Tips on when and how to smoothly eat a taco
I love tacos, but I would never order them at a first-time lunch with a business client. Why? Because they are too darn messy to eat. In my dining etiquette presentations my advice is for people to choose foods that are easy to eat with a knife and fork. That way you can look polished and professional while eating.
Unfortunately tacos do not fall into this category. (Next time you’re eating a taco look at yourself in the mirror. Maybe you better not, you might spoil your appetite and spill something.) How to eat a taco smoothly? You can’t.
Newsflash – Terry and Joanne love tacos
But I love tacos anyway (and so does Joanne, don’t tell her I told you so). So we eat tacos quite often, especially when we’re dining casually. They are one of our favorite comfort foods. Friday nights in Canada, if we’re not on the road presenting, we have a stay-at-home date movie night – Netflix and homemade tacos on our TV trays. (OMG! Yes, the dining etiquette and table manners experts have TV trays. But they are very classy TV trays.)
Favorite taco restaurant tips
This winter when we were in Phoenix, we found plenty of Mexican restaurants to get our taco fixes. We want to share a few restaurant chains that we really enjoyed.
Rubio’s famous fish tacos
If you’ve never had a fish taco, you don’t know what you’re missing. Rubio’s also does shrimp and langostino tacos (a crayfish- like squat lobster- amazing what you can learn here). On Tuesdays they have $1.50 fish taco night. (After a feast of fish tacos I would take Joanne to the nearby Pollack Tempe Cinemas for their $2 movie night. – Joanne is a cheap date.) Rubio’s kids’ meal bags are a hoot – featuring cartoons with ‘fish talk-os’. (Joanne says -Terry had me order him a kid’s meal, he says just so he could read the bag.)
Baja Fresh Mexican Grill
We discovered this restaurant just before we left Phoenix. Baja Fresh might be our new favorite for fish tacos, partly because it has a healthier alternative that tastes great. You have the option to have your fish fire-grilled instead of deep fried in batter. Healthy eating never tasted so good.
Chipotle Mexican grill
They don’t do fish tacos, but they do pretty mean burritos. “Food with Integrity” – organic or sustainably raised food choices. Our Chipotle favorites are their burrito bowls (and you can use utensils to eat them smoothly). Consistently great and you walk away feeling good about your food choices. Chipotle – click here to see the fascinating videos about their concept and founder Steve Ells
Franchise opportunities – pretty please
I don’t think these chains are in Canada yet so there might be some opportunities for entrepreneurs to open Canadian restaurants (we will be loyal customers). In the meantime, Joanne and I are looking for online recipes to duplicate these experiences at home. If you find any, let us know.
Your casual dining tips?
Any other Mexican food advice or casual dining secrets that you want to share? We are all ears and drooling mouths. When it comes to dressing, networking and dining, we believe in being savvy not stuffy but with good table manners. If you’ve attended one of our etiquette training seminars, you know what we mean. Buen apetito!
PS – Looking for some easy to swallow Professional Development – try Terry’s Shine When You Dine Training
BTW – for Valentines day, Joanne won’t let me take her out to a taco place. I guess she’s not such a cheap date after all.
Hi Muhd. Joanne and I haven’t been in France for years,so your comment did make me laugh because we never looked for a hamburger joint when we were there.
But sometimes you just crave good casual comfort food. Especially when you’re away from home for an extended time. (That’s when I crave red licorice.) Isn’t it great to find a terrific casual food restaurant. We just got back from Vancouver and we will be blogging about three of our favorite eating places there and they are pretty casual.
It might make you all laugh but I found a good hamburger joint they’re ralley ralley hard to come by here in France!!!But i’d exchange that and much more for some good mexacain food!!!
Joanne and I went to Tres Carnales Taqueria last night. it was excellent. Great food. I tried 4 types of tacos. My favorites were the Al Pastor
(Slow roasted, marinated pork) and the fish tacos Pescado
(lightly battered and fried fresh Pacific Red Snapper) Pescado
It must be getting a good reputation because there were long lines and friend and foody Gail Hall of seasoned solutions was eating there.
http://trescarnales.com
http://www.seasonedsolutions.ca
Thanks Nadine, for the local Edmonton Mexican food secrets. Joanne and I will be sure to check them out and the grocery store tip. Buen gusto (thanks for not correcting my Spanish)
I like to add pinto or black beans to my taco mix and make extra to freeze for other meals.
Terry, I completely agree with you about this – tacos are not a good choice for making a good impression over a meal!
But I love them, too, having lived in central Mexico for 5 months as a university student. It’s hard to find authentic Latino food here, but I know a few secrets:
Tres Carnales Taqueria: Rice Howard Way – three friends decided to open up an authentic Mexican taco place here, and it’s been a huge success. Not health food, but very authentic. One of the ‘Carnales’ is from Leon, near where I used to live in Mexico.
El Rancho: 118 avenue east of 97th – More pan-latino than Mexican. Owned by a Salvadorean family. I’ve been once, and I really enjoyed it.
Argyll Foods: Little grocery store on Argyll and 99th street with all kinds of Mexican items. My fiance and I love to go in and pick up some tostada shells, salsa verde, and queso fresco for our own ‘taco nights’ at home.
Buen gusto, mis amigos!
Nadine