"Wow. Wow. Wow." - Me after nearly every bite of my food at Bartaco last night.
I didn't have a great experience my first time around, so I was asked by management to go back in and give some other menu items a try. I am incredibly grateful they extended such a gracious offer! They definitely made a repeat customer out of me, because nearly everything we tried was stellar.
I blame my first experience on the minimalistic menu, which doesn't tell you what's in each dish. One of the managers, Chris, explained the simple menu's intent is to create discourse between the server and the customer. While I understand this, not everyone is outgoing and wants to grill their waiter for five minutes about the contents of every dish.
That said, I wanted to like Bartaco this time, so I grilled Chris about the menu. He was happy to answer all of our questions and knew the menu inside and out. This was very helpful in deciding what we wanted to eat. He even made sure to bring up that the rice bowls all come with bell pepper garnishes, since he knew from my last review that I was not a fan. I was super grateful for that!
The guac: Even better than last time, properly stirred without jalapeño juice pockets and incredibly fresh. Chris told us they make new guac every hour, and it really shows in the quality of flavor.
The plantains: Sweet baby jeebus. The plantains are KILLER. They have a brown sugar and cayenne glaze on them, which makes for the perfect balance of sweet to heat. They come with a DELICIOUS sauce that somehow makes them even better. I've never had them as good as this. The caramelization was perfection.
The corn: The menu says it comes "on the cob," but I preferred the way it came to us, shucked and covered in cheese! I never would have ordered this by myself, so I am really grateful to Chris for bringing it to the table for us to try. It is a definite reorder! While I was chowing down, I thought it would be great on top of some chips or if it came with some soft tortillas.
The margarita: There is a long list of flavors you can choose from, and I was told they even use some different nectars in their drinks. "Whatever fresh fruit they can get their hands on" is a fabulous motto to me! The margarita was a little on the small side for $9.75, but I made it last my whole meal, and it was very tasty.
The fish taco: Crispy, golden brown, and a great portion of meaty fish that filled the taco. This is now my second favorite taco after the pork belly. The sauce it comes with is a great complement to the fish.
The oyster taco: The oysters were expertly fried and melted like butter in my mouth. 3-4 of them come in each taco, depending on the size, which I think is sufficient. The sauce threw me off. It has a strong flavor from the dill and little diced pickles. I think with a little finesse, this sauce could be a winner. I'd be interested to try the oysters with the sauce that comes on the Baja fish.
The tuna tatako: It comes on a beautiful leaf of bibb lettuce with slices of carrot, cabbage, and jicama. I removed the jicama (which I don't dislike normally) and liked the taco much better. This is very similar to my feeling about the shrimp taco: the protein is spot on, but the veggies destroy the balance. With the shrimp, there was a long slice of jalapeño in it, negating any flavor the delicate shrimp had to offer. Same here with the tuna and jicama. Once I took it out, problem solved! The tuna shone as the star of the taco, as it should.
The pork belly rice bowl: So gooood!! It's going to be really hard not to order this whenever I'm in Hyde Park. If they added an extra portion of meat to the bowl and charged $10 instead of $8, I would not complain. The sauce is sweet and salty with great balance, and the brown rice didn't have a grainy texture or too much of a "fibery" taste. It did have way too many slices of red onion on top. I had to remove half of them to get a good picture. But the flavors of everything in the bowl accentuate and complement one another beautifully.
The dessert: The key lime pie is like eating a tangy cloud! Loved every bite! There's a little cinnamon in the crumbled crust at the bottom, and it's a great little surprise. The churros came out hot and delicious. They are crunchy on the outside but soft on the inside, not completely dry like you get at some other places.
Sincere thanks to Javier, Craig, Chris, and all of the staff at Bartaco for sharing their passion and knowledge with us yesterday and showing us what excellent customer service really is. I was so happy to know that you take customer feedback seriously and continually try to improve the dishes and home in on the best flavors. You've made me a fan of Bartaco, and I can't wait to go back! read more