This past Sunday morning I awoke--unfed by late night Toppers--from the night of shenanigans before. With a thirst resembling a fish flopping on the dock, I rose from my bed and wandered into the kitchen in search of the nearest Brita pitcher. Finally, as the cold H2O hit my lips a wave of fresh energy was immediately sent through my body. I then knew what I had to do.
As many of you would have done, I thought, now is the time to gather my friends and head to our favorite eating establishment for some day-after grubbing and storytelling. Just as I began to think where we would go for this day of recovery, I made a brave and exciting decision. Today would be the day we tried the newest Taco joint in town, Velvet Taco. After hearing of the restaurant branching out from its original location in Dallas, Texas, being a Frat Worth guy I was obviously skeptical. But if that weird place called Austin down south can give us such a beautiful thing as Torchy’s Tacos, I figured, why not give Velvet Taco a try. So I got dressed and called my friends, and we headed to get some tacos.
Located at 2700 W. 7th Street (a stone's throw from Reservoir) Velvet Taco was only a short trip down university and a right turn on 7th away from the TCU campus. As we pulled up, the joint seemed fresh, new, and was clearly not run in a chain restaurant style. In fact, the building had its own interesting style, somewhat retro yet rustic as well. The menu featured chicken, or as they call it, “chick,” veg or veggie, pork, beef, fish, and egg tacos. Sides included rotisserie corn, roasted potatoes, and crisp tots and local egg. The last item on the menu was the one that surprised me the most: red velvet cake, how fitting. The menu was not fluffed with your average tacos that you might see anywhere, but some of the items were your recognizable tacos just jazzed up a bit. From a familiar Texas Burger Taco, to a Crispy Calamari Taco, this place has just about any type cuisine from around the globe that you could want packed into their made-in-house tortillas.
So now comes the hard part… What the hell do I order with so many tacos to choose from? I left the choosing up to the nice young lady behind the cash register. She recommended the number eight, an Annatto Shredded Pork Taco. Without a slight glance at the menu on the wall I agreed and asked for the crispy tots side item. Here is a glance at what I was eating on that adventurous Sunday morning:
I personally do not prefer corn tortillas so I asked them to switch mine to flour for my taco. The tots were out in a matter of seconds. I could barely get my drink and find a seat before hearing my name called loud and clear. To my surprise (due to poor menu reading etiquette) the crispy tots I had ordered also had a fresh sunny side up egg atop them. Not sure how to approach the dish I chose to dig in at full force with the small half spoon half fork that I was provided. The tots were great, I even had some of my companions asking, “Hey ZJ give me some of your tots” to which I replied, “No, go find your own.” (Napoleon Dynamite reference). The taco was out shortly after I began digging into my tots. It was delicious as well, the pickled onion tied with the sweet grilled pineapple pieces tied very nicely with the shredded pork. Overall my meal was delicious and satisfying. I do regret not ordering two tacos, as they were not as large as I had anticipated. But I’m sure I’ll be back to try some more as I clearly have yet to tap into their wide variety of tacos. I recommend Velvet taco to any recovery Sunday grubbers out there, as long as you don’t mind a little culinary variety to your taco.
