by Danielle Leahy photos by Jacque Manaugh
Starting off the new year right and with street tacos on the lineup we decided to hit up El Rincon De Villa after some encouraging words and recommendations from the Tacobots Facebook page. El Rincon is a great little Mexican restaurant located off Greenville Ave and Park Lane this tiny yellow building holds a ton of great tacos. Painted a bright and cheery yellow and covered in old photos of Mexican outlaws along with hand painted Spanish sayings adorning the wall, this place was cute and comfortable from the moment we walked in.
Starting off with delicious warmed red salsa that packs the perfect punch and thin crispy chips the Bots got right down to business reviewing the taco options at El Rincon. With over seven street tacos available there are plenty of choices for everyone at El Rincon.
The most popular without a doubt were the al pastor, cooked rotisserie style like a gyro, and topped with sweet pineapple, onions, and cilantro. So juicy, so tangy salty sweet, so flavorful. I could eat these thing all damn day.
The next favorite was definitely the carnitas. Arriving as a single huge chunk of juicy, melt in your mouth, shoulder meat this pork taco was so well prepared I almost skipped the condiments just so I could revel in it’s butterieness.
The chicken tinga was another amazing taco and one that received many an accolade around the table that night. This is a smokey sweet sauce made with chipotles and adobo, definitely kicks it up a notch in the chicken taco world. If you like the spice and flavor of the other tacos but want to keep the healthiness of sticking to chicken then the tinga is the taco for you.
With the top three out of the way next up were the picadillo, fajita chicken and the beef. In fact the only taco I found to be not on the level of the rest was the Bistec, mostly due to the marinade having such and overwhelming hint of soy sauce it almost didn’t taste like a street taco. On top of the great tacos across the board all the meals came with delicious refried beans and rice. Now as any Mexican food aficionado knows, you eat a lot of bad beans and poor quality rice in this game. This was not the case with El Rincon. The beans came packed with flavor and you could tasted the bacon lard underneath adding a meaty smokiness to the taste and the pile of cojito on top added the perfect salty spark to each bite. The rice came loaded with peas and carrots and was buttery and well cooked.
Another do not miss on the list at El Rincon are their FRESH juices: lemonade, orange, and pineapple. We found the pineapple to be a perfect pairing to the al pastor tacos and the perfect combination of tangy sweet with out being overloaded with sugar.
On a final note, I wanted to take a second and say congrats and carry on to El Rincon’s new owner Oscar. Despite being the only person working that night (yes, they knew we were coming) and speaking limited English, he was nothing but smiles the entire evening. Super gracious and very excited to share his food with us, he never once acted stressed and gave out great suggestions and helpful hints to everyone who ordered. Owner’s like that, who want to share enthusiasm, no matter what language and cultural barrier lie in the way are what make Tacobots possible.
Of course opening at 4am (yep you read that right) on the weekends and serving traditional Mexican hangover helpers like chilaquiles, pozole, and huevos rancheros is another surefire way to keep El Rincon De Villa on the lips and hearts of Tacobots everywhere.
Want to join Tacobots or have a great idea for our next Meetup? Check out our group on Facebook or email me at tacobotsdfw@gmail.com
I enjoy looking through a post that will make people think. Also, thanks for allowing for me to comment!