128283 Fri Dec 03 14:16:57 -0800 2004 4 9 New Orleans 0 695548 I just moved here from New York and went to Taqueros. Ive seen a lot of bashing for things like $8. Guacamole. Maybe they lowered prices cus they had lunch specials under $7. when I went. Prices are high almost everywhere, have you seen the price on Diseal and lets not forget about all those hurricanes. Anyways I found the food extremely good. Yes the portions are smaller than some places but I'd rather have quality instead of a lot of crap. Maybe all you naysayers should realize that this crew is the real deal-authentic. If he had his place in New York people would be packing that place in. But I guess taqueros is not for people who like to explore exotic cuisine. Fri Dec 03 14:16:57 -0800 2004 0 Donny 1 695550 Perhaps you could tell us what you had, and more about the $7 lunch specials? Maybe you can convince some more people to try it out. Did you have the cochinita pibil taco? That's my favorite. Fri Dec 03 15:36:10 -0800 2004 695548 0 Jess 2 695559 Jess- The lunch special I had was Carne Encobollada(sp) Basically a Minute steak with grilled onions, rice and beans and tortillas. It was actually pretty good and it was $6.00. I think all their lunch specials are $6.00 and they dropped the price for flan and that spicy tortilla soup during lunch as well. I think they are beginning to run daily dinner specials as well, I had Mussels last week, my server said they usually only serve them upstairs but the owner wants slowly introduce some inexpensive versions of his upstairs food downstairs. Sat Dec 04 15:51:58 -0800 2004 695550 0 Donny 1 695552 Interesting and exotic is great. Well prepared is certainly a good thing, too. But I must just be missing something about the downstairs incarnation. Sure, it looks nice, but something about it just doesn't work... Maybe it the whole 2 kitchen concept, which i found odd from the get-go. It seems like an awful lot of duplication of labor to me, and it annoys that you can't cross order between the two menus (Why the hell can't i get esquites with my tacos?). When i heard they were moving into town from Kenner, i was overjoyed; it was a real pain to have to drive all the way out there to eat (and i always ended up at home depot buying things i didn't really need), but frankly, i went a lot more when it was out there. The upstairs/downstairs concept seemed like a no-brainer to me, a la Topolobampo & Frontera Grill. Not that i think taqueros/Coyoacan ought to be a Rick Bayless clone at all, but I'd gotten the impression that the cantina side was going to be more about hanging out with a group of friends on a friday or saturday afternoon type place. You know, like Superior Grill, except with edible food. As it is, i'd just as soon have them hand me 3 roast pork tacos out of a sliding glass window as eat down there. I don't know why it the place sets off my internal alarms, but it does. HC made her usual good sense in the last thread (The pomegranate seed guac is really good, btw. thanks!) stating that the what we're paying for is the skill and freshness of the ingredients, but even if that's so, i don't find the offerings on the Taqueros menu (other than the tacos) to be of so vastly superior quality that i'm willing to pay a full 2.5 to 3 times as much as i'd spend at Taqueria Corona for similar items. Hurricanes and such aside, nice avocados were 6 for $3 this week at the store...and that's retail. If we *were* in NYC, then the pricing wouldn't be out of line...but we're not. For me, i'll take my tacos to go, and eat at Coyoacan when i feel like enjoying central Mexico's haute cuisine. Fri Dec 03 17:26:25 -0800 2004 695548 0 Foodmuse 2 695555 I haven't eaten upstairs yet, but I've been entirely underwhelmed by the downstairs food. I found the meat in pretty much all of the tacos I've tried to be overcooked and dry. By contrast, I had a couple of tacos at Taqueria Corona this week (1 tongue, and one carne asada) that were really, really good, on fresh corn tortillas. I'd like to try the upstairs dining room, but it's a lot easier for me to get our for lunch than dinner. The idea that we have a restaurant in town cooking "serious" Mexican food is just fantastic. I hope it succeeds, and improves. Link: http://www.appetites.us Fri Dec 03 21:59:15 -0800 2004 695552 0 Robert