Taqueria Los Comales
3920 N. High School Road
Indianapolis, IN 46254
http://www.loscomales.com

Seventeen locations and this is the only one in Indianapolis.  The remainder of the Los Comales chain is in Chicago.   I was on the west side of Indy and if you have any sense about you, you are going for tacos!  There are about 5 great taquerias within the same amount of miles.

Los Comales is in an old Pizza Hut.  I walked in right at 11:00 sharp.  Good smells and really loud polka Mexican at 120 decibels.   Good start so far.  I was quickly greeted and the service was friendly.  Chips and salsa came, but the salsa is served warm.  I was taken off guard, but it was more of a ratatouille of chilies that salsa.  Either way, it was tasty, but pretty spicy and I have a good heat tolerance.

Along with the chips and salsa, they give you a bowl of Escabeche.  Nice touch really as you rarely see it served with chips and salsa around the area.  In fact, my last time I had it was in Mexico.  Those of you that are not familiar with it, Escabeche is a mix of pickled cauliflower, carrots, onion, garlic and a pickled jalapeño was in there.  If you are looking to make your own, this recipe looked pretty close to the real deal.

Tacos were $1.45 each.  I had 4.
Pastor – Pork & onions
Chorizo – Pork sausage
Suadero – Flank Steak
Cecina – Dried Beef

These are the small tacos that you commonly see at taco carts.  The Pastor was good, but I enjoyed it more at the Burrito Joint.  Chorizo was the best out of the 4, preparation was spot on (it should be soft), but a little greasy.   Suadero was flavorful, but pretty fatty.  Cecina was one thin strip of beef, I found it to be chewy and bland.

Would I Buy It Again:  No. It wasn’t bad and it was a fun experience, but IMO, there are better in the area and a few that I have yet to try.  Still, if you are looking for an authentic Taqueria experience, you can easily do worse that Los Comales.

-WIBIA

I found this post via IndyScan.com, but this is absolutely awesome and gave me a good chuckle.  I don’t know what compelled this site to make this post, but it is such an obvious topic, yet hardly anyone ever posts about it.

Regardless, I agree with most of the choices.  The only one that I really disagree with and can’t understand is noodles.  I can tell you that I’ve NEVER had any sort of craving for noodles late at night.  I’ve never had waffles as a late night snack either, but I can at least see why some people might crave them.  Noodles just totally confuse me though.

The Top Ten Most Delicious Foods to Eat When You’re Drunk

-IndianapolisEater

Black Jack Taco

You’ve probably seen the awful, yet oddly amusing commercials and maybe even read reviews from a couple other blogs, but Taco Bell has recently introduced another new menu item (as they seem to do about every few weeks) and this one is called the Black Jack taco and it’s currently available for 89¢.

They describe this as “A crunchy black taco shell filled with seasoned beef, zesty pepper jack sauce, shredded lettuce and a blend of three cheeses – cheddar, pepper jack and mozzarella.”  With that mix of new ingredients on top of their basic crunchy taco, you’d think that this would be pretty interesting and could have the chance to be pretty tasty.  Sadly, if that’s what you thought, you’d be wrong because this one was just boring.  I’ve shared my thoughts on the pepper jack sauce before, but other than that, this tasted like a regular taco to me.  The three different kinds of cheeses were indecipherable and the black taco shell was cosmetic in appearance only because it did nothing other than change the way the taco looked.

Would I Buy It Again?  No, I would not.  I’ll just stick with my regular crunchy taco ordered Fresco style.  The prices are the same for both the Black Jack and the regular crunchy taco, but nothing about this one excites me or my taste buds.  There’s no reason for me to leave an old standby.

But, if you’d like to try one despite my review (and for free), you should know that Taco Bell is offering a free Black Jack taco to anyone that visits one of their locations on this upcoming Halloween evening starting at 6:00 p.m. and running until midnight.  So, if you are a fan of free food like I am or just want to get your own opinion on this taco, give it a shot!

-IndianapolisEater

Chili’s
http://www.chilis.com/

I have been lucky enough to travel a good part of the US and eat at some very cool places, but at times I have a relapse.  Looking at chain casual restaurants, Chili’s is my favorite over Applebee’s, TGI Friday’s, Ruby Tuesday, Max & Erma’s and O’Charley’s.

Most of this is due to the southwest flavors on the menu.  I know…I am reaching by calling this southwest food!  However, if you read the blog you know that I have a strong preference for Mexican and even Tex-Mex food.

What I Got:  Crispy Chicken Crisper Tacos  $9.00

Ingredients:  Three extra crispy chicken breast tacos with bacon, pico, cheese, lettuce and honey chipotle ranch dressing.

Eating this dish was a nice reminder that at times, less is more.  With fried chicken, cheese, bacon and ranch, there are too many “fats” in these tacos.   Cheese was a non-factor and I didn’t taste it at all.  I wasn’t offended by the taste of the tacos, but with all the fun ingredients, I thought they would be better.

Would I Buy It Again?  No to these tacos.  I am not going to stomp my feet if some co-workers want to go to Chili’s, but I am probably not going to be the one to recommend it.  I am going to stick to my standard of the Cajun Chicken Sandwich, which is actually pretty good.

I have to say though, I think that Chili’s Ranch Dressing is one of the better ones out there.  I’ve thought about doing lines of it.

Oh yeah, if I am going to get tacos, you just can’t beat these from Taqueria Guanajuato…the best taco in Indy.

-WIBIA

Crispy Potato Soft Taco

It’s no secret that we love Taco Bell around here and make frequent trips there.  When I go, I usually order off of the greatest value menu ever and this is another fairly recent addition.

What I Got:  Crispy Potato Soft Taco 79¢

Taco Bell describes this as “A soft flour tortilla filled with crispy potato bites, Pepper Jack sauce, crisp shredded lettuce and real cheddar cheese.”  What they don’t tell you is that there is nothing crispy about the potato bites at all.  In mine, they were soggy and mushy and it made this item very, very bland and boring.  The Pepper Jack sauce was tasty, but the potato bites ruined it for me.  I will give them credit though because they really did manage to pack a lot of stuff into this small tortilla shell.

Would I Buy It Again?  No, I would not.  I understand that it is cheap and you get what you pay for, but there is so much better stuff available on the value menu that I would order before I ever ordered this again.

-IndianapolisEater

Check it out!   It has been a while since I have been to a Don Pablo’s, but all you can eat tacos for $6.99?!?!   I might have to give this a try (Tuesday nights only).

-WIBIA

Taqueria Guanajuato
Inside of Carniceria Guanajuatoin grocery store.
3110 N. Shadeland Ave
Indianapolis, IN 46226

Not to spoil my review, but this is about my sixth time visiting this place.  I live about 12 miles away and there is nothing close to it that I visit.  But when I am on the Eastside, I have to stop.

I love Mexican grocery stores by themselves and then add a Taqueria?!  Get out…great idea.  It’s like having a burger place attached to a butcher.

Before I start the review, I have to tell you that I know very little Spanish and my first two times here, the lady at the Taqueria didn’t speak English.  I ordered a Diet Coke, but got an orange soda.  My third time going, I fumbled through ordering in Spanish and when I was done she said “I know English” about as clear as if she just came off the Mayflower.  I felt like an asshole.

What I Ate: 2 Chorizo Tacos $1.75 each, 1 Chicken Taco $1.75 each and a Carne Asada Burrito $4.00.

Burrito

I usually stick to eating tacos here, but I tried the burrito.  OH MAMA was this good!  It was huge and loaded with some of the best Asada that I have had.  It had sour cream, cheese and a little bit of lettuce.  I find that Mexican sour cream is very different than at the normal grocery.  Buy some, do a taste test and you will get it.  I added some of the homemade red sauce from the random bottle on the counter and it brought a nice heat and flavor.  This was so good and I am not sure how to describe it.  For $4.00, this was a meal, no need for the tacos but…

Chorizo Tacos

The chorizo tacos here also rock.  Great flavor and the chorizo has a big time kick to it.  Tacos are served with lime, onion and cilantro on a corn tortilla.  I add a little green and red sauce like in the pic and that puts it over the top.

The chicken tacos were a let down compared to the rest of the meal.  They were good, but a touch dry.  The star of the show is the Asada.

Would I Buy It Again?  Yes and HALL OF FAME. I love this place.  I always take people  here that I know would freak (like my Mom).  It is out of some people’s comfort zone, but who cares?!  Old school Mexican-Polka music is blasting at 125 decibels, the place is usually packed, the guys behind the taco counter always flirt with my wife, but when you are serving up grub like this, all the other stuff just doesn’t matter.

I know that some of you think that I am full of shit on reviews, but I know my tacos inside and out and I have had them coast to coast and these are some of the best.

-WIBIA

Taco Bell’s Why Pay More value menu is maybe one of the greatest innovations in the fast food industry.  With items varying from 79¢ to 89¢ to 99¢, it’s good, cheap and easy.  I only usually order one other item that’s not on this value menu (Meximelt), so I’m a big fan.  They’ve recently introduced two new items to this menu, so I figured I’d give them a shot.

What I Ate:  Grilled Chicken Soft Taco (89¢) and Grilled Chicken Burrito (89¢)

First, the Grilled Chicken Soft Taco.  As I said, you cannot beat the value on this one.  The taste is pretty damn good too.  I got mine “Fresco Style”, which means that they subtracted cheese and added fiesta salsa.  This will save you quite a few calories.  As for the other toppings, it included the grilled chicken (obviously) and lettuce.  The grilled chicken was obviously seasoned too, so it had a nice little kick.  As you can see from the picture below, Taco Bell is definitely not shy when it comes to adding their toppings on this one.  When coupled with the small tortilla shell, this one overflows with ingredients and taste.  It clocks in at roughly 200 calories when made with cheese, but that is substantially less when you get it Fresco Style (the actual caloric difference is not available on the website).

Grilled Chicken Soft Taco

Next, I had the Grilled Chicken burrito.  I got this one in the regular style, so it included the cheese.  It also included the seasoned grilled chicken (again, obviously), mexican rice and and avocado ranch sauce.  On this one, I have no complaints about the ingredients as they were tasty, but Taco Bell really needs to find a different tortilla to use for this burrito.  As you can see from my picture below where I’ve opened it up to show the insides, the tortilla dwarfs the amount of ingredients that are in the burrito.  When I was eating this, I felt like I was eating a giant tortilla with just a few ingredients sprinkled in to compliment the flavor of the tortilla.  It should be the other way around.   In an ideal world, they’d find a tortilla shell that was somewhere between the size of the one they use for the soft taco and the size of the one that they use for this one.  Also, this baby checks in at 440 calories, so it’s not exactly healthy.

Grilled Chicken Burrito

Would I Buy It Again:  Yes to the Grilled Chicken Soft Taco but probably not to the Grilled Chicken Burrito.  The soft taco is healthy enough and overflows with ingredients, so it is definitely worth another purchase.  As for the burrito, if I wanted to eat a giant tortilla, I’d just go to the grocery store and buy a package of big tortilla shells and munch on those.  Plus, the huge caloric intake on this one does not help my wellness score.

-IndianapolisEater