The Delmar Loop location of Mission Taco Joint is busy enough these days that they're pulling that thing where they pretend that their app-based reservation system malfunctioned.
You reserve a table hours in advance, only to get there and find out that they don't have any record of you reserving a table. If you want, you can stand outside on the corner for two hours like a dumbass.
Obviously, they'd rather just give your table to someone who wandered in off the street without a reservation. They figure at least some of the people with reservations won't show up anyway, and if they do maybe magic will happen.
It was no big deal. My mom was meeting us there. When she drove past, on Delmar, we hopped in her car and hightailed it to the Soulard location, risking life and limb to jaywalk across the busy street. (Thug life was in full effect.)
We weren't sweating the fact that the Soulard location is owned by the same scammers as the one in the Loop, because Mexican food.
I was half expecting to see someone from "Trops" urinating in the street near the Soulard location, but the area proved to be relatively desolate. There was still a large crowd inside. We probably got there just in time. We reserved a table when we left the Loop and didn't have to wait when we arrived.
The Soulard location is brighter on the inside than the one in the Loop and noisy as all hell. I wasn't sweating the volume, because if my parents had anything novel to say to me over dinner it would have been the first time since the (first?) Clinton administration. Your mileage may very.
The menu at Mission Taco Joint is similar to one you might find at a legit taqueria, out by the airport, but presumably more fancy. Essentially, they carry tacos, burritos and tortas, plus appetizers and a list of mostly tequila-based cocktails.
I of course immediately set about figuring out which cocktail I'd have. I'd already pregamed a little bit, but I wanted to get nice and lit. They carry a drink called the Zombie, which looked like it might have more alcohol in it than anything else on the menu. It costs a few dollars more than any of the other drinks, and supposedly they'll only sell you two per visit.
The disclaimer seemed like it may have been there for psychology purposes, to trick people into spending a few dollars extra on a drink. I don't know if it really had that much more alcohol than any of the other drinks, but it had about as much alcohol as you can put in a drink and have it not taste like sterno.
In fact, the Zombie is served with a garnish that consists of half a lime filled with over-proof rum that's been set on fire. I was instructed by the server to blow out the fire when I was ready to get my drink on and dump the rum in with the rest of the rum.
Pro tip: I wouldn't let it burn too long, because that might decrease the potency of the alcohol. I only let mine burn long enough to take a picture of it. #priorities
For apps we went with the the queso chorizo and the carne asada fries, or whatever they're called.
I don't know what I was expecting the queso chorizo to be, but finding out it's just a cup of melted cheese and some chips was kinda anticlimactic. It's mostly just cheese. There was only the slightest hint of chorizo. Charles Grodin in the movie Midnight Run would have been disappointed.
Truth be told, the carne asada fries weren't as big as my little brother (who doesn't work there or anything) described them, but they were pretty damn good: french fries, with gobs of melted cheese, cubes of steak, quacamole and what have you.
Lately, I've been wanting a burrito like Bobby Brown wants drugs, but I ended up going with tacos. I like the fact that you can get a few different kinds, and the taco of the month--deep fried shrimp with mango salsa--seemed especially tempting. I got one of those, plus a chorizo and a beef brisket.
Briefly, since I don't get paid for this:
The shrimp taco was the one to beat. It's hard to describe it without being inappropriate. Go there each month until they put it back on the menu, if necessary.
The chorizo taco was, as Rachel Ray would say, dee-lish, and partly made up for the minimal amount of chorizo in the appetizer.
Only order beef brisket from legit barbecue places like Pappy's and Sugarfire. Even the mighty Mexicans (er, in this case, white people appropriating Mexican food) can't make it as good.
We finished off the evening with churros y chocolate. I'm not sure if that's what they're called on the menu, but I had a Spanish textbook called "Churros y Chocolate" when I was in the sixth grade, and I've been meaning to try them ever since. It's been 24 years.
We didn't even order them, but our server gave us some for free because my mom told him it was my birthday. She does that in every restaurant we go to.
Just kidding, it really was my birthday the other day. (Check Facebook.) My mom would never lie about something like that. read more