Taco Palenque

Sorry for the late (and somewhat short!) review...the holiday really threw me off my A-Game!

Taco Palenque is located at 307 Military in Dodge City, KS., snuggled behind the difficult-to-miss Lucky Liquor on Military and Ave B.

 

Here's a photo of the chips and salsa-very hot!

Here's a photo of the four tacos I ordered (four different types).

Taco Palenque was a bit more of an adventure than some of the other places we've been. The parking lot was replete with signs of previous Mexican eateries that had come before Palenque...and The Scotsman had already sworn that today would be his first day to try out tongue tacos! Then, when we arrived, the waitress had to get someone who spoke a little English. Soon we received our customary chips and (flaming hot) salsa...and ten minutes (and many burned taste buds) later, our waitress brought in a case of bottled water and my amigos got their water.

The inside decor was pleasant with a lot of yellow splashed everywhere. Mexican soap operas were playing from a high-mounted t.v. when we went in, which was a nice touch. When we paid, the cashier did not have change for a $20, which I found highly unusual.

On to the reviews

K-Dawg had three tacos (including tripe)

Tacos: 4 average

Chips and Salsa: 4 (hot!)

Quote: "I'm taking my brother here-he'd love this place".

Sarge had tacos too, including tripe and tongue)

Tacos: 4 (tongue taco was really good)

Chips and Salsa: 4 (tasty but too hot)
Quote: "This place seemed like the most authentic overall".

The Scotsman had tacos including tongue!

Tacos: 3 for the tongue, 4 for that marinated pork

Chips and Salsa: 4 (good but way too hot!)

The Scotsman came to play and showed us that he could down tongue tacos no problem. In fact, he seemed a little disappointed-said they were kind of uneventful.

I had four different tacos (steak, tongue, marinated pork, and something I can't recall). I washed it all down with an apple-flavored Mexican soda in a glass bottle.

Tacos: 3 overall

Chips and Salsa: 4 (hot like I like it!)

Two of my tacos were pretty good (tongue and marinated pork), one was okay, and the steak one was not good at all (slimy and greasy tasting).

Overall Tacotourtuesday gang would recommend this joint-with one dissenting voice (mine!).  I liked the atmosphere but felt like the food wasn't as good as other places we'd been to.

El Rinconsito De Chapala

Another week has passed and we set out to sample the cuisine at the 2nd Mexican place on our list: El Rinconsito De Chapala at 1601 W. Wyatt Earp in Dodge City. We lost K-Dawg due to his overbooked schedule but luckily we found a worthy substitution in "Duke", a friend of The Scotsman.

Though our quest has only lasted about two weeks, I can already see a change in our group. The Sarge walks with even more confidence. The Scotsman has confided in me that soon he will try a tongue taco. And my pants are fitting a little tighter than I'd like. But don't think of us as heroes-we're just four Anglos who will not rest until we have sampled every Mexican place in Ole Dodge City!

I was a little apprehensive about this place. I had not hear any buzz and this building has gone through several different restaurants in the last year or two-so many, in fact, that I thought it might be possible that it could change to a different place while we were actually eating there...

...so I took a close-up of the sign before I went inside!

Once we went inside, I appreciated the colorful decor-it was much nicer than I expected, clean, and spacious. The waitress spoke very good English and answered all of our questions. She also gave recommendations and provided really great service to us throughout our meal.

Here is a photo of the chips and salsa. Both were distinctive: the chips were triangular and very thick and hard and the salsa was very spicy!

Sarge ordered chili relano. Unlike many places that just give one, El Rinconsito doubles up!

Chili relano: 4 (good but not spectacular. She commented that the relano could have used a little more flavor.

Chips and Salsa: 3 (too spicy!)

I had Camarone de Diablo (or something like that). Think "shrimp in some bright red sauce). It was very good, though not nearly as spicey as I had been led to believe.

Camarone de Diablo: 3.5 (pretty good but I wanted those shrimp to pack a more fiery punch)

Chips and Salsa: 4 (very spicy. Would have gotten a 5 but those chips were a bit TOO crunchy!)

The Scotsman had two gorditas, filled with ground beef. Note I did NOT say he had "tongue tacos" but I'm sure he'll make good on his promise to try them before we get to the end of our quest.

Gorditas: 3.5 (not a big fan of corn tortillas)

Chips and Salsa: 4 (also thought the chips were too hard)

When Duke's meal came out, I had a little "Diner's Envy". He had ordered Carne Asada (or something like that) and I expected to see a small pile of meat strips that he would load into a tortilla along with some other stuff. Instead, he got a steak with a mound of reddish chorizo sausage and a side of cactus. Wow!

Carne Asada Steak Chorizo Plate: 4

Chips and Salsa: 3.5 (chips just too darn crunchy)!

Overall we all enjoyed the meals and were impressed with the service. The waitress also told us that they vary the salsa that accompanies the chips, which really makes me want to go back and see if they do! They also have three kinds of dessert, including some kind of of caramel apple and some flann.

Taco el Pastorcito

Since the last post, we have spent the week feverishly researching all of the Mexican places in Dodge City to eat. So far our list is over twenty and I would be surprised if it doesn't hit twenty-five or higher by the time we were finished.

For our first stop, we followed the suggestion of "Sarge" and decided to hit Taco el Pastorcito at 106 N. 2nd in Ole Dodge City. Currently occupying the building that used to be Mr. Burger and Thai Angel, Taco el Pastorcito has big shoes to fill-and our intrepid team of eaters were eager to find out if this taco place had what it takes!

To me, the atmosphere was kinda dull, though the place was clean. Our waitress was friendly and understood what we were saying-and gave me a recommendation on what I might enjoy eating. Notably, the menu had a breakfast section.

On to the reviews:

(Please remember our reviewers are professionals and use the 5 star system to review)

Sarge had chicken enchiladas. She made several comments about the (good) quality of the chips and salsa (and I agreed!).

Chicken Enchiladas: 3

Chips and Salsa: 4

The Scotsman had beef enchiladas (which due to my laziness {and the fact that it looked almost exactly like Sarge's chicken enchiladas}, I am not posting a photo. He also enjoyed the chili peppers that K-Dawg recommended which were very hot but very good!

Beef Enchiladas: 4

Chips and Salsa: 4

Chili Peppers: 5

K-Dawg ordered this torta. I cannot remember what type it was but it disappeared pretty quick so I think I'll try one next time.

Torta: 4

Chips and Salsa: 4

Chilis: 5

Above is what, for the majority of our meal, I thought of as "Ryan's Mystery Meat Thing". The waitress had recommended I order this but I could not understand her. Then, when it arrived, I kind of thought of it as a burrito that had ruptured or perhaps some new experimental thing. Though it looks kind of nasty, it smelled really good and after one bite, I was hooked!

Chicken Chipotle Burrito Thing: 5

Chips and Salsa: 4

Chili: 5

In my mind, there are three notable things about Tacos el Pastorcito:

1) The food is cheap. And pretty good.

2) I heard on good authority that "el pastorcito" means "the shepherd"-which is kinda cool in a weird way. They are the "Taco Shepherds" of Dodge City!

3) The salsa is sweet and chunky and the chili peppers are very hot and tasty!

Overall our trip to Taco el Pastorito was a success and I'll be going again soon. I do fear that we might have gone to one of the best places first-but we shall see what wonders Dodge City's Mexican eateries have in store for us!

Recon complete. Soon we march to Mexico...

...or at least the flavor of it! We four intrepid explorers have banded together...Four gringos going where no one has gone before: To experience the food of every single Mexican restaurant in Dodge City that we can find. Yes there are only four of us. Yes there are many of them. But we have over a hundred years of experience between us and we're ready to wrangle some tacos in Old Dodge City!