Drunk Tex-Mex?

I was staying at a hotel in Seneca / Clemson and after a long day decided not to stray too far from the hotel. I’d already been to Popeye’s and Five Guys just felt like it was going to be too heavy so Tipsy Taco it was.

The place has outside seating that I would have gone with if it was just a few degrees cooler. Instead I parked at a high top in the bar area. This is a regional chain, mostly in the Greenville, SC area but they’ve strayed up to Charlotte now as well. As my title says it is a casual Tex-Mex restaurant with some interesting choices on the menu. In my case I went with their Street Taco and the Luck O’ the Irish with a side of street corn.

As you look at the picture you may be saying to yourself, “Dude that ain’t street corn, it’s off the cob”. You are correct, they may be tipsy but they know eating corn on the cob can be messy and conveniently offer it off the cob. It’s cooked on a flat top I suppose with butter and seasoning. It is quite tasty.

You can select from flour tortilla, white corn tortilla, hard shell or lettuce wrap to keep the filling from falling between your fingers. I got the street taco with white corn tortilla and the Luck O’ the Irish with flour tortilla. The street taco is beer braised pork, onions, cilantro and lime. Fairly standard and it is good but not outstanding. I started to say nothing to write home about yet here I am writing away. The LOTI consists of corned beef brisket, shredded cabbage, swiss cheese and thousand island dressing. Mine had a good flavor but was a bit fatty. Reflecting on it I don’t even remember the cheese. I’m not sold on the dressing but it keeps it from being too dry.

Food wise the corn was probably what I enjoyed most. My beverage, a Wicked Weed Pernicious IPA, came in second. The tacos were about even with the Street taking the taste medal but LOTI got the prize for originality. I wasn’t blown away but the atmosphere was good and they have a couple of other tacos that look intriguing so I expect I’ll be back once I move to the area.

Feeling Cheeky

Taqueria Celeste

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Today was just about as perfect a day as you could ask for to dine outdoors.  That being the case and continuing the segue to food trucks being added to the international restaurant theme of the blog I decided to hit up the food truck closest to me.  The Taqueria Celeste is just about a mile from my house and within walking distance if I wanted to risk my life crossing Celanese Rd.

It’s located in the back corner of a gas station parking lot and is a semi-permanent fixture.  They drive the truck up to a covered area with some picnic tables, fire up the generator, hang the signs and they are good to go.

They specialize in tacos (duh), tortas and burittos among other things.  Here are a couple of the menu boards in case you were wondering what kind they have.  In case you didn’t know, and I’ll admit I didn’t until a couple of years ago, a torta is a sandwich.

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After deciding on a cabeza burrito and a campechano taco I placed my order with the elementary school kid working the window who was quite polite and helpful.

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After a short wait enjoying the wonderfully cool fall weather (finally) my food was up.

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The tacos here come standard with onions, cilantro and radish on a soft tortilla.  The ground steak taco had plenty of meat and was ok but nothing to make you go out of you way for.  The beef cheek burrito comes with the titular beef cheek and Mexican rice wrapped up to make the burrito.  This was my first beef cheek and it was not bad if a little fatty.  It wasn’t spicy at all and the rice had decent flavor so it also wasn’t special other than the fact I got to use it in my title.  The mango drink was probably the most interesting item I had.  Although not Mexican it did have an international component being made in Korea.  I was surprised on my first sip to find it had bits of mango floating in it kind of like pulp in orange juice and there was some in every sip.

Overall if I hadn’t been here before and tried one of their sandwiches and a different taco only their proximity might get me to come back but I know the chorizo torta with the load of jalapenos they use is muy bueno.