We headed over to Upshur Street last night because we had a coupon for TAQUERIA del BARRIO and we were thrilled to pop in there and have great fun on what would be Sam's last family meal out before heading to NY this weekend for school.
The place is modest with brick walls and 1960's green vinyl and chrome chairs and wooden tables. The service was good and Avery, who had been there 4 days, did his best to make us very happy. As we left at just after 830pm, a drag show and quiz was getting underway which was loud and hard to hear, but funny as hell. I think the quiz was about Quentin Tarantino!
Chips and red salsa arrived within seconds and we munched down as they were superb crunchy and large and the salsa was nice with a slight chunkiness and good bite. Sam ordered up the Guacamole which was also very tasty and Will & chose our drinks. He started with the regular classic Margarita and I went for the "Take a Bite Out of My Flower" made from Lunazul Tequila with triple sec orange, lime and hibiscus and Habanero Syrup with a chile/salt rim. YUM. And at $11 the tasty quaffs were so good, that Will switched the second time around to the spicy margarita!
Ceviche was nice with Aguachile, Shrimp, Octopus, Avocado, Red Onion and chiles and Sam let us share his Chicken Taquitos with black beans, cream and cotija. The best starter was the Elote or grilled Mexican corn with lime-chili aioli and cotija! WHAT a spicy treat and it reminded me so much of the corn we had when back in Mexico.
Tacos came next and there are so many to choose from but at $3 each, they are all a steal. Barbacoa was chipotle braised shredded beef with onion, tomato and cilantro while Carnitas have that wonderful marinated beef. I went wild and loved the Nopales made of grilled Oaxaca cactus which is something we don't see a lot of in the states, but my favorite was the LENGUA, tongue with onion and cilantro, but it did have way too many onions.
We thought we might all split ONE entrée, but we were so full, we finished our drinks and headed home quite full with the entire bill coming in at under $40 for all the food!! Of course, the drinks were more!
