Articles
Taco Taco Café has been featured in many publications throughout the years for our delicious, home-cooked Mexican cuisine. Take a look at the following work to see what the critics are saying about their experience with us.
This family-run San Antonio favorite specializes in the breakfast taco, done in pure Tex-Mex style: House-made, oversized tortillas are puffed up in a deep fryer until they’re all crunch and air, then piled with egg and cheese and accompanied by any combination of bacon, beans, chorizo and ham. Locals know the slow-roasted, smoky barbacoa is only available on weekends. tacotacosa.com
San Antonio Express News 365 Days of Tacos, 2017
Say what you will about celebrity chef and Heat Miser lookalike Guy Fieri, but he’s good for business. Once the tattooed tastemaker hits a place for “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” like he did with Taco Taco Cafe in 2011, that’s a line on the menu, a photo on the wall and money in the bank from then on.
At Taco Taco, the picture with Fieri is just one of many featuring owner Helen Velesiotis and celebrity guests, including Food Network star Alton Brown and some guy named Clinton, who used to be president or something.
From its unassuming corner at Hildebrand and McCullough avenues, Taco Taco has drawn attention in its 19 years not just from Fieri but from Bon Appetít, Rachael Ray and Texas Monthly. Justifiably so.
It’s a nice cafe, but not too nice. Polished, but not too polished. And the tacos, to quote the waiter’s T-shirt, are so nice they named them twice.
Tacos: Build a big enough taco and people will show up just to see if the rumors are true. Witness the Norteño. Is it really 13 inches across? Yes. Is it provisioned like an iron sizzle platter with skirt steak, caramelized peppers and onions? Yes. How about a schmear of refritos and mashed avocado? Check. Is it really $6.99? Affirmative. And worth it.
If you’re not in the market for a combo plate on a tortilla, Taco Taco makes a straightforward chilaquiles taco with eggs, tortillas, peppers, onions and tomato ($2.59) and a puffy taco with a half-crisp masa shell as tawny, smooth and strong as parchment. At $3.59, it’s a commitment, one best committed with tomato-braised chicken tinga.
Tortillas: Taco Taco’s thick, bready and thoroughly toasted flour tortilla has more in common with fresh-baked pita than pressed tortillas. But it needs all that heft to stand up to the forces of the Norteño. Corn tortillas are half as thick and half as wide but just as good.
Salsa: Red salsa just like on TV! But a lot of TV is watered down and bland, and so is this red stuff. They charge you extra for the pulpy green stuff, but if you’re looking for heat, that’s the only place you’ll find it.
San Antonio Tourist- August 16, 2012
Taco Taco sits at the corner of Hildebrand and McCullough in an old Steak and Egg that morphed into Panchito’s before it moved over into its much larger McCullough location.
Though I’d been to the small (seats 40) restaurant many, many times when it was Panchito’s, I’d never been to Taco Taco. After reading review upon review about how wonderful it was, I met a friend there for breakfast.
The owner, Helen Velesiotis, has been in business since 1998. She said that things really exploded in 2005 when Bon Appétit credited Taco Taco with serving the best tacos in America. The Food Network’s Guy Fieri is also a believer. Plus, Taco Taco has been named “best breakfast tacos” in the Express-News’ Readers’ Choice Awards too many times to count.
With all of the hype, I was a little worried that I’d be disappointed. I wasn’t. Velesiotis, a native of Greece, must have been Mexican in a past life.
I ordered a huevos rancheros plate and my dining companion ordered a plate of migas, served with refried beans and potatoes. She also ordered sides of barbacoa and guacamole. Both of our plates came with extra flour tortillas. In truth, we could have ordered one plate and split it. Taco Taco’s servings are generous, to say the least. (Its website quotes an unnamed source as saying, “Yes, you can get breakfast tacos on every corner in this town, but we still go back to this corner for bigger than your head tacos…”) Our food was yummy.
Taco Taco is open seven days a week from 7 a.m. until 2 p.m. for breakfast and lunch. Its menu is extensive. Helen saw me snapping photos, and asked why. I told her that I wrote a blog on San Antonio. She eyed what we were eating and said, “But you didn’t try our potato and egg tacos or our chilaquiles tacos.” Before we knew it, they appeared on our table. We were already full to bursting, but we had to try them, and they were delicious.
Just when we thought we were all clear, a plate of sopapillas arrived. Eating them was a religious experience. Helen said, “It’s all about the dough.” As someone who grew up on baklava, Helen knows flaky dough.
When we left Taco Taco, a line of people was waiting to get in. I’d wait in line, too, for another plate of Helen’s sopapillas.
Article by: Denise Barkis Richter, Ph.D. – San Antonio Tourist Blog
Texas Highway Magazine – March 2012
Taco Taco Cafe
In 1998, longtime restaurateur Helen Velesiotis opened Taco Taco in the upscale neighborhood of Olmos Park, and since then, the line of people waiting for one of the eatery’s 50 seats during business hours (7-2 daily) has rarely slowed. The draw? Fluffy, handmade flour tortillas encasing fillings of fresh eggs, bacon, and cheese; “puffy tacos” with chicken and picadillo; chicken soup fragrant with oregano; crispy comal-fried pork chops; crunchy chilaquiles; and dozens of other items that Velesiotis prepares with care.
Taco Taco has won numerous accolades over the years, including kudos from such magazines as Bon Appétit, Texas Monthly, Details, and Southern Living, but Velesiotis claims that love is the secret to her success. That, and a few secret ingredients. “I make my salsa every morning with roasted tomatoes, chiles de arbol, vinegar, salt, and garlic,” she says, “but I do have two secret ingredients I can’t tell you.”
Velesiotis makes between 2,000-3,000 flour tortillas daily, with her handmade corn tortillas (thick, earthy, and flecked with toasted bits from the comal) coming in a close second. For newcomers to Taco Taco, Velesiotis recommends the chilaquiles for breakfast (a scramble of eggs and corn tortillas with a splash of salsa) or, for lunch, the popular “Taco Norteño,” a tortilla of your choice filled with beef or chicken, jack cheese, sliced avocado, and charro beans, which are baked to give them added complexity.
Velesiotis, who was born in Greece but moved to San Antonio in 1972, has traveled extensively in Mexico, but she insists San Antonio has the best tacos in the world. “And we have the best tacos in San Antonio,” she adds with a chuckle.
See the full article in the March 2012 issue.
SAVEUR Magazine – San Antonio Tex-Mex – Jan/Feb 2012
In this year’s SAVEUR 100, we take stock of our favorite things: recipes, people, places. We consider every last one a new classic.
Behold the puffy taco, pride and joy of San Antonio, Texas. It is the epitome of Tex-Mex cuisine, taking a south-of-the-border element like the tortilla (either corn or flour), pumping it up (via deep-frying), and heaping it with American-size quantities of shredded chicken, guacamole, tomatoes, lettuce, cheddar cheese, or anything else you fancy.
San Antonio is the capital of Tex-Mex, and whenever we’ve got a hankering for that singular style of spicy, cheesy, bighearted cooking we seek out a few classic spots in the city.
Here all the touchstones—tacos, enchiladas, chile con queso, and more—are served in that most Tex-Mex of presentations, the combo plate. Any visitor to the city should swing by Taco Taco Cafe for a superlative puffy taco, as well as traditional soft and crispy tacos.
See the full article in the Jan/Feb 2012 issue.