8/2/2019 Voice vs Food Taco Showdown by Voice Staff (Honorable Mention)

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Voicevs.Food

Ben Solis

Managing Editor

Josh Chamberlain

Managing Design Editor

When it comes to getting great ood, real ast, at cheap prices, the overall quality o theitems are oten sacrifced. With ast ood joints like McDonalds, Wendys and Burger Kingcornering the burger market, Taco Bell seems to be the only reigning champion o quick,albeit highly Americanized, Mexican ood. Weve all become accustomed to think outside

the bun, as the restaurant claims its customers do when choosing their product, but whatabout the real deal? What about the kind o authentic, tacos that only a local restaurantor market can oer? Where do these places exist in Ypsilanti or Ann Arbor, and are theyworth the time?

Were going for the real deal, so to save time and space, welluse real Spanish words to name the meats and ot her itemswe encountered.

al pastor: marinated pork

carnitas: braised pulled pork

en pollo: boiled, pulled chicken

carne asada: marinated, grilled steak

chorizo: spicy, ground sausage

jarritos: a product o Mexico, this soda comes in manydierent avors, including lime, tamarind, mandarin orange,and strawberry, and is made with real sugar.

goya: the Mexican equivalent to American ood supplierssuch as Krat or Nabisco.

cilantro: a leay herb chopped with onions to topauthentic tacos.

Si Habla?

Not only did Dos Hermanos meet our expectations ontaste and authentic avor, but the act that you can only getthese tacos on weekends beore 4 p.m. makes them a hotcommodity. The small barrio eel o the store, and the actthat every sign is written in Spanish, gave us the eeling obeing in the heart o Mexico.

Dos Hermanos Market

and the winner is

La Casita has a simple atmosphere with a ew small tablespacked in. Its a great to-go stop or residents o the nearbyapartments on Golside Road, and as a result ocuses on oodover atmosphere.

Each taco was served on two corn tortillas, with resh onion,cilantro and lime wedges. Tortillas were lightly ried, and itemswere served a la carte. Mexican Coke and Jarritos are extra.

Joshs tacos: Al Pastor, Carne Asada, En PolloBens tacos: Chorizo, En Pollo, Al Pastor

j: The Al Pastor was a defnite highlight, with strong avorsand decent spice. The chicken tacos were too juicy and lackedavor, but we still had no problem fnishing them.

: La Casita was met at an advantage because it was frst onour stop. The meat was a little overcooked, and the chicken wasa tad bland, but the combination o the meats and the resh in-gredients sold the package.

La Casita 2866 Washtenaw Ave.Ypsilantiprice per taco $1.59

Sabor Latino unctions more as a sit-down restaurant thana taco stand with a ull bar and menu. Sabors menu is pan-Latino, meaning that it covers dishes and delicacies rom theentire Latin world. The price was modest considering the at-mosphere, but a tip is expected.

Each taco was served on three corn tortillas, with resh onion,cilantro and lime. Tortillas were steamed, and items were serveda la carte. During happy hour, enjoy rozen margaritas or $3.

: Al Pastor, Ground Bee s: Grilled Shrimp, Roasted Veggie

: The ree chips and salsa lacked any spice besides garlic,and couldnt even be used to add interest to our bland tacos.Each o the choices lacked avor more than the last, with theonly dominant taste being oil. Sabor Latinos ull menu is re-nowned in Ann Arbor, but we were disappointed with the tacos.They appeared authentic, but bored us out o the restaurant.

: I wanted to try something out o the box, and the veggieand shrimp were much too ar o a reach in terms o getting agood taco. The shrimp had no avor, and the veggies were mushy.Even the tiny bit o cilantro and onion couldnt save it. Steamed

tortillas made the unsavory combination even worse. Sad or ajoint with much better, more traditional dishes.

Sabor Latino 211 North Main St.Ann Arborprice per taco $1.99

Dos Hermanos Market is exactly what it says it isa large

Mexican market store eaturing everything rom resh meats,ruits, imported snacks and beverages and most importantlyhand made tacos. The small taco stand in the middle o thestore serves reshly cooked marinated meats like Carnitas,Lamb and Bee.

Each taco is served on a corn tortilla, ried to perection ona at iron press. The tacos come with resh onion, cilantro andlime but can be garnished with lettuce and tomatoes.

: Carnitas, Barbacoa bee and lamb s: Carnitas

: Each choice o meat is unique and incredibly avor-ul, due to the authentic tradition o keeping chunks o bonein the mix while being braised. Children used to this learn tochew careully early on or the occasional (one in every 20tacos or so) bonedont let this scare you away, because theavor is well worth it.

: Dos Hermanos rocked my world. Everything tastedresh, warm, and you could see that the meat was stewing andbroiling rom earlier in the day. These tacos stole the show. Plus,the addition o eating imported Goya treats and Jarritos sodamade the whole experience that much more valuable.

Dos Hermanos Mkt.410 West Michigan Ave.Ypsilanti

price per taco $1.60

La Fiesta Mexicana is a amily owned restaurant ounded in

Ypsilanti by Michelle Roman in 1989. Romans authentic recipesare exclusive to her kinolk in Jalisco, Mexico, and have beenkeeping Eastern Michigan University students ull ever since.La Fiesta has similar items to the other restaurants we visited,but our ocus was on tacos.

Each taco item is served with dierent fxings depending onwhat you order. However, the items are only served in platters,and ala carte items are not available. Each taco is served on twolightly ried corn tortillas.

: Fried potato s: Steak Taquitos

j: The standout at La Fiesta is the potato taco, with sotchunks o potato seasoned perectly inside a lightly ried corntortilla. Here, I welcome a little sour cream and lettuce to bringsome reshness to the dense potato. With La Fiestas excellenthomemade salsa, this meal wins an award rom the annual TacoTour every time. The service is hit-or-miss, however. Despitethis, its hands-down the best sit-down Mexican restaurant

out there.

: While the ood was excellent, the service and prices at LaFiesta Mexicana were undoubtedly horrible. At frst, the ownerdid not greet us at the door and barked across the restaurant inan attempt to ask how many people we had in our party. Whenwe sat down, she brought us resh salsa and no chips. Ater or-dering the $6 item, chips were still not brought to our table.Finally I asked, and was charged $2 or the minute basket oburnt chips. Great ood, but I probably wont go back ever again.

La Fiesta Mexicana529 West Cross St.Ypsilanti

tacos not sold a la carte;platters range from $6$8

Tios is well known around Ann Arbor, and has been visitedbyMan Vs. Foodstar Adam RichmanRichman took on Tiossignature, fve-pound heavyweight, the Mount Nacheesmonacho platter.

Each taco was served dierently. Two o the tacos were servedon our tortillas and one o them was served on a crunchy cornshell. Each taco had its own air based on the order. Drinkswere extra, but be sure to check out Tios signature Sangria.

: Al Pastor, Americano, Authentico

(The Americano and Authentico are Tios creations).

j: While not authentic, the Americano satisfed our hungerthe best o the threeit was crunchy, atty, and ull o dairy, andwere in the Midwest. The Al Pastor had pineapples to sweetenthe deal, but was nothing compared with the avor o the otherrestaurants. Our wallets empty and stomachs grumbling, welet disappointed.

: I thought that these tacos were at least better than Sabors,but they still lacked the authentic zing o resh ingredients andbiting lime. The sour cream, cheese and beans added to the

Americano was a dierent take, although it was an Americantake, and spiced up our lives rom the onslaught o tacos we hadbeen consuming all day. Tios was not what its cracked up to be.

Tios 401 East Liberty St.Ann Arborprice per taco $2.49

We graded the tacos on a scale o 1 to5, with 5 tacos being the best.

January 9, 2012 The Washtenaw VoiceA8

ILLUSTRATIONS BY HAFSAH MIJINYAWA

THE WASHTENAW VOICE

SATURDAY, MARCH 17, 2012 9 a.m. 1 p.m.

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