Mr. Taco – A Review
This column represents the thoughts and opinions of Gage Matthieu. Opinion columns are NOT the opinion of The Madisonville Meteor. Gage Matthieu is a marketing professional who also enjoys writing.
As someone who was born and raised in Texas, I tend to rate towns based on the quality of Mexican food on offer. This is something I’m deeply aware of and have often tried to steer clear of but find myself unable to as I entrench myself further in the city of Madisonville. This isn’t an exclusive thought process, and the exercise in judgement isn’t exclusive to Madisonville, either; trust me, reader. I have been to the fine state of Colorado many times and I can assure you that the Mexican food sucks north of here anyway, as noted in the great Bowling for Soup song, Come Back to Texas.
Mr. Taco exists within the confines of a rectangular-shaped building that sits beneath the shadow of Buc-ee’s. A building that is small, unsuspecting, yet full of life and good people. I visit Mr. Taco & Tequila Bar #2 at least twice a week, as it has quickly become my favorite Mexican food haunt in all of Madisonville, and if you read further—I will thoroughly explain why.
I want to mention as the most important aspect of this article that I experience nothing but love pouring out from every orifice of Mr. Taco every time I enter their establishment. Maybe it’s in how charming I am, but I doubt it. I think the staff at Mr. Taco truly want to get a feel for their patrons, and it shows. Our waitress visits us every few minutes, asking if we need anything or if I’d like another Michelada (I do), and their manager, Manny Gamboa visits our table frequently providing a variety of salsas for us to dip our chips in (ask for the habanero salsa). Not only do they check on us frequently, but they remember the things I order. Maybe this is a premier feature of operating in a small town.
For those wondering, I order the Quesa Birria, and for all the white people reading this, I want to speak to you directly: please go to Mr. Taco on your lunch break and order the Quesa Birria. Don’t worry about the fact that you can’t pronounce it, no one will judge you. In fact, they’ll make you feel like you’re family and they will remember if you liked it. Just order it and thank me later.
The Birria at Mr. Taco is definitively the best in Madisonville. For those unaware, Birria is a type of meat that originates in Jalisco, Mexico, and is a type of meat that is stewed for several hours in a variety of spices too long and foreign to list here. The meat is then transferred from its pot to a tortilla, in which the tortilla is fried in the same juices that the meat has been cooking in for hours. The taco is loaded with white onions and cilantro and served to you with a ramekin full of the same juices the meat stewed in. In the words of Guy Fieri, this is called flavor town or consume, for those unfamiliar with the concept.
You’re meant to dip the tacos into the consume, which creates a texture sensation that is one of the best things I have experienced in a restaurant in Madisonville. The hardened tortilla softens a bit with the absorption of the juices, and the consume reignites the flavors of the birria as the molten cheese stretches through each bite.
I have tried a wide variety of dishes at Mr. Taco, from the Madville Burger to tamales, and each dish has been exceptional; the quesa birria just happens to be the order that comes out of my mouth each time I visit. Maybe the psychological knee-jerk reaction to the question, “and for you?” is more telling than mere words can describe.
