Omnivore Atlanta

THE THE: A selection of tacos at the Original El Taco

“Consulting chef” is a slightly confusing term. Generally, it means that the chef in question has designed the menu and perhaps spent some time training the kitchen staff on how to execute his dishes. It rarely means that the consulting chef is actually spending any time in the kitchen during service. But the question is, if a good chef consults, can we expect the food to be on par with what that chef would deliver in his own restaurant?

Shaun Doty, arguably one of the city’s best chefs, is making a cottage industry out of consulting at other people’s restaurants. Last year he put his name on the menu at Midtown’s now defunct Spotted Dog. I stopped in there one afternoon and had a somewhat sad version of Doty’s East Village-style chicken livers, which resembled the original in concept but not execution. He is currently acting as consulting chef at the Original El Taco, Fifth Group’s new Tex-Mex restaurant in Virginia Highland (although the restaurant’s website lists him as Executive Chef), and there’s talk of other consulting gigs in the works.

The Original El Taco (roughly translated to “The Original The Taco”) has been an instant hit — there’s a wait for tables almost any time of the night on any night of the week. The crowds bring a party atmosphere, ramped up with large, well-made margaritas. There’s also a colorful mural painted by SCAD students that depicts, among other things, somebody who looks an awful lot like Hitler carrying a giant taco on his back.

You can see Doty’s touch on the menu of tacos, “Mexican pizzas” and Tex-Mex entrees: a pork belly taco here, a fried egg atop a stack of tortillas and chili there. But can you taste his influence? (more…)

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Is it just me, or are fried eggs showing up as garnishes on lots of dishes these day? Everything’s coming up bibimbap, the Korean bowl of goodies usually topped with a fried or raw egg.

Exhibit A is a variation on shrimp and grits by Carmen Cappello at the Lamplighter (top photo). The egg’s yolk added body to the the piquant sauce, but I gotta say the dish had problems. There weren’t enough grits in the bowl to absorb the liquid and, worse, the shrimp were not good quality. But the surprise of chopped collard greens and a profusion of sliced andouille redeemed the shrimp’s flavor problem, if not the overall textural problem.

We also found a fried egg atop a burger with scrapple and American cheese. It’s kind of like gilding the cholesterol lily, but it was better than mayo. (There was no egg on our crab cakes — an incredible bargain, like most of the food here, at $8.)

Next up is the fried egg atop the “short stack” (above, right) at The Original El Taco, the successor to Sala in Virginia-Highland (1186 N. Highland Ave., 404-873-4656). Considering that the restaurant’s name makes a weird allusion to The Original House of Pancakes, this dish’s allusion to pancakes themselves seems doubly-weird.

But the pancakes here are corn tortillas heaped with red and green chili, refried beans and Mexican cheese. This Tex-Mex dish can be found here and there from Santa Fe to Houston and New York. Honestly, the description and appearance of the dish caused me to cringe, since it seems to embody the artlessness of so much Tex-Mex cooking. But the strong, smoky chili and flavorful beans, blended with the egg, lifted the dish out of the purely prosaic. Taco Bell’s chihuahua would find this too refined.

I’ll have more to say about El Taco, particularly its take on tlayuda (above, left), the “Mexican pizza” popular in Oaxaca, in Grazing. The dish is made with a giant baked tortilla and the restaurant’s is a sight to behold. The toppings are tasty, but the flatbread crust on the one we ordered was almost impossible to eat.

(Photos by Cliff Bostock)

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The Original El Taco will open Tuesday, Oct. 21, in the location formerly occupied by Sala. The restaurant is holding two invitation-only dinners in the meantime.

Fifth Group Restaurants consulted with Shaun Doty on the menu, which is mainly Tex-Mex, including some oddities like pizzas featuring carnitas, chorizo or wood-grilled chicken. Made with flatbread, they are also topped with refried black beans, radishes, two cheeses, lettuce and more, more, more.

Among the tacos is one made with (inevitable) pork belly — but no chicharrones. There are also several entrees made with fajitas. Hay muchos starters, including sopes and “Durango Truck Stop Sliders.” You’ll have to check out the menu here to learn what those are.

I love Mexican food and was disappointed when Sala closed after losing its last, very accomplished chef. Tex-Mex cooking rarely does anything but make me queasy. We’ll see how this goes.

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There’s good news about the beleagured location of the defunct Sala:

The owners of Fifth Group Restaurants have joined forces with Executive Chef Shaun Doty, owner of Shaun’s, to create The Original El Taco in the former Sala space in Virginia-Highland. The new restaurant will open in mid-October. Doty is developing recipes for creative Mexican fare like tacos, tortas and salsas, and the Fifth Group Restaurants team is working with William Peace, Peace Design, to change the look and feel of the restaurant.

“The Original El Taco will be lively, bright, open, and – most of all – fun,” said Robby Kukler, co-owner of Fifth Group Restaurants. “We have known Shaun for years and when we found out he had been thinking about doing Mexican too, we knew it was a great partnership.”

“I love Mexican food and have wanted to do a restaurant like this for a while,” said Doty. “To have this opportunity to work with the pros at Fifth Group Restaurants is great.”

“We are going to create an easy, approachable destination for great Mexican food,” added Kukler.

Doty will work with a chef de cuisine at El Taco when the restaurant opens, while remaining executive chef at Shaun’s.

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