Tacos A Go Go

So I went down to a little Taco joint last night in midtown literally right off the metrorail.

Tacos A Go Go is a great little midtown joint with all the classic midtown kitsch and pomp!

The moment you walk in, you get that 'austiny' feel that typically comes with a lot of the midtown locations these days. Look on the walls and you find random posters and flyers; newspapers and hangings - all in the most vibrant colors that you care to imagine! Not to mention the devilish pinup girl as you walk in ;)

As any good taco joint should be, you walk up and order at the counter - this is not a sit down and have a waiter ask for your order kind of place to be sure.

My fellow diners and I had a whole smattering of tacos and at the suggestion of our very helpful host Jeff, we went for some chips and salsa too.

Let's start off with the homemade salsas, red and green as Jeff explained it. Both were obviously fresh and made right there (love it when you can see that not all the veggies have been cut perfectly and you get that big chunk of onion or cilantro between your teeth!), but I have to say, the green tomatillo type salsa was awesome! I could always use a little more bite, but it really was quite tasty and flavorful - my fellow diners and I pretty much slathered that stuff over everything! The problem with a lot of green salsas is that you end up with a bit of a bitter endnote, Tacos A Go Go somehow has been able to remove that bitter finish for a somewhat creamy one without actually going to a cream type sauce. The red salsa could've used just a tad bit more salt and lime, BUT the fresh flavors really did come straight through nonetheless!

Now then, on to the tacos! I opted to get mine on corn tortillas (and for the health conscious, they have whole wheat too, it's midtown afterall). These folks are a wiley bunch for sure! When you order corn tortillas, they know those things are a little smaller, a little less structurally sound, so you get two for each taco - nice touch.

So letsee, we tried the carne guisado, pollo guisado, barbacoa, fish with roasted peppers, and one of a host of varieties of breakfast tacos that they sell all day long. I only tried the first three, but I have to say, I was impressed and my fellow diners told me that the others were quite nice.

Apparently, one friend is a breakfast taco afficionado and he said the breakfast taco really worked well for him. The guisado tacos were very nicely seasoned with fresh veggies topped on for wonderful visual appeal. The meat was very tender and flavorful without being so overly seasoned that you end up with a terrible mouth feel after you finish. Surprisingly, the greasiness factor wasn't there either and although I love a greasy taco out of a shady taco shack, the non-greasy finish last night really worked for me - maybe it was the midtown feel of it all, maybe I was turning into a hipster for a split second? I dunno. It worked.

I have to say, i think I liked the Pollo guisado the best! Something about the shredded pork and how it retained the 'stew' flavors was really quite nice. The mouth feel here worked much better than the others too, as it wasn't too wet or dry, and the slight crunch of the lettuce worked in concert with the shredded pieces of chicken.

After three tacos and a load of chips, what else would you need but a cool crisp sip of homemade lemonade! I was just about to just ask for a glass of water when all of a sudden I saw a nondescript plastic jar of some almost clear, yellowish liquid with a piece of plastic saran wrap draped over the top that had obviously been removed quite a few times. I presumed it was lemonade, but you never know, so i asked jeff and sure enough, homemade lemonade!

This was pure, unpretentious lemonade - lemons, water, sugar, that's it! When a restaurant goes to the trouble of actually making lemonade, you have to have it! Although I've had some really fabulous lemonade that you could sip and drink by itself on a hot summer day all day long (with a bit of alcohol sometimes too of course ;) ), but this wasn't quite that kind of drink. And although I typically like to have a bit of pulp in my real lemonade, the mix of seasoned meats and corn tortillas along with the crisp cool lemonade really hit the spot! The lemon juice wasn't overly acidic and it wasn't overly sugary either - very nice compliment indeed.

Prices could've been a little better, with the 'higher end' stuff (namely barbacoa and fish type stuff) going for 2.49 each and the more typical stuff 1.50 or so, but factor in quality of the meat and it's a bit of a wash. Plus, three tacos got me pretty full and I'm not exactly a shy eater.

The booths and tables were just run down enough to really make you feel comfortable and the atmosphere is pretty conducive to good conversation, so I would pick up your boots and head on over to give Tacos A Go Go a try! If you live right off the rail, even better!

Yet another little local joint that really makes me feel like Houston's a wonderfully unique and cool place to live