Austin is so cool (i.e., full of itself) that it’s not real South Texas any more. It may not be any kind of Texas any more. Drive down the road to Buda or over to Bastrop. Better still head for the West Side of San Antonio. There you will find the burritosyou seek, my friend.
Au contraire– I love them! And the foot long chili cheese dogs from Sonic, too. But I just got a new car in January and I haven’t eaten anything in it yet, let alone a chili cheese dog (must be smothered in chopped onions, too).
It’s traditional to hire lactose-intolerant workers, otherwise they’re dipping into the whiz all day with crackers, chips, and sometimes just their fingers (Ewww) and lots of that whiz never makes it to the processing vats.
I was thinking that Jack in the Box tacos are to authentic Tex-Mex tacos from the West Side of San Antonio as thisis to this. But I guess the former is kind of irresistible.
Austin used to be authentically cool. Just as the music scene was getting started. I got married there the first time. And had many (ahem) adventures. It was unself-conscious then. Now it’s become a caricature of itself. The area south of the Capitol (Oltorf, Mary, Travis Heights) is still nice. JMHO.
I know, right? I mean, why else would anyone got to Jack In The Box? (The Bonus Jack and the Fish Filet were good when I was a kid, but those are no longer on the menu. I do like their All-American burger when they have it.) The thing about fast-food tacos (Isn’t that redundant?) is that most of the ‘crispy’ tacos use pre-formed shells. Real tacos off a taco truck are not like what you get at Taco Hell. They’re small, soft corn tortillas with pretty much just meat. Or they’re ‘golden tacos’ that are fried after they’re filled. (Not to be confused with taquitos or flautas.) I liked the ones at Tito’s Tacos in Culver City. (In keeping with the theme of this thread, their cheese always tasted ‘funny’ to me. But not bad.) Tito’s puts the meat in a corn tortilla, which is in a submersible ‘form’, and fries it. Cheese is extra, and I always got it. Anyway, Jack In The Box tacos, going by the fried tacos you can get at actual Mexican restaurants and taco trucks, might be considered ‘more authentic’ than the hard-shell ones you get at Taco Smell.
Alleged authenticity aside, Jack In The Box tacos are disgustingly good. If I want a taco JITB would definitely not be my first choice. But sometimes you just have to have a couple of Jack In The Box tacos. They’re unique.
And they even taste good with American cheese. (Or, probably, cheese analogue.)
Filling an already-fried shell with meat and then re-frying it…that’s the kind of redundancy/overkill I can get behind.
I last had a JitB taco about eight years ago, and the memory is not a good one. However, this discussion has aroused my curiosity. There is a JitB right around the corner from me. I shall revisit the taco analog situation and report back later. <clicks heels together> Do women even do that?
I don’t know how JITB does it, but at Tito’s and when I make tacos at home, the shell is not fried before frying. I heat the tortillas to make them pliable, then put in about a tablespoon or two of meat filling. Then I fold them over and put them into the hot oil for frying.
Make no mistake, Freebirds is most emphatically NOT an Austin thing. As far as Texas is concerned, Freebirds is a College Station thing, and after about a decade, expanded state-wide. I think the original Freebirds was in San Jose, CA, but hasn’t had any connection to the Texas chain since the 1980s. And… I always thought Austin was Central Texas. It’s not Mexican-influenced enough to be S. Texas, unlike San Antonio and places south of there.
To switch back to the original topic. those of you who like the idea of easily melting cheese like Kraft Singles and the like, but who would really like to use “real” cheese, you’re in luck.
With a bit of effort, and one slightly unusual ingredient (sodium citrate) that you can find on Amazon for almost nothing, you can make your own.
(FYI- if you vary the ratio of liquid to cheese a bit, you have an excellent mac and cheese sauce)
We rarely use the pre-made shells. Maybe once a year we’ll feel like having tacos like we had when we were kids, and everything came out of boxes.
The SO calls mine ‘double-fried tacos’ because I fry up the meat and then fry them after I fold the meat into the tortillas. (She calls them that even when I make machaca, which isn’t fried.)
Drive down the road to Buda or over to Bastrop. Better still head for the West Side of San Antonio. There you will find the burritosyou seek, my friend.
