Atlanta's Best Taco: A Tournament of 16

Warning:  The following may be inappropriate for children under the age of 13 and those who think the best taco's are made by a talking Chihuahua

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The taco is a simple, yet expressive culinary delight brought to us by our friends South of the Border.  They can appear under their traditional Mexican guise, or in an eclectic package that includes Korean BBQ and even Beef Tongue Tacos.

I'm not referring to this "South of the Border"

As with the Hamburger and Sandwich Tournaments, we have four divisions.  These divisions are named after actors that are iconic in the action genre and vaguely relate to a certain type of Taco.

Some establishments will have multiple entries and deservedly so.  For example, Taqueria Del Sol has two entries and they are both weekly specials and not on their regular menu.  This is an absolute tragedy and I've asked them to get these up during the next month.  Let's keep our fingers crossed.

We've hit many different Taqueria's as well.  Mexican joints that happen to have incredible taco's and authentic Taqueria's that are phenomenal and probably are the best "bang for your buck" in Atlanta.

Here is the bracket and your divisions.

The Clint Eastwood Division:

"I'm not sure how many taco's I've ate.  5, maybe six.  So tell me punk, do you feel lucky?"

These are taco's that you would expect a man's man to eat.  Full of meat and an unpretentious presentation.  If you are nursing a hangover, these are the taco's that will hit the spot.

Holy Taco- Beef Tongue
Holy Taco- Pork Belly
Bone Garden Cantina- Carne Adobo
Bone Garden Cantina- Beef Barbacoa

The Sly Stallone Division:

Sly has enough PED's running through his veins to power a small country

The gourmet taco has evolved from the traditional fare.  Just like Stallone, who was an every man with his characters including Rocky and Rambo (movies he wrote, by the way).  Then he "jumps the shark" and makes Rhinestone and later becomes this guy in the picture above.  In some cases it works, like in The Expendables, then in some cases, he is a true parody of himself.

If you look at the selection below, these taco's would not have existed 20 years ago.  Thank god for innovation.

Taqueria Del Sol- The Philly
Verde- Short Rib Taco
Tin Lizzy’s- Buffalo Shrimp
El Taco- Fried Chicken

The Bruce Lee Division:

The Asian/ Korean Taco has really set the Taco World on fire.  You go to any Food Truck event and the Yumbii truck is lapping the competition.  And if you haven't tried it, Hankook (the brick and mortar Korean taco establishment) laps Yumbii in quality.  And Heirloom is a Korean BBQ joint that happens to make incredible brisket and has the best BBQ sauce in Atlanta.

Hankook- Pork
Hankook- Fish

Heirloom BBQ- Brisket Taco

Taqueria Del Sol- The Bob

The Erik Estrada Division:

I tried to find a Hispanic actor who defines the action genre.  But then again, what defines true hispanics more than "Double E" from CHiPS???  A Hispanic motorcycle police officer from SoCal?  Count me in.  And the man can sing too!

Here are Estrada Division Taco's:

Nuevo Laredo- Tacos de Cameron
Nuevo Laredo- Tacos Mole Pollo
Tacos La Villa- Chorizo
El Senor Taco- Baja Fish

Good luck to all of the taco's and feel free to give me feedback on your thoughts.  This is Atlanta's Best Taco, not The Dry Rubs!

Today's Footnote:

I love creativity with taco's, but this was going WAY over the line.  Just embarrassing.

Completely absurd

The Greater Good BBQ: Random Goodness

Warning:  The following may be inappropriate for children under the age of 13 and those who find the Redskins team name offensive

Who doesn't support the greater good?

The Greater Good BBQ

I've been passing this sign for months thinking this one thought, "Why the hell would they put another restaurant in this horrible location right next to Fellini's and LaFonda?  This is one of the worst parking situations in Atlanta, right?  What is wrong with you people?"

Why would they?  Because they have a great product, that's why.  And I hope the word of mouth gets out like it did to us at the Dry Rub.  My friend Bill called me and said he found an outstanding BBQ joint we have to try in Buckhead.  Wait Bill, did you say Buckhead?  I thought we were going all upscale, Streets of Buckhead, Farm to Table........blah blah blah.

This is the same Bill who is invited to compete in regional BBQ contests.  So if Bill says it's good, that's all I need.  It's like Dave Grohl suggesting a band like Queens of the Stone Age, you know it's the true deal.

These guys know a little bit about good music..and awkward photos

Bill was partial to their pork, though I thought today that their chopped brisket was delicious.  They have a great array of sauces as well.  I was partial to the Carolina vinaigrette for the pork and their house sauce for the brisket.   Our other dining companion, Matt was partial to the sweet sauce.  But Matt has 2 week old twins, so he's in a constant state of delirium at this point.  He may or may not have almost fallen asleep at lunch.  I speak from experience.....

A good chopped brisket retains the fat juices

Another great mark of a good BBQ joint?  The sides of course.  The Mac n' Cheese with a side of angioplasty was outstanding.  The brisket chili was pretty damn good too.  Their baked beans were the perfect compliment to the meat as well.  It's not quite Fox Bros sides, but who is?

To be more specific about the location, The Great Good BBQ went into the old Wolf Camera store.  For those under the age of 30, there used to be free standing camera stores that developed something called film.  These camera lenses would burn an image on this "film" and you or a film store would dip the film into chemicals to create what you still know as a photo.  The film store has gone the way of Record Stores and Horse Carriages.

A brief overview for the youngsters out there:

This plus

Plus this

Plus this

is now replaced by this:

Oh and this device does everything else for you now too.  I fully blame the loss of my memory and my internal clock on the advent of the Iphone.  It has nothing to with age of 3 children of course.

Thanks for allowing my old man moment.  Kids today just don't understand how rough we had it in the 80's.  We did have Miami Vice though.

It may not look like it, but these guys were tough

Today's Footnote:

Happy 6th Birthday to my favorite little girl in the world.  Isabelle, you are growing up too fast.

This seems like just yesterday

Belle, may you keep playing in the rain as long as you can