Taco Johns: Best Mexican Fastfood chain?

Do you find yourself stopping in Mexican fastfood drive thrus? I do. Here in southern Oregon we are Mexican drive thru challenged. Taco Bell is it, chainwise. We have a Taco Tico in our mall. A local place, Muchos Gracias, has a couple of stands with extensive menus, and drive thru 24 hours. It's wonderful stuff. I find myself wishing we had a Taco John's nearby, but 500 miles away, the closest one, isn't near enough to drop in. I always liked eating at them. They are comfortable , the food is good and the sauce is HOT! My kids and I stopped at a taco bell the other day and I noticed they aren't cheap anymore. Mexican fast food, just like any other, should be cheap!
Del Taco has it right, but our nearest one is 140 miles south in Redding, Ca. I stop there everytime I go past. How 'bout you? Any favorite Mexican fast food? Who do you think does it best?

[re

d][/red] I agree, Taco John's is the best if you are searching for a drive through Mexican experience. In college, I lived for Taco Tuesday!

Poquito Mas is the best chain in our area...homemade flour tortilla burritos make all other burritos seem like a pathetic imitation. Otherwise, La Salsa is pretty close to taco truck fare.

Best of the lot is Taco Cabana: proper Mexican food (most chains are much more Tex-Mex, which is nice but not at all the same thing), prepared fresh to order AND all locations are open 24 hours.

Has anyone heard of Baja Fresh? My aunt in CA took me to one of their outlets and it was GREAT!!! I had a giant chicken burrito and my cousins had giant bean burritos.

We were seriously stuffed kids!!!

quote:

Originally posted by bill voss

Here in southern Oregon we are Mexican drive thru challenged. Taco Bell is it, chainwise.

Have you heard or tried Los Dos Amigos? They are a small chain and I had one the best Mexican experiences in there Roseburg, Oregon location.

quote:

Originally posted by Jellybeans

Has anyone heard of Baja Fresh? My aunt in CA took me to one of their outlets and it was GREAT!!! I had a giant chicken burrito and my cousins had giant bean burritos.

We were seriously stuffed kids!!!

Baja Fresh is owned by Wendy's.

quote:

Originally posted by Michael Hoffman

quote:

Originally posted by Jellybeans

Has anyone heard of Baja Fresh? My aunt in CA took me to one of their outlets and it was GREAT!!! I had a giant chicken burrito and my cousins had giant bean burritos.

We were seriously stuffed kids!!!

Baja Fresh is owned by Wendy's.

It is? Didn't know that--the food is miles away from Wendy's stuff. I loved watching them assemble my burrito lightning quick too! The price is reasonable, not cheap but the food was great (at least, to this foodie chicky

Talking about tacos, burrito's etc. Oklahoma City has a place named "Tacos San Pedro" You will think you are in Mexico.. They have the best taco's and burrito's I have ever ate.

Tacos San Pedro
2301 SW 44th Street
Oklahoma City, OK
Phone: 405-682-1179

They are a short drive east from I44. Exit SW 44th and go east aprox. 1/2 mile on your left. Try the Al Pastore.

Taco Johns has the best Mexican fast food hands down.
The 'green sauce' is what sustained me (that and about 6-9 softshells per day) when I was on a brief 'hiatus' from college and
working a miserable existance as a page in a public library.
The ladies in the drive-thru even knew me! Especially embarassing
when they bust you out in front of a new girlfriend as you are trying
to pose that you "don't really eat fast food that much".

I don't know about Taco Johns because I've never been there, but I am a big fan of Taco Fresco. Everything is made fresh to order, and the quality seems very high. I'm heading there for lunch in a few minutes - their black bean burrito is excellent, and cheap.

quote:

Originally posted by Ralph Isbill

Talking about tacos, burrito's etc. Oklahoma City has a place named "Tacos San Pedro" You will think you are in Mexico.. They have the best taco's and burrito's I have ever ate.

Tacos San Pedro
2301 SW 44th Street
Oklahoma City, OK
Phone: 405-682-1179

They are a short drive east from I44. Exit SW 44th and go east aprox. 1/2 mile on your left. Try the Al Pastore.

Thanks Ralph!!! just put that in my notebook and will have to check it out nextr trip to OKC---LOVE Al Pastore!!!

In Houston, the best chain is Taqueria Arandas - extensive menu!

The EL Reys are good too, but more of a Cuban-Mexican taste. Love to see the spinning chickens in the window. I think there are only two locations.

I'm kinda partial to Taqueria Cancun. The quality varries, but most are pretty decent. The one down from me on Antoine recently closed, but for good reason - it sucked!

quote:

Originally posted by Jellybeans

Has anyone heard of Baja Fresh? My aunt in CA took me to one of their outlets and it was GREAT!!! I had a giant chicken burrito and my cousins had giant bean burritos.

We were seriously stuffed kids!!!

A Baja Fresh opened up just down the block from me. (Dallas) All I've tried is the fish tacos. They seemed "OK". Not knowing what a really good fish taco is suppose to taste like, I had nothing to judge them by.

I'll have to try something else on their menu...

quote:

Originally posted by bill voss

Do you find yourself stopping in Mexican fastfood drive thrus? I do. Here in southern Oregon we are Mexican drive thru challenged. Taco Bell is it, chainwise. We have a Taco Tico in our mall. A local place, Muchos Gracias, has a couple of stands with extensive menus, and drive thru 24 hours. It's wonderful stuff. I find myself wishing we had a Taco John's nearby, but 500 miles away, the closest one, isn't near enough to drop in. I always liked eating at them. They are comfortable , the food is good and the sauce is HOT! My kids and I stopped at a taco bell the other day and I noticed they aren't cheap anymore. Mexican fast food, just like any other, should be cheap!
Del Taco has it right, but our nearest one is 140 miles south in Redding, Ca. I stop there everytime I go past. How 'bout you? Any favorite Mexican fast food? Who do you think does it best?

As far as drive-thru goes we don't have many more options. I can think only of Taco Bell, Taco Cabana and El Rey, which is really Cuban. I wish there were more of the latter, or maybe just one more close to where I live or work. I still miss the Two Pesos chain which I posted about on the Long Gone Regional Chains thread. Del Taco lasted less that a year here, I think, a number of years ago. The competition is pretty stiff from the taquerias, probably more than a hundred one-of-a-kind locations and several that have grown into sizeable local chains.

Something I've only recently begun to investigate are the taco trucks/busses/wagons. I see them careening down the freeways all the time but don't know where many of them park. I saw a feature on them on FoodTV which aroused my attention so I looked them up on the web. Those trucks can be as expensive as a permanent location. A google search also uncovered the fact that several cities (Seattle, Tacoma, Oakland, and others) have websites that help locals find these little gems and what their specialities are. We don't seem to have any such site for Houston . Not exactly drive thru, but pretty close to it -- service is very fast. And if the place you eat has wheels itself and maybe an engine, that qualifies as road food for sure.

hermitt, I often stop at a mobile taco vendor (the name of which escapes me now) on the corner of Shepherd and the N Loop in the Fiesta Liquor store parking lot. There is another on Durham just north of I-10 in the old Walco gas station parking lot, but I never ate there. The trailer is white with red lettering.

The tacos are $1.25, and you can get a good meal for $5. I have bought their tamales from time to time, and they are pretty good. They have a decent variety including a good breakfast taco, but I normally get the beef tacos with the salsa verde.

There are also three taco trucks side by side by side at the Farmer’s Market on Airline behind Canino’s. Never ate there but they do a good deal of business.

Thanks, olphart.

I've seen the one on Durham @ I-10 but it's only been open one time when I went past and I wasn't hungry. I'll keep the one on 610 in mind next time I'm headed up to Williams Smokehouse! Might be good to get a little snack to keep me going as the wait at Williams can be pretty long . There was a small taco trailer at the Fiesta near me for a while, but it's been gone a long time and all there is now is the 'elotes rostada' wagon but what I had there was pretty good.

I stopped at La Tacasita, a school bus parked at the site of the former Auchan on the W-Belt. Pretty good taco al pastor; the other things I've tried weren't as good. They're open til midnight.

I've heard there's a real good one near I-10 and Gessner but I'm not sure of the exact location. There's a Fiesta at that intersection, as I recall, so it might be there.

There's a little trailer parked on a corner I pass on my way to work each night, open, apparently, til Midnight and I see people eating there very late, but it's not an intersection I care to be standing around on at that hour. Wish he was open for breakfast so I could get something on my way home from work.

I haven't eaten at many of these places but I'm getting interested .

The Fiesta is on the corner of Blalock and I-10. That is my absolute favorite grocery store in Houston. The produce is as good and often even better than what you can get at Farmer's Market. They have good, fresh seafood and it is our main source for shrimp. And it's just down from Costco.

Not positive, but the taco stand on Shepherd and N Loop may be called El Primo.

Taco Bell is the only drive-thru fair around me, but when visiting my brother I always go to Chipotles. Man those things are good.

I just had a Baja Fresh burrito. It was stuffed full of tasteless, unripe tomatoes passing as "salsa" and some of the beans weren't cooked through. But at least that means they are making their own beans instead of using canned.

Chico's in El Paso has cheap, fast-food Mexican down to an art form. The beef stew burritos are addictive.

I went to Taco John's every once in a while when I lived
In the Omaha area. The item I remember as being really tasty were the Potato Oles. They are like tater tots only with a mild spicy flavor. That chain is a step up from taco bell, but not as cheap, (not much is though.)

Teocali Tamale (based in Colorado).
Rubio's (based in California).

We have a Taco Fresco, which is a chain, the food is cheap and really pretty good, you just don't get a very large portion. IMO their one salsa is just is good as the local mom and pop Mexican that I frequent. A Baja Fresh was supposed to come here to, the store got built, signs hung, furniture in place.....and the place never opened. Its being turned over in to ?

For anyone who likes Chipotle's burritos, they're offereing a deal. If you buy one burrito today you can get a free one tomorrow by showing the receipt for today's purchase. It's to help everyone through the tax deadline.

I long for the days of San Diego (strictly food wise, though), when in most places around the county a Roberto's Taco Shop could be found. But since I'm in Seattle now, I suffer the same fate as Bill; the Pacific Northwest is severely mexican food-challenged. :(

What happened to the Mexican restaurnt on Elliot Way? It used to be good. Rex in expensive San Diego.

There is a place in Scottsbluff, NE called "Taco Town", best place I have ever eaten tacos. Locally owned, not a chain. Been there for at least 40 years.

Taco are on large, fried flour tortillas, lots of ground beef, secret ingredient is peas. Don't ask, don't know why, but there are always a few peas in the meat. Meat is well seasoned, and they make their own sauce. To die for!!!

There is a large Mexican population in Scottsbluff, and many places that serve tacos, but this is the best.

The Lawful Lady

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.