Taco Johns: Best Mexican Fastfood chain?

quote:

Originally posted by bill voss

hello LL, ... peas were the secret ingredient in the deep fried tacos we had as kids in KC. The peas were cooked in with the meat, then the whole thing , with lettuce, cheese, & chopped onions inside,clipped and plunged in the deep fryer for a few seconds. Made with corn tortillas, though. I'm suspecting the peas in the meat are a plains state invention, but I don't know the origin either.
a Platter of those, dusted with cheese was a whole meal. There's a companion thread ,
http://www.roadfood.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=502
in the Mexican food category discussing these.

My mother used to sneak peas into our taco meat when I was little. Once she was too lazy to mash them up and I refused to eat it and that's when she told me that every taco I'd ever had from her had them in it.

Peas in taco meat is something I've never heard of... Anyone have a ratio idea to mix in with the meat? Sounds like it's worth a try!

Well Uncle Vic, there aren't very many, just a few, and they aren't mashed.

Bill V. it's just the tortilla that is deep fried in this case, meat(and peas), cheese & lettuce are added after, but your version sounds good too. When my brother and sister-in-law come from Dener, they eat there at least twice over the week-end!

ROFL hatteras04, that was probably your mom's way of sneaking in some veggies!

Moms are like that, yeah they are!!

I usually use about a cup of cooked frozen peas per 2 pounds
of spiced taco meat. Add together after cooking each. I still make them this way .

Thanks! I plan on trying this out... I normally use peas in my spaghetti sauce, so this will find a new use for them! (Other then a side vegetable).

Here in Utah the best chain is Taco Time, and they are pretty darned good. They trend towards the upscale (halibut tacos when it is in season), but their staple menu item is the crisp burrito, with a bean version for only 39 cents. Pretty tasty...nicely crisped flour tortilla, almost flauta like.

Baja Fresh has great burritos! I'm in love with the simplicity of the bean & cheese burrito (with "mixed" black and pinto beans) while my vegan/vegetarian family members are remarkably faithful to the grilled vegetable burrito. Their chips are lightly seasoned with lime and are served HOT!

My husband & I used to drive a 2 hour round trip to eat there. Now that it's a 7 hour round-trip, it's a little more difficult to squeeze into an evening, but a slow Saturday becomes tempting (plus, we can get Thai from my favorite place on the journey).

Probably because of his fine vegetarian eyesight, my husband noticed a weird disclaimer on the Taco John's cup. I'll paraphrase here as this was noticed weeks ago, and I had no idea that anyone else on the planet might ever discuss Taco John's. Basically all franchises can be expected to have some variation in seasoning/approach.

Has anyone else found this variation in flavor/quality to be notable? The Taco John's in Newburgh, Indiana is okay. The ones in nearby Evansville are saved only by the potato oles. The Madisonville Kentucky location has absolutely phenomenal (head and shoulders above the rest) tacos and burritos.

Strange that a franchise driven restaurant would take the time to note it on their paper cups...

quote:

Originally posted by bill voss
Any favorite Mexican fast food? Who do you think does it best?

I'm going to give a vote to Rigoberto's, a chain I patronize in southern Arizona (Tucson area). I don't honestly know if they extend beyond the Tucson metro area to, say, Phoenix or someplace in New Mexico, and I'd like to know if anybody here is from those areas. But they serve what seems very good basic Mexican "fast food" and they seem to get a vote of confidence from most of the Spanish-speaking locals (many of whom may actually be Mexican citizens since Mexico is only 30 miles down I-19).

quote:

Originally posted by kholzhauer

Taco Johns has the best Mexican fast food hands down.

I be careful being quite so unequivocal. Before coming to this conclusion, have you sampled, for example, La Parilla Suiza ( http://laparrillaseuza.uswestdex.com/ ) which I think is actually Mexican (at least they have branches in Mexico)? Or , say, Rubio's ( http://www.rubios.com/index.html ) which specializes in the "world Famous Fish Taco"?

I used to wonder if Del Taco and Taco Bell used some of the Senior Citizen Executive Advisory programs offered by the big Leisure World in Laguna Hills CA. Both companies had their "World" Headquarters less than 100 yards off the 405 near that community.
I think Taco Bell baled (bailed?)out of Irvine when YUM Corp. was formed a few years back. I see the Taco Bell Flag on one of the flagpoles out in front of what used to be the Headquarters of KFC in Louisville.

Back to the original question.(Taco John's) I have enjoyed a few of the T J Product, but I must admit they were all at stands that were over 6000 ft up (Colorado & Wyoming), and the thin air may have affected my taste buds !

I'm going to vote for Taco Bueno, of which there are many in Tulsa. A close second is Taco Mayo. Neither compares to a good mom-and-pop Mexican restaurant, though.

Taco Johns sells tater-tots with orange nacho cheese. How could they possibly be the best fast food mexican?

And Del Taco serves french fries with burritos. Whats up with that?!

I've found there's a huge difference between California Taco Bell's and Taco Bell in the midwest. When I was living in CA, the local Taco Bell was a test market area, so we got all the new stuff first. Plus it was common for people to order "green burritos," the basic Taco Bell bean burrito with green sauce instead of red. When I was in Michigan nobody had ever heard of green sauce, plus the Taco Bell's there were just starting to serve quesadillas, when I had been getting them at Taco Bell's in CA for almost 5 years before that. Also the bean burritos were always made fresh and piping hot at CA Taco Bell's, in MI the bean burritos had been made ahead of time, so the tortillas were cold and beans were cold and clumpy.

Taco bell
taco johns isnt even that mexican its more of a southern state cuisine then across the border I think.

quote:

Originally posted by bill voss

hello LL, ... peas were the secret ingredient in the deep fried tacos we had as kids in KC. The peas were cooked in with the meat, then the whole thing , with lettuce, cheese, & chopped onions inside,clipped and plunged in the deep fryer for a few seconds. Made with corn tortillas, though. I'm suspecting the peas in the meat are a plains state invention, but I don't know the origin either.
a Platter of those, dusted with cheese was a whole meal. There's a companion thread ,
http://www.roadfood.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=502
in the Mexican food category discussing these.

Yum, what a memory. In my hometown just south of Wichita, we had a Mexican family who operated a taco stand in the summertime who made tacos just like that (although I think they added the lettuce and cheese after frying). I remember seeing peas and chunks of potato in the meat, and wondering why, and then tasting my first REAL taco. Of course, we were so starved for "ethnic food" that something as simple as a taco would cause us to load up the car and drive across the tracks, down by the rodeo grounds and power plant for some authentic Mexican food. But now, if I tried to serve something similar up to my family, they'd pick all that veggie goodness out of the taco meat.

Hi Kent,
My nephew's a teacher in Eldorado, went to Emporia, student taught down there, and stayed. I agree Wichita gets a bad rap. I read this sheet a Prof put out and knew you'd enjoy it.
http://www.ext.nodak.edu/extnews/newsrelease/2003/061203/04plains.htm I thought the term Santa Fe Railroad Mexican was pretty enlightening, because most people who immigrated from Mexico did follow the RR north for jobs, so it's not a lack of mexican food in the plains states, it's a
single style at work.
sidebar: Do you remember a BBQ on Kellogg (I think)that had the slogan behind the counter: "you don't need no teeth to eat our beef"? I ate there once and that's all I remember.

I like Taco John's, too. There is one in Cleveland that I like a lot! And then, one about an hour east of Knoxville in Morristown that I get to occasionally. Good burritos.

carl reitz

I have to say, Taco John's didn't stay very long in our little town, but I think it beat Taco Bell ten-to-absolutely none!!

I didn't even know of Taco John's until I moved to the midwest and encountered one on a drive through Iowa. It tasted like what an Iowan would think Mexican food would taste like, and I mean no disrespect to Iowa, one of my dear and favorite states...but Iowa Mexican food is like Texas clam chowder or Mississippi sushi. I actually prefer Taco Bell to Taco John's, but that's probably because I'm used to Taco Bell. Taco Cabana is worlds better than either one. If it only were here in Missouri.

Around the San Antonio area we have Taco Caban,which started here as well as Taco Bell and recently a Taco Maker inRolling Oaks Mall which wasn't bad at all.Or is it Taco Time.Think it's Taco Maker.There is also here locally Rolando's Super Tacos which has been here for years and has really big tacos,hence the name.

I like Muchas Gracias a great deal(they just replaced a Rubio's near where I live). I also enjoyed Los Dos Amigos in Sutherlin, Oregon, Taco Cabana near San Antonio, Texas and El Burrito Loco in Portland.

Last night, on our way home from the Perryville Battle reenactment, we stopped at the Taco John's in Lawrenceburg, KY. It's the first time I'd been to one in a few years and it was . The tacos and burrito we had weren't even lukewarm and both had a strange flavor I didn't remember from before. No more Taco John's for us --- I'll take a seven layer burrito from Taco Bell over that hands down. It was located in a stand-alone food court, and no wonder the place was empty!

Andrea