Mexican Food Question... (Austin, Round Rock, Cedar Park: house, restaurants, moving to)

[Stormgod]

We are moving to Cedar Park and one thing we have noticed each and every time we have visited, every mexican restaurant we visit (and we love mexican food) they all have hard shell tacos that have shells similar to Taco Bell. Is there no mexican restaurant that deep fries their tacos? Many places I have been the shredded beef deep fried taco is standard on many mexican menus, but for some reason its not in Austin.

Any locals have any place that they can recommend that have excellent deep friend tacos?

--==StormGod==--

[mark311]

Originally Posted by Stormgod

Any locals have any place that they can recommend that have excellent deep friend tacos?

Are you referring to taquitos or flautas? Sometimes they're listed as appetizers here and a lot of restaurants have them. These can be referred to as rolled tacos in California as well. The Texican Cafe in Cedar Park has some pretty good flautas even though I'm not too into the deep fried stuff myself. I think since most of the places are Tex-Mex style here, you won't see as much shredded beef and instead will see ground beef, shredded chicken, fajita steak, and fajita chicken.

[neddy]

Also, are you looking for a puffy taco? Where the shell is fried? What area of the country are you coming from? That may help us figure out what type of Mex food you are used to.

[newrrmom]

El Borrego de Oro- my husband just had very good crispy beef tacos here.

[love roses]

You can get shredded beef here, but in Texas it's called barbacoa.

[mark311]

Originally Posted by love roses

You can get shredded beef here, but in Texas it's called barbacoa.

Hmmm. I thought barbacoa was normally head meat rather than just shredded beef (steak)? I've always tried to stay away from barbacoa.

[mark311]

Originally Posted by mark311

Hmmm. I thought barbacoa was normally head meat rather than just shredded beef (steak)? I've always tried to stay away from barbacoa.

After googling this a bit, it appears that in some areas (like South Texas) barbacoa can be made from cow head/cheek meat, but in other areas it "might" be just shredded beef. I'll probably just stick with fajita chicken.

On recommendation from people in this forum, I did go to Rio Grande on Mays in Round Rock last week and was very impressed (It's not related to the Real World House "Rio Grande" that is downtown.) It's in a little run-down strip mall, but it's nice inside and the food/service was great. I wouldn't be surprised if they move this to a better building as it has the potential to be a very popular place.

[love roses]

Eww! Never heard of it being made from head meat. I've never had it made from that. Just basic shredded beef from roast or something. I guess you're tossing a coin when you go to a Carneceria for it (which I have), but I'm sure you're typical resturaunt doesn't use head meat, although you could always ask them. Rio Grande is good. We have one here in Hutto run by the same family who owns the one on Mays. One thing I like about it is that they change the menu up every once in a while so there's always something new to try.

Man, now I'm getting a major craving for tacos. This happens every time Mexican Food comes up as a topic. My sister gave me a Texas Roads and Highways Cookbook a while back as a Christmas present. There's a recipe for a fried rolled taco in it. Actually, I think the story with it says it actually comes from a restaurant in New Mexico (the recipe for the book). I made them and they are very good.

[brattpowered]

I'm pretty sure the definition of barbacoa is head meat. From the cheek, I'm pretty sure. Nomnomnomnom...

[sanmiguel]

If you want head meat, you should order "tacos de cabeza". Another tasty one is "tacos de lengua" which uses the tongue.