Wait, that wasn't enough:
LUPE LOVES LOVES LOVES this place!!!
Okay, technically, she has only been there once, tonight, for a quick to-go of three of their tacos, but ALREADY they have completely seduced her. She is pretty much making a list of peeps to take there for food and drinks and fabulous people watching, plus more live music, hopefully!
GREAT staff! Friendly, nice, and fast!!! (And diverse!! And plenty of eye candy for all genders and orientations, although Lupe knows she is very naughty to mention it.)
GREAT decor!!! Nice mural in the back room, very warm and "beach" feel! Almost made Lupe forget she wasn't on the West Coast!
GREAT food!!!! Lupe had three tacos: duck, tofu and carne asada!!! Now she just wants to eat every single thing on the menu!
Now, this is not straight up Angeleno Taqueria. You still gotta head over to Cherokee for that. But no Mexicano would be unhappy here.
In fact, no person from anywhere could be unhappy in this place. (Unless they had some sort of unhappy disorder that prevented them from enjoying great food in a great atmosphere.)
The tofu was excellent, with an avocado slice and Lupe added a salsa that was dark and tasted like roasted tomatoes were in it. NO VEGANS WILL SUFFER AT MISSION TACO. In fact, the tofu is so good carnivores will be tempted... and sated!!!!
The carne asada was delicious!! Lupe wishes she had ordered more than one. There was some sort of cheese and a deep green lettuce. She will be going back tomorrow to get another one and maybe some crab taquitos. She tried a hot red salsa with the carne. It was very good, but Lupe preferred the other one she got. (She promises to investigate the salsas as thoroughly as a sommelier would a wine list on her next visit.)
The duck was very good, however she felt it would have been better with some frijoles y arroz. Duck fat likes to soak into starch, in Lupe's opinion. But Lupe only "likes" duck. She thinks if you love duck you will love these. For one thing, who can resist the crunchy, melt in your mouth bits of grilled duck fat?
They have a full bar, and it was PACKED. Diverse crowd, but mostly 20's-30's and mostly white, and a lot of students. But it is only their fifth night. This place is so attractive that Lupe is certain it will soon be a hot spot for everyone in the Loop. Lupe doesn't think anyone of any culture or age would feel uncomfortable at Mission Taco Joint.
Live music tonight was One Take (with a rocking hot chica singer and fiddler).
OH- and seriously, they need could charge A LOT more for the tacos! Each taco was about $3. Wonderful!
And the to-go containers are not just eco-friendly, they are compost-able!
Lupe's only complaint is that they are only open til 1 AM. She hopes they will get that later liquore licence soon and be open til 3 AM. Lupe is on a Mission: to eat at this place again as often as possible!
C U in the Loop!!! AT MISSION TACO JOINT!!!!
TWO YUMS UP!!!!
EDIT: Mission offers a dish called "Street corn". Kind of funny if you have ever bought "Elotes" (ee-LOW-tahs, from "ears" Lupe thinks) from a street vendor. It's corn on the cob with butter, mayo, lemon juice, salt and hot sauce. You can get queso too, usually a ground up kind of Mexican parmesan. No Mexican restaurant in St Louis run by Mexicans would ever take her suggestion to sell it, since that would be like offering hot dogs at a steak house.
So Lupe is hoping that they will also begin offering her other favourite street food (no, not bacon and jalepeno wrapped hot dogs and sausages) Las Frutas. Usually a blend of oranges, cucumbers, mango, jicama, cantelope, watermelon, and sometimes pineapple and sometimes coconut, with a squeeze of lemon or lime and salt and chili pepper sprinkled on it. (Most of the Latino neighbourhoods have this, not just Mexican.)
Again, no restaurants here will sell it because it is just so common. You can get a 2 lb bag of it on almost every corner in L.A. for about $5 and watch the vendor chop it up to your specifications (Lupe doesn't usually like the coconut, and always needs more chili pepper than they want to give her.) You can also buy Mangos on a stick with the lemon juice, salt and chili pepper.
Lupe is still waiting to see if a common herb "espoto" (? not sure about the spelling) shows up in any Mission dishes. And more cilantro. But this restaurant continues to be a delight!
(If you are in "Hell A" best Mexican street food is in Boyle Heights-- and best Mexican Taqueria too, Carnitas Michoacan. Also you can go down Soto and look at some of the famous murals. Soto and Caeser Chavez is a kind of Chicano/Mexicano Delmar Loop and full of heritage and culture.)
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