Need opinions on possible new taco restaurant

[jorgito]

I still think there is a market out there for healthy, fresh choices. I love my mexican food but am always leery about the lard they use in almost all of the food.

[wbwill]

An idea I have wondered why someone has not developed. Don't know what upscale is, but staying with consistency is absolute.

I personally think Chipoltes is filled with rice, even more now, when they first opened one person could not eat an entire burrito, but now like most, they have cut back on the meat, filled with more rice, and why it is successful is beyond me.

Taco Bell was better 10 years ago. Too many choices which amounts to the same greasy ingredients formed differently.

Go with tacos or even chili DRY. By that, I mean a combination of finely ground beef and turkey, which keeps the calories down, and possibly cost, the ground meat mixture is seasoned as popular, I would keep it down to mainly onion, barely garlic, light sea salt and pepper [black].

Nothing complex but the secret will end up like Chipotle, using some kind of flavor that is unique, a particular ground pepper, smoke the meat mixture, Chipotle using their flavoring which to me is almost Mesquite in taste, but it is a smoked pepper[s].

But I would keep it simple, even just a meat mixture with mostly onion and a hint of garlic is a flavor that appeals to most, so a wider customer base right off the bat.

Now what is dry chili, dry tacos? The meat is cooked down with seasoning to a dry fluffy consistency.

Then the variations can be chosen by the customer.

Example at home dry chili is the mixture above, red beans or seasoned Mexican beans in sauce, chopped onion, shredded cheeses, several selections of sauces.

The Chili bowl can be a formed corn tortilla, add the meat mixture, sprinkle with sauce or if your bean selection is sauced, that will work, next is chopped onions, next is shredded cheese.

Amazing simple, but a thousand ways to taste, but let the customer design his/her own.

Tacos, meat mixture, then whatever sauce, or diced chunky sauce, this is where the dry goes away or NOT. Next lettuce finely diced, next chopped onions, next more sauce if desired, next the shredded cheese[s] and have a good selection from plain American to Cheddar to even Parmeson, which is used to make tacos in many eateries that have a wide variety of food choices, and it goes over well.

The logistics now becomes the storing and applying the ingredients, do you put a salad bar type island so the customer dishes his own on to either his tacos or bowls, or do you do it like Chipotle and have the buffet servers ask and do it.

That would have to be studied, I would go with a salad bar setup, if you are doing this inside, like Chipotle, and use the employees to make sure the
"salad bar" was always neat and filled, instead of applying the customer's choices as they go through the line with their trays.

You now have the opportunity to attract vegetarians, with a bean mixture, to replace the meat mixture, or a million other choices.

Keep it simple as you have already decided, and basically tacos or taco salad [taco in a bowl], two types, maybe three of tortillas, at least corn, and flour, make sure the corn type are cooked crunchy, soggy corn tortillas are awful to almost anyone, and why there are so many, is cost, and soon they are gone, with another one, Taco Bell is Crunchy you have to hand that to them, but the meat mixture which drips with grease and water, has become a joke.

Your "dry" mixture can be as moist as the customer desires, and it is not sitting in the bottom of the shell for minutes until it soaks through. the moisture is on top, with either a wet bean sauce, regular sauce, countless selections you can experiment with.

Customers like to have control, and this way they have nearly complete control. The more they want it to be saucy fine, the less, fine.

Caloric values will be greatly reduced compared to most any fast food type chili or taco, big advantage as I see it. Vegetarian easy to do, fast, lots of selections, but without a lot of cooking and expense, could compete with Chipotle on the taco side and win hands down.

I don't go to Chipotle because their tacos are awful, their burritos are popular but mostly rice and moist flour tortillas, but I personally think their unique status has dropped. When they first opened, most raved about the size and how different, now they are smaller, nothing special, lots of rice as filler, and there is an opening in the market for quick chili and tacos that can be made the customer's way fast.

Good luck and you are on the right track.

Will

I have several other names ideas, if you want to write me, but a first suggestion of the name is Dryass Chili and Tacos.

[elnina]

Originally Posted by zhugeliang1

I love fish tacos but I don't like the high fat fried in oil type of fish tacos. I had grilled fish tacos in Austin but I don't think I've been able to find them in San Antonio?

Cove restaurant has fish tacos. Here is the menu:
The Cove Restaurant - The Cove Menu (http://thecove.us/cove/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12&It emid=26 - broken link)

[fitmommy]

Originally Posted by SA08

OHHH OHHHH! I vote for a Rubio's kind of place too!!! OH how I miss those fish taco's!!!! I also agree, Wahoo's is a close 2nd & Baja Fresh a 3rd

Ditto

[Backliteyes]

Originally Posted by jorgito

I still think there is a market out there for healthy, fresh choices. I love my mexican food but am always leery about the lard they use in almost all of the food.

I hope there is a market in SA for this. I'd be in it for sure, one thing I don't like about this city is how rare restaurants with tasty healthy options are compared to other large cities.