Great Tacos: Taco Loco #2 at Maria’s Cafe

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Taco Loco #2 (wieners, papas, beans, cheese, pico de gallo); Maria’s Cafe, 1105 Nogalitos St.; (210) 207-7005; 6:30 a.m.-2 p.m. Monday-Friday; 7 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday-Sunday

You could throw a dart at the menu at Maria’s Cafe, a near South Side taqueria pillar, and hit a great taco. Maria’s is that good. If I could describe the food there in one word, that word would be “freshness.” I don’t know, but Maria’s might be my favorite taqueria.

Of all the great tacos Maria’s has to offer, the Taco Loco #2 — an assembly of wieners, papas, beans, cheese and pico de gallo — was the most memorable. With flour tortillas quite excellent, they assemble together wieners, papas, beans and cheese. On top of it all is about the freshest and best pico de gallo I’ve had so far writing this blog. It’s one of those roughly chopped picos with the small chunks of serrano pepper — seeds and all. The tomato and onion are chopped just as coarsely.

The entire taco, again, is fresh. It’s one of those crazy mixtures where all of the ingredients really work together. The combo of ingredients may seem all thrown together and random, a la a trash can-style taco, but this isn’t the case with the Taco Loco #2. The bean and cheese on the flour tortilla is the base of the whole thing, but well cooked and seasoned potatoes and wieners elevate this taco into Great Taco status.

Other Great Tacos

Carne guisada at Mi Celayence, 2903 Fredericksburg Road