"Chicken Soft Tacos" Topic

I'm quite fond of the chicken soft tacos sold by Del Taco – the much smaller California Mexican fast food chain. It is a basic taco in a soft tortilla (naturally enough) with – not surprisingly – cubed seasoned chicken in lieu of the beef.

There is a creamy sauce that really ties the whole thing together flavor-wise.

After some searching, it turns out that it is a roughly 50-50 mix of mayonnaise and sour cream.

There was an ulterior motive to making this for dinner tonight. We have a five-pound package of frozen, pre-cooked mesquite-flavored chicken breasts from Costco. Uncharacteristically for Costco products, the darn things just don't taste that good. However, I am happy to report that, after being soaked and then mixed into the mayo/cream sauce, they are quite palatable. The ultimate proof is that the kids had seconds and the food was completely devoured.

I'll have to get my lovely wife to help me tweak things a bit so it is more flavorful.

Wyatt

A little chopped fresh cilantro mixed into the sauce should give it a little extra flavor, Wyatt.

I remember Del Taco. There used to be some franchises here in Texas back in the late-'70s and early-'80s.

A bit of lime squeezed on top? Well most anything tastes good soaked in mayo and sour cream. ;)

"…the much smaller California Mexican fast food chain…"

It all depends on your perspective. Here in Barstow (including Lenwood), there are three Del Tacos and two Taco Bells. Of course, Del Taco started in Yermo. There used to have a Naugles, too; Dick Naugle was a former Del Taco store owner who branched out on his own, but in the late 80s, the two brands merged.

The Hackbarths kept the three Barstow stores when they sold off the franchise operation back in the '70s. Most people think that the quantity and quality of the food served in the three stores here is far superior to that of the franchise. I think it's all crap.

Face it: Glenn Bell, San Bernardino--not Mexican. Ed Hackbarth, who worked for Bell initially--not Mexican. All the local Del Taco stores here now are *staffed* by Mexicans (the Taco Bells by pimply gringo kids who can't get a job anywhere else), but that doesn't make their food any better.

Jeebus, Wyatt, *those* chicken soft tacos? Costco chicken??? Sorry, my friend; I know you guys can cook lovely food. But you're turning my stomach! And I just got up!

Allen

"Well most anything tastes good soaked in mayo and sour cream."

Aauuugh!!! There's a reason we picked up *real* crema and *real* queso fresco cremoso at the Hispanic market this week.

Allen

And now there is discord in the Curtis household, as Nancy does not go ""Aauuugh!!!" at the thought. She likes creamy things. She does acknowledge that her Hispanic colleagues both here and back in Texas have alwasy laughed at the idea that Mexicans put sour cream on everything.

Back after a proper breakfast.

Allen

mix in a tablespoon of adobo sauce, the liquid that chipotle chiles are packed in. Makes everything better.

Being a Tex-Mexican myself, I certainly agree that home cooked Southwestern Mexican and Tex-Mex doesn't use sour cream.

However, California-Mex and Mexican-Mex does. The same goes for fish. Basically the cuisine reflectswhat food stuffs are available in a particular region.

In other words, there are no hard and fast rules in food world. And now-a-days with melting pot regions and spreading influence of people from Mexico, Central and South America speading all over the United States you can expect to see more "fusion" dishes.

For instance, when I lived in San Antonio, TX, (my home town) there were at least to Chinese-Mexican resaurants I can think of. I just spoke to someone yesterday that told me about getting Italian Nachos ont he Riverwalk. I seen more than one "Mexican" Pizza.

While purists (you know, those guys who still play WRG 7th and Empire…) may turn thier noses up at the though of this gastronomic evolution, I try to keep and open mind and let my taste buds make the decisions rather than my preconceptions.

SO…if mixing sour cream and mayo, then tossing store-bought precooked chicken then rolling in a mass produced flour tortilla tastes good to you, go for it!

I love chicken soft tacos, preferably with shredded chicken soaked in a chunky picante sauce.

Hey XRays, what was your favorite Tex-Mex place when you were in SA? Me, the Bandera Rd Chachos in the DAYTIME, or the ORIGINAL Rita's. If i was about to be put up against the wall by the local junta and given a choice for one last meal, it would be at Rosario's, of course.

I originally meant to write that I am well aware that Del Taco and Taco Bell aren't "real Mexican" but are basically "honkey tacos" as a Hispanic friend put it. But they're better than the places in the Southeast where catsup was considered a viable salsa alternative.

This wasn't an attempt at authentic south-of-the-border cuisine so you can ease you're troubled mind, Allen. Instead it was a field exercise with an eye towards using up the aforementioned mesquite chicken in a manner other than as cat food.

Wyatt

So…"Tex-Mex" isn't considered pejorative any more among Texans? It still was when we were there.

The "Houston Press" had a good series on the origins of the genre, almost a decade ago:

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And it's worth reading through, as it touches on a lot of the points made so far.

I wouldn't know where to go around here to get "California-Mex", unless that describes the "honkey taco" places. Or maybe Baja Fresh, another chain started by a gringo. Maybe I'm just overlooking the "acclimatized" joints, since we tend to laser in on the authentic ones, but every Mexican restaurant we frequent either here or on the Victor Valley does basically the home cooking of the family that runs it, whatever region they're from.

I reported a while back on the Oaxacan place we found while dropping off Nancy's no-longer-needed wheelchair. That took the proprietor explaining a whole new menu vocabulary. One place we used to like in Apple Valley was La Fonda, which was Veracruzana. It was taken over by another family that also owned Los Domingo here in Barstow; they have continued the seafood-heavy menu, but don't do it as well.

***Which was originally the hotel restaurant for the Holiday Inn when we got here twenty years ago. The Holiday Inn moved to one, then another location. The hotel became the Quality Inn, and Los Domingos took over the restaurant operation about ten years ago. They bring in lots of locals for their Sunday brunch, which I admit has a number of the features of "Not-Mex" adapted for gringo palates.

Another family that took over the location of the original Sizzler here does an odd combination of beef-heavy vaquero dishes and Gulf-style seafood, but neither is horribly Americanized. Except for the chips and salsa!

We've also been blessed over the years with a number of little mom-and-pop taco operations that do real tacos, with authentic meat selections, including the ones alien to most Californians.

But that's because in this area, Mexican immigrants established carnicerias and markets to make available the stuff they were familiar with from home. I've commented before how great it is to have a branch of the Vallarta supermarket chain, even if it's 30 miles away. Very few of these restaurants ever adapted to Anglo tastes (as described in the "Press" series); their clientele wasn't Anglo, so there was no need to!

I'll admit, there's one place that the Anglo locals love: Rosaritas. It has every cliche of Mexican-American restaurant kitsch, and the menu is absolutely tasteless. I remember having gone there once while TDY here almost 30 years ago, and never went back. Nancy's office had a retirement party there once; she went (i refused!), and was disgusted.

Same way with the Canton, which has been here forever: 1950s-style Americanized Chinese. The cats wouldn't touch it!

There's a reason that real regional cooking is good, and it *is* dependent on the produce and meats and other ingredients available. But "fusion": there have been a lot of sins committed in that name that people ought to go to hell for! I like Guy Fieri on one of his Food Network shows. But when he sticks *Southern* BBQ pork and French Fries in a sushi roll: no thanks! (His restaurants are in Northern California, where people just don't know no better…)

When venturing down to the smog basin, one of its few redeeming features is that over the years, immigrants have come and set up ethnic enclaves. So you *can* find honest Japanese noodle joints, or real Chinese food, or Filipino, or Vietnamese, or Ethiopian, or whatever grabs you. You don't have to settle for something that's been diluted and modified to suit the average un-traveled American's palate. We can leave them the Taco Bells and Panda Expresses.

Allen

"Mexican immigrants"?

In California, Texas, New Mexico? Ummm….

Favorite in SA, BTW is Tink-A-Tako over by Ingram Mall. I know it's not great, but I know what I'm going to get on the Mexican Plate and I really, really like their Menudo!

"Mexican immigrants"?

Yep, there was *no-one* in what would become Barstow and Victorville in Old California! First gringo arrived in 1858. We're all immigrants here.

Allen

"But when he sticks *Southern* BBQ pork and French Fries in a sushi roll… (His restaurants are in Northern California, where people just don't know no better…)"

This Northern Californian thinks that's pretty disgusting, actually.

I cast too broad a net. Fieri's places are in Sonoma County, with a couple in Sac'to and Roseville. Maybe that's the problem.

Allen

Remember, Taco Bell wins the Restaurant Wars in the LA of the future!

There's a very good Mexican fast food place based out of Corona called Miguel's. The family is originally from Sonorra and they've grown their one restaurant into about 6-8 locations including a pair of sit-downs. Only the fast-food locations (Miguel's Jr.) have the "Pop's Burrito" which is carne asada steak, tomatoes and guacamole inside a tortilla. The original restaurant is something like 30+ years old. "Puerto Vallarta" which specialized in Mexican food from that region – including the seafood – just shut down after 15 years. It was a good break from typical "Mexican."

Wyatt

>So…"Tex-Mex" isn't considered pejorative any more among Texans?

It wasn't when I was a boy. We were Americans for several generations. Food I grew up on is what you'll find in a "typical" tex-mex joint. Never heard of a "taqueria," fish tacos, or eating cabrito until the mid-80's (Reagan's amnesty thing to blame for that?). Tex-Mex to me is the food of farm and ranch hands, like my parents folks actually were in Central Texas. They used flour instead of corn, heavy on the beef EVERYTHING, and also lots of "leftovers" like barbacoa, menudo, and fajitas.

I used to describe myself as Mexican when I was a boy, and everyone seemed to know what that meant-- an American of Mexican ancestry. Now I guess I'm "hispanic?"

As the Houston Press article starts out, 'In the good old days, Texans went to "Mexican restaurants" and ate "Mexican food."'

Uh Oh…
You guys have done it!

You dared discuss one of Mr. aecurtis' most inviolate topics!

Mexican / Central American / Texas / California, etc… food.
The food with Tacos and Tamales and Carnitas, etc…

Don't you know you aren't allowed to talk about this subject unless you have forwarded your comments for proper clearance?!?!

Silly silly TMPer's…
tsk tsk tsk

..as I sit munching on soft chicken tacos. Nancy had done some chicken in the oven and shdredded that. Stuffed into doubled, small corn tortillas, warmed on the comal, with a nice fresh pico de gallo (tomato and cilantro), plenty of queso fresco crubmed on top, and El Pato's (green) salsa picante. The low-fat version.

Allen

FWIW, I find the Del Taco Chicken Soft Taco rather "meh". Not sure if I got an odd batch, my taste buds were already asleep that night, or what, but the group I was with raves about them and I found them merely edible.

Mayo on tacos doesn't compute with me for some reason.

The kids love Del Taco bean and cheese burritos. They're the darnedest bland things I've ever encountered, so I understand why they do, with kids' palates. Their elder sister, before she went off to college, used to eat at least one meal a day there with her friends when she would le it: bean and cheese burritos, and the soda cups full of fries. The whole menu rates a "meh" from me, but these things are addictive to some, I guess.

Allen

wangle is a perfectly good word: "wrangle" without an "r". The Bleep-o-matic is an idiot.

And inconsistent.

I can agree with these sentiments so far as Chinese food goes. After having eaten"authentic" Cantonese food in Guangzhou, the Chinese food here at home is far,far different. Of course,things that are a delicacy there wouldnt be allowed any where near my mouth. Stir fried leeches,anyone?