Restaurant Preview: North Tampa’s Taqueria Monterrey
July 24, 2009 at 12:00 pm by Erica Miller
The lady making the tortillas
Excited by Chef Rene Valenzuela’s expansion of his empire, and because I ‘ve been a taco zealot since CL’s Tournament of Tacos in March, I ran right to Taqueria Monterrey on the first day open.
Taqueria Monterrey Day 1: An artist is still painting signs on the walls. He asks me to verify his spelling of the word ’Also’ and says the design is inspired by old world Spain.
In keeping with CL’s Beef Week, I ordered
two barbacoa (stew beef, per the menu) tacos priced at $2.99 each. I do not recommend them; too gamey. They were traded for one carne asada and one al pastor which went down very easily, especially with fresh corn tortillas as the base. There were chips and bell-pepper heavy salsa, and the salsa bar had large tubs of sliced red onion and fresh limes that made me happy. The biggest surprise was the frijoles charros: pinto bean soup with pork. Great comforting flavor and not over salted, but beware of bone pieces. Choices for vegetarians included vegan chorizo and tofu.
I am a confessed Chef Rene groupie (”get in line” I was told) and am glad to have this choice for tacos nearer to me, but nothing will ever replace The Taco Bus.
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