I ate at these two new comers in the shopping plaza at Dr Phillips and Sand Lake yesterday at lunch time. I was hoping to shoe horn the first one into the best of list. Alas, it was unworthy. Even if I put them in the cheap classification.
Bartaco - It seemed to have it all. Cheap, fashionable tacos. Point Break sounding owners. Unpretentious cool. It sounded...well now that I think about it...it sounded kind of shallow. A restaurant is essential and existentially about food, right? And that is where they dropped the ball for me. Now that is fixable. And it may have been an anomaly. However, we rate the experience and not the promise around here. I had their $10 lunch tray (soup or salad with three tacos). I chose the chicken, the pork pastor and fried fish tacos and a bowl of pork pozole. The chicken was slightly undercooked thigh meat. It was flabby and cut in overly large hunks. The pork in the pastor was bland on its own and overwhelmed by the pineapple. The fish was the worst. Soggy. Old. Brittle. Cod? I just purchased some frozen cod at Winn Dixie that was priced at two for one (so you know it was old) and it was of a better quality than this. All the tacos were near "naked" with the exception of some spice on the meat and raw onions. The small soft tortillas needed more browning. I will stipulate that the tacos tasted better as a sum of their parts than they did when I picked them apart. The pozole had almost no pozole (hominy). I think I counted four. The "stock" was really on the "stew" side. It was like a red mojo sauce. There was plenty of braised pork in it though. The serving was big for it to be in the lunch tray. I regular bowl runs $7. I prefer chicken based pozole. Those tacos and some veggy ones, some rice bowls and a ceviche are really the whole menu. The place looks great. The main room is white and blue with upturned hampers turned into lampshades and potted plants hanging from the ceiling. The bar is towards the back (with the kitchen). They had some baskets with fake fruit for color at the rear right wall. The patio area in front is backed by garage doors that close off the main room. It seats about 100. The booths and tables are natural wood. The walls showcase photo posters from the owners' travels as well as sport (golf, tennis, surfing) themed collage poster art. Service was good. They are dressed in matching outfits (blue checkered shirts and khakis). They even gave me a chip for a free taco. Like I said, I really want to praise them, but, that food needs to be better. They do so little that they better do it right. I was there early, so, maybe the cooks were still getting thawed out. Although, that fish quality makes me wary. It was understandably empty-ish when I started eating. It (especially) the patio picked up as the day went on. If I had to choose Rocco's Tacos or Bartaco, I would choose Bartaco. It fits my sensibilities better. I grew up surrounded by the things in here. Just fix the food! I believe they opened a few weeks ago. It is part of a chain that started in Georgia for some reason even though at least the owners is South American and they describe the place as being influenced by Brazilian, Uruguayan and Californian beach culture. I didn't love that they charged $3 for about four shots of Coke (with refill). It's almost worse when the tacos are only $2.50. I will recommend it based on the decor and the pricing and the elan. If you get better execution from the kitchen than I did then you will really like it. It's next to the French place around the center of the marketplace.
Pincho Factory - I grabbed a daily special to go at this South American/Latin "finger food" (burger and hot dogs and chicken sandwiches) spot a few door down from Bartaco (near Einstein's) yesterday. The special was Vaca Frita (beef). It cost $8. It was the best thing I ate all day. It was served on tostones like a hamburger. The shredded beef was moist. The pan frying added a little crispness. The plantains could have been fried a little longer. That's all it was. That's all it needed to be. The rest of the menu is made up of those overly complicated hot dogs and burgers that they seem to love south of the border and on the islands. Unnecessary to me. I don't like what the do to a dog in Chicago. It's wiener molestation if you ask me. And when it triples the price, I'm really out. It's a burgeoning chain from Miami. It has been open for eight months. It is run like a fast food place. It was clean and new and simply decorated. Fine for what it is. Prices are from $6 to $9.
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