Taco Azul

Lately I have been hitting up a lot of the Food Trucks here in Cincinnati. I don't know what it is about them, maybe the personal feel to them and the tweeting back and fourth with the people that will be serving you the food that day. Whatever it is, it has me hooked right now.



Today I went to Taco Azul a taco truck (obviously). When I got to the truck there were already about 10 people hovered around it. Most of them had already ordered so I didn't have to wait in much of a line to put my order in. I decided to go with three different tacos since I had never been there before and knew I would be writing about it later. I got the chicken, carnitas and the al pastor. I got cheese and guac on all three of them and some pico de gallo on the side. The guac was $.50 extra per taco (yet it seems like they only charge this sometimes, per my friend who got his for free).



We waited to get our food for a good amount of time, but not to the point where I was getting mad about it. To ease the pain, they offered up some free chips and salsa in small dishes to people waiting in line. I'm glad they did because I got to try some and it was really good. It had just the right amount of kick to it without being overbearing. One thing I did want to note to them was that the truck is so loud that they really need to speak up, I had a very hard time even hearing my own name. I had to keep leaning into them to hear what they were asking or telling me. This also caused a problem with the music, I couldn't hear it unless I was right next to it and even then it was hard to hear. It didn't bother me too much, it was just more of an FYI for them.





We got our food and went to a near by bench to eat it. I reached in and grabbed my first taco, which happened to be the al pastor. First thing I noticed when I opened it up was that they most likely were all going to be served on corn tortillas rather than flour (which I expected). The tacos were good, but the main taste I had in my mouth was the tortillas. Next time, I might ask if they can just use one instead of two to maybe cut down on the taste of them. The guac wasn't the best and didn't add much flavor. I did add some pico de gallo to it to try and add some more flavor and juice, which seemed to help a little. I still enjoyed Taqueria Mercado more, but it is tough to beat the price.



The next taco I pulled out happened to be the carnitas, which happened to be my favorite of the three. It had the most flavor and was the juiciest. I didn't even need to add any of the pico de gallo since it was good on its own. I would probably just get two of these next time, yet they don't always sell this taco (bummer).



My third taco was the chicken. Most chicken tacos I get from Mexican restaurants (except Nada) seem to always be the driest tacos, this was no exception. I added the rest of my pico de gallo to help, but it didn't do much. The guac didn't help much and when I opened the taco up to see where everything was, I pulled out basically 1/4 of an avocado. The guac was so hard (due to this avocado) that I couldn't even put my finger through it. I enjoy more of a paste like guacamole. The good thing about this was the fact that I could tell that they were making the guac right there on the truck and that it was as fresh as it could be. But I still think that the guac is the area they need to work on the most.



All in all I did enjoy the meal and for $8.50 for 3 tacos, guac and a drink, I didn't think it was that bad. Next time I go (and there will be a next time) I will most likely just get two tacos for $2/each and then a drink for $1 and leave there only spending $5 and have plenty of food to fill me for lunch. I have heard great things about the steak (within the few hours AFTER I ate here) and supposedly they are always running out of it, so that should tell you something. I usually don't get the steak tacos anywhere because they seem to always be very chewy. So I need to try them the next time I go.

Taco Azul Ratings

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BagPipes

BagPipes just recently closed down on 7th street, which seems to be pretty common with new restaurants downtown, especially on the corner of 7th and Race. I wanted to still write a review because I truly felt like I was their #1 customer.

The reason I went so much was for one reason only, their fish sandwich special on Friday. On Friday they would have a fish sandwich, fries and ANY draft beer you wanted for only $8. For downtown, that is a GREAT price! Most good drafts would cost you around $4 or $5 and a fish sandwich meal would be easily over $6. So getting them both for only $8, it was a no-brainer for me.

Luckily for me, my friends enjoyed meeting me down there every Friday for this deal. And it wasn't just because it was cheap, the fish wasn't that bad. We never left wanting more food, that's for sure. The sandwich was very large and the fries were good too. The only thing I would say bad about the fish is that it didn't seem too fresh and a lot of the time I would take a bite and would come up with just breading and no fish. I was also happy that they would let me swap my tartar sauce for some BBQ sauce for the fish, but mainly for my fries.

The biggest downfall for this place, I think, would have to be the service. I was probably there around 7 or 8 times during the 2 month stand and it never seemed like the waiters knew what they were doing. When we finally did get one that had a clue, she was apologizing for everyone else. Getting our food quickly was never a problem because I don't think they ever stopped making the fish on Fridays since it seemed like everyone who went there that day was going for the special. The one thing that drove me crazy about the place was that they APPEARED to have so many beers on tap, but it would take me 10 minutes to choose my beer because I would settle on one to find out that it was not being served at that time or "just ran out." If you have 20 draft beers on your menu and 20 taps on the bar, you should really try and keep them in stock or at least have half for sale. It was pretty amazing going through 5 or 6 different beers to find them all out at that moment.

In the end, I will still miss the $8 fish special, but I am sure I will find something to replace it. I actually went to Washington Platform last Friday and the fish was much better and if you go with a friend you can always do the buy one fish get the second for only $1! I think you will be seeing a new blog post soon with my new Friday fish place.

It is pretty amazing that I went there so many times and never took a picture of the fish, I only took a picture of my first visit which was a not so good burger. It was way over cooked and literally burnt on the outside. This might have been the only burger I have not finished due to taste in my life.

BagPipes Ratings

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Chuck E. Cheese's in Colerain

So I just got back from Chuck E. Cheese's. As an adult with children I have been here about 3 or 4 times now. Every time I go, I wonder how they keep people coming back. I don't know if it is just the "magical" aspect and that this is the closest thing to Disney World around here, especially in the winter. But the game selection for young children is awful. Almost 80% of all the games there are just driving games where you have to be like 4 feet to even reach the pedals or games that require a push of ONE button to try and time it right to get a "prize" or the SUPER BONUS! We all know those games are rigged and almost impossible to win these awesome prizes and in turn just get 3 tickets for every token you waste. There is little to no fun involved in those games. Then 10% of the games are for newborns where you just strap your baby in to a machine and let it rock back and fourth for 15 seconds.



So after trying out EVERY game, my kids finally know which games they can play and have to go back and fourth from the 2 or 3 games they can actually play and have some sort of fun with. Maybe Chuck is marketing to teenagers now, but I always thought it was for the young kids and arcades (such as Doc Holidays, RIP) were for the real arcade gamers and for the older kids.




None the less something is working for them. The game selection is poor, the robot singer and dancers usually just scare the kids and it costs 4000 tickets to get a Barbie, but one thing I can't complain about is their pizza. I have always been a fan of their plain as can be pizza. And now that I have found online coupons, we can get a large pizza, 3 drinks and 45 tokens for $20. So that is what Grace and I did today. We ate, we played, she thinks I am the greatest dad, we got our prize of cotton candy (200 tickets) and we only spent $20, not a bad day I'd say.




So I will give Chuck some credit. Somehow they stick around when the Doc Holidays, the Choo Choo's, the funky dunks and whoever else I am forgetting fail and close. We will be back and I will continue to complain until my kids are older and they can play the driving games and like wasting a token at a time with one push of a button. But of course by then, they will have changed everything.

Herb & Thelma's Tavern

The hardest part about not blogging for 5 months is it is hard to remember which restaurants I have already reviewed. I have still been eating (don't worry about that), and I still have been taking all my normal photos, I just haven't been sitting down to write everything out.

When I looked back at some of my pictures of when I stopped blogging, I was shocked that I never reviewed Herb and Thelma's Tavern. We visited here on July 22nd (or right around there) even though we actually tried visiting there a week earlier but found out they were on vacation that week.



Herb and Thelma's is a hole in the wall bar in Covington. It has MAYBE 5 or 6 tables and one main bar area with a very small and dark second room (I think it is only there for emergencies). When we arrived there was only one other table that was occupied so we sat in the main area right by the bar. I sat with my back to the bar and to my right was a huge bobble head and sports collection all behind glass. You could tell this bar has been around for a long time.



The bartender is also the cook (which is how it normally is at these types of places, just like City View Tavern) and he was very nice and helpful. We came for one reason only, the burgers. Even though they did have $1 cheese coney's we stuck with our choice to get their double cheese burgers.



The burgers were hand made right behind the bar and I actually got to see how they were cooked. They use a cup/bowl (I am sure there is a name for it) to cover each individual burger while it is on the grill to help cook the whole burger and not just the one side at a time. The burgers were very thick so I can see why this was needed, almost turned it into an individual oven.



The burgers are thick but not very wide and stacking two of them on top of each other makes it a VERY tall burger. It was served with a bag of chips and a can of pop. I do believe we got all 3 items for right around $5 (which was another reason we wanted to check this place out).



The burger was good, very juicy and different than most burgers. I wouldn't put it in my top 5, but it might fall into my top 10. For the money, it is hard to find a better burger. It is just a simple burger, no crazy flavors or additives. Sometimes that is all you need is a good plain bar burger and Herb and Thelma's truly delivered.

I am sure we will be back, maybe even to try out their $1 coney's. It is hard not to return to a place that serves great food for a great price all while making you feel welcome.

City Barbeque

I finally had the chance to go to City Barbeque a couple weeks ago. A new location opened up on Glenway by the new Chipotle and Chick-fil-a and I couldn't wait to go try it. When we pulled up to the building, I noticed the HUGE smokers that they had lined up along the back of the building and my mouth started to water.



I went with my wife and she had already been there once and knew how big the sandwiches were so we decided to just split one pulled chicken sandwich (which is a half pound) and then get a bunch of sides. We decided on the hush puppies (which are my favorite), the bacon cheese fries and fried pickles. The total came to around $14 something which I think is a good deal.



We sat outside since it wasn't too hot out and since no one else was sitting out there yet. I grabbed the 6 pack of BBQ sauces and sat at our table. We both used one of the buns and dumped 1/4 of a pound of chicken on top and then started adding our BBQ sauce. I tried about five of them and had three favorites. The three were the Sweet City Sauce, Brush Fire Sauce and the Original Sauce. My favorite out of the three would have to be the Sweet City Sauce. No matter what sauce I put on the chicken, it was all delicious and didn't take me long to finish.



The hush puppies were so good and by far my favorite item of the meal. They were larger than any other puppy I had eaten before. There was just so much flavor in them that I could have eaten a dozen of them.



The bacon cheese fries were of course good. I don't know many things that include cheese and bacon that aren't good. The fries themselves reminded me of the fresh cut fries that Penn Station have and I know that they would have been good on their own.



The fried pickles were a good addition to the meal as well. They didn't taste as good the next morning however (since we had almost half our meal to take home with us), but not many fried things can hold up the next day. But I must say, I did end up finishing them none-the-less.



We were very pleased with our meal and our choices. I can't wait to go back to try more of their meat and different sides. I have a feeling we will be deciding between Chipotle and City Barbeque a lot in the future. If you haven't had it yet, what are you waiting for?!

Senate vs. Joe's Diner on Sycamore

I already know what you're thinking, these two restaurants are completely different. Yes I know, that is why I think it will be fun to compare them, especially because I went to them on back to back days. And if nothing else, I think it will really show you what type of eater I am.

(Joe's Diner on Sycamore)


I went to Joe's Diner on Sycamore two days ago for lunch and then I went to Senate today for lunch. Joe's Diner just opened up after being closed down since 2007 (even though their grand opening isn't till August 10th, so the menu might change by then). I think it use to just be called The Diner or something like that. When I walked into the Joe's I was greeted with a friendly smile and was told to sit wherever I wanted. When I walked into Senate I felt out of place right away and was greeted with a straight faced, pretend to be fancy waiter (who even tried saying the word Poutine fancy by mispronouncing it). I was sat right next to another table (seriously within a foot from them even though there were 4 more tables down the row we could have easily sat).

(Senate)


At Joe's I went with their normal burger which ended up being a double and served with a side of onion rings (or fries) all for $5.50. At Senate I ordered the Trailer Park which was a hot dog, a piece of bacon, American cheese and crushed Grippo chips (it sounds like something I would make at home) with no sides and was $9. The burger was a very good diner style burger. It wasn't too thick but was very juicy and filling. The onion rings were some of the best I had ever had and I even topped the burger with two of them.




The hot dog on the other hand was nothing more than a hot dog. I was hoping for $9 that the hot dog would taste better than any other hot dog I had eaten before, but that wasn't the case. It just tasted like a normal hot dog with thick skin. The bacon was very chewy and the American cheese was, well, American cheese. I wish I could have the rest of the Grippos chips that they had left over from my bag that they crumbled since that was the best part of the meal (I love me some BBQ Grippos).



At Joe's I was asked by multiple people how my meal was and was encouraged to not be a stranger when I was checking out. They did a great job at making me feel comfortable and welcome even though it was my first time there. At Senate I did not feel welcome and I don't think I saw anyone who worked there smile the entire time I was there. I even had to ask for ice because the water jug they bring out to the table was room temperature. Maybe that was part of the upscale restaurant vibe they were going for, but I like my water cold.

I just don't get why anyone would ever return to Senate, I would honestly like to hear from a frequent customer of Senate to tell me what I am missing. I just couldn't refer someone to go pay over $10 for a hot dog and a glass of water. This restaurant probably won't be going anywhere anytime soon though because they make a 1000% profit for every meal they make. Obviously it isn't my type of of a place and I get that, but what am I missing? I mean the Poutine was good, but for $10? It is fries, cheese, gravy and a little meat.

Obviously I am more of a diner type than a fancy restaurant, but Senate sells hot dogs, you can't be that nice when you sell hot dogs. So if you want my opinion since that is all this is, I would recommend checking out Joe's Diner on Sycamore and avoiding Senate all together. Let my expensive lunch be your warning.