El Pastorcito
7876 Michigan Road (Right across from El Taco Torro)
Indianapolis, IN 46268
Website

There is a ton of competition in this area for taco joints.   Head down to 71st and Michigan Road and there is a Pancho’s.  El Pastorcito is one of those places I knew existed, yet never heard anything about and after about 8 months of knowing that it is there, I made the decision to stop by.   You can get take out here or you can eat in with table service.   The staff is friendly and during my visit, there was a young kid running around that I would assume is the owner’s grandson.  Even though it is a little unorganized and has loud music, we found it to be pretty welcoming.

Menu is mostly a taqueria (tortas, burritos, etc.), but there are house specialties as well.  They had about six seafood items on the list and 8-10 options that had enchiladas, menudo, etc.  Chips and salsa will cost you about $2.00.   I say skip the chips (straight out of a bag for $1.25) and get the three sauces and get ready for your tacos.

I enjoyed the sauces, but my wife strongly disliked the red.  I thought the pico was pretty fresh for this time of year and had the reverse opinion as she did.  I liked the red and didn’t like the green sauce.

I was in a taco eating mood (as I am almost everyday) and they had some pretty off beat stuff as well as the standards, so I thought that I would give a few a try.  They were $1.65 each.  Going rate in Indy is about $1.50, so this is a few cents more.

My first bite was of the pastor.  Really good, the meat was cooked to perfection.  The only part of it that I didn’t like is that the pineapple was left in the taco.  It is layered with pineapple and onion, but you usually just get the meat with a touch of sweetness to it.  Very good though, but I am being pretty picky.

Second, I went for the goat. Wow, this was a show stopper.  Really deep flavors, and again….cooked perfectly.  If you like lamb, then you will love this.  Honestly, it tasted just like lamb to me.   The red sauce was a perfect match and I could have eaten a ton of these.   Probably one of the better tacos that I have ever had.  A+++

Third, I dug into the carnitas.  Again, the preparation was dead on, IMO.  I like it when it is a little crispy on the outside of the meat because it holds in a lot of flavor.  Very lean pieces, very tasty and some of the best carnitas in town.

So I saw brain on the menu and thought, I have never had a brain taco, so I need to check it off my list.   The taco arrived and it smelled horrible.  Wow, a really strong stench.  I took a bite and I just couldn’t eat it.  I hate really soft meat, and brain is one of them.  I am sure that it is a good version of brain, but after one bite, I was done.

My wife had a chicken burrito.  It was good, but I didn’t love the burrito as I thought that the beans and glop took away from the meat.

Would I Buy It Again?  Yes, oh yes. I was pleasantly surprised here.  All three meats were prepared with such care and accuracy and you just can’t help but like it.  If someone told me that they think El Pastorcito has some of the best tacos in town, I really couldn’t argue with them.    This is a really nice find on the northwest side.

-WIBIA

El Taco Torro
79^th and Michigan
Indianapolis, IN

The WIBIA inbox is a pretty funny place (btw, thanks for all the e-mails).  One e-mail trend that is consistent is that people seem to really dig the taco joints.  The good news is…I do too.

I have passed this place up a few times and always wondered about it until I ran into this now defunct Indianapolis blog that had a review.   It looked good, so I gave it a try.

More of a seated restaurant with the server and chips/salsa setup.  Menu has tacos, burritos, tortas and a few other items as well but is mostly a standard taqueria.  El Taco Torro has a little more selection of meats than normal, tongue or intestine, etc.

What I Got: Taco Carnitas, Taco Al Pastor $1.50 each.  Carne Asada Burrito $4.99.

The tacos were stuffed full and I could barely fold them.  The Carnitas was a big miss.  There were a number of really fatty pieces that were inedible.  They were about the size of a piece of Trident and never should’ve made it to the plate.

Taco Al Pastor was a let down as well.   Instead a flavorful marinade carrying the taste, it reminded me of a seasoning packet that you would mix with water.  Plus there was no sign of a gyro spit (usually you can see all the meat staked and then sliced like a gyro)…bad sign there.   What was I thinking?  Both tacos were a little heavy handed on the sour cream, but since it was not a normal taqueria setup where you only got cilantro and onions, it was a nice bonus, especially at the price point.

Carne Asada Burrito

The carne asada burrito was pretty good actually.  The best quality of meat out of the three items I tried.  It was a good size and packed with beans, rice and a little too much sour cream. Really nice, no complaints here.

Would I Buy It Again?  Yes/No.  No because the tacos were huge, but not very good.  The chef was heavy handed on sour cream and the red salsa with the chips was not to my liking (my guess, chilie de arbol based.)  Yes, because service was friendly, had a solid burrito, wide range of meats on the menu and the green salsa was good.

Bottom line…I need a re-visit.  I think there could be a couple of winners here, but I am not 100% convinced to sign my name to giving it a YES without reservations.

-WIBIA

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