Tacos in Taos

Tacos!   I love tacos, especially ground beef tacos.  Yeah, yeah, I know they aren’t very vegan-friendly but as far as I’m concerned, ground beef tacos are one of the best foods on the planet.

This week, a friend and I took a day-trip to Taos, New Mexico – a most fabulous and enchanting place to visit.  We spent hours out at the Earthships west of town (another story for another day) and cruising up Taos Canyon east of town, where I spent some time many years ago visiting an aunt who lived in the canyon (also another story…).  The Earthships were wonderful and marvelous and the fall color in the Canyon of the maple and pinon trees changing colors was spectacular, but as the day continued, I knew we needed to find a place to stop and get something to eat for lunch. As we were driving out of the main part of town, there it was: Rickys Restaurant Comidas Nuebo Mexicanas, a little bitty place right on the main drag just south of the crowded, touristy Taos Plaza area, with a large, shady parking lot where we could stop and open the windows for Dinah Dog. This little place doesn’t even have a website… just a Facebook page.  Definitely my kind of place.

We were the only customers in the restaurant but it was well after the normal lunch time for most people; I figured we were assured of the most excellent service possible, given that no one else was there!  On the counter was a sign board with a listing of the daily specials, which included a bowl of posole, but the one that caught my eye was first on the list: 3 Beef Tacos.  Yay!  Tacos!  Ground beef tacos!  Both my friend and I ordered the taco special and as we waited, the two of us eagerly anticipating our ground beef tacos, a young lady brought us our drinks, which were magically included in the price of the special.  Yes, my kind of place.

While we waited, I looked around, taking in the little counter in front of the little kitchen, the half-dozen or so tables, the woman filling the salt and pepper shakers, and of course, the wall decorations.  Hanging there right above us were a couple of seemingly incongruent pieces: a  framed signed poster of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, and a print of Mary, the Mother of God, with her cheek near the feet of Jesus hanging on the cross while he died (click on the photo to see the inscription by the cheerleaders; sorry there’s no similar note by Jesus or his mother).  Okay… Jesus, Mary, and cheerleaders – looks like we’ll be eating our lunch in the company of the perfect companions.  My kind of place!

The tacos arrived, paired up with a little container of New Mexico-style salsa.  And of course, being New Mexico after all, the salsa was anything but mild and tasteless – not especially hot and spicy but with a bold hint of the chiles that are so prevalent everywhere here.  The tortillas were “toasted” on the grill so they weren’t greasy fried; the cheese was melted onto the masa just so perfectly; the ground beef cooked up just the way I like it.  Lettuce, tomatoes, grated cheese, salsa – all the perfect accompaniments to a scrumptious ground beef taco.
I slowly, slowly, ate the most excellent tacos I’m sure I’ve ever had (outside of my own kitchen, of course!);  they were so delicious, I didn’t want them to ever end!  Can it get any better than this?

I don’t think so.  This is definitely my kind of place!