfortable death. Sad. Luckily, this is not the case and one can slather as much guacamole as legally possible, hopefully not enough to drown the Nachos like a neglected child at a public pool (the kind everyone pees in). Yay, my Nacho Macho is(are?) here!
Every restaurant tends to offer side dishes along with their main meals, these are usually called combos. McDonalds has French fries, KFC has mashed potatoes, and Tacos y Mas! has chips. Yes, chips. What better side to compliment your meal than the main component of what you’re already eating.
Yes, side chips
On this occasion I decided to order the Nachos topped with carne asada, and there was plenty of it. Some places tend to overload the Nachos with everything but what you pay more for, so it was a nice change to see plenty of meat. The carne asada was cooked medium and the taste was generic, which is to be expected and not necessarily a bad thing as it did get the job done. The beans served were refried and there was an abundance of these as well. There was just the right amount of Velveeta cheese and shredded American cheese. What I mean by this is that it was not too much that it would cover all the Nachos, therefore making the chips soggy quickly, but enough to keep all the chips and your taste buds satisfied (cheesyfied?) and able to taste and enjoy the other ingredients as well. There were about two tablespoons of sour cream dabbed on the side of the plate, which is kind of nice because you won’t get it all lumped up in the middle on top of the other ingredients whether you want it or not.
So I know I’m making these Nachos sound pretty generic, and they are, but this serves as a perfect segue way into a point I was trying to make earlier, the salsa bar. There was a chile de arbol and a green chile salsa. Neither of these did too much to help the Nachos, but they are there for those who like an extra kick. The pico de gallo was your typical serving of tomato, lime and green chiles, but about 10 times the servings of onion (bring breath mints). This is actually perfectly fine with me, as I for one love the delicious raw taste the white nectar brings, although it might not be everybody’s cup of yumminess. If you are brave enough to put up with the onions, you will be rewarded with a tasty compliment to the Nachos.
Now, remember that delicious green gold I raved about earlier? Ah yes, the guacamole. Guacamole comes in all different shapes and flavors, depending on the ingredients. Adding the right combination and amount of ingredients is essential for a good guacamole eating experience. As easy as it might seem, not everyone can pull off good guacamole. The sample at hand was composed of avocado, cilantro, lime, salt and a little bit mayo. The avocado and cilantro are common enough, but not everybody is aware of the awesomeness that is lime. The lime not only gives it great flavoring and makes the blend just a tad bit juicy (unless you go overboard), but it also prevents the avocado from turning brown. Although the taste is not totally lost when the avocado turns brown (it usually happens in a short period of time), covering your Nachos with a brown mushy blob makes them not seem as appetizing. The taste of the guacamole was savory and I definitely kept going back for more. Lucky for me I could get as much as I wanted without having to worry about getting kicked out of the kitchen for trying to help myself to more (damn you Baja Fresh).
Finally, one of the most important factors when it comes to the making Nachos is the topping to chip ratio. The topping to chip ratio for these Nachos is 1/3 chip. Confused? See below.
Basically, it’s the average part of the chip you can put toppings on throughout the meal without ending up with dry chips at the end. This might not seem as important when you’re by yourself, but it is when you’re sharing said Nachos as an appetizer with other people. Let’s say you, Chayanne and Lareina decide to all chip in for some Nachos (That pun was totally not intended, I am not that smart[I know everyone says that, but I mean it{really}]). You and Chayanne are pretty conscientious about the amount of toppings you can put on each chip so everybody gets the same amount, but Lareina over there was never taught topping to chip ratio courtesy. As you and Chayanne make sure each one of your chips has about a 1/3 chip ratio full of toppings, Lareina packs about a 3/4 chip ratio on hers, filling you with unfathomable rage. You get ready to go Chris Brown on her, but decide not to as if it wasn’t for her you would have died in that helicopter accident. You let this go on and before you know it there are about 20 dry chips left on the plate but with little to no toppings to put on them. It almost makes you wish you died in that helicopter accident, but instead you settle down by crying one of those sad Native American Indian tears.
:’(
Overall, the Nachos alone were average enough to be edible, but thanks to the salsa bar they were quite enjoyable. The amount of toppings was enough to keep everyone in a group happy, but most importantly, it kept ME happy. I would recommend them to anyone visiting Compton for an exotic weekend getaway. Check out the aftermath below. My coworker for one couldn’t help himself to my delicious side chips.
They never stood a chance
- iwst99
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