Tacoville seems a little too cool to be in Oklahoma City, doesn’t it?
Ran out of a crumbling strip-mall in a bleak part of town where S.W. 29th crosses with Newcastle Road, this mostly modest cash-only Tex-Mex joint, with its refrigerator case full of cheap beer and it’s precise menu of even cheaper eats, feels like something out of a Robert Rodriguez movie. You half expect Cheech Marin to be slinging tacos with expert vulgarity or Danny Trejo sitting in the back, cutting onions with a machete.
Located at 3502 Newcastle Rd., the décor inside is a loaded mix of touristy Mexican mementos and as many free beer promos as they could fit in the place, the very few scattered tables being cleaned by waitresses with rock and roll hair and the tatts to match. I would’ve killed for a Link Wray tune to start warbling overhead as I made my way to the counter, ready to pick an edible streetfight with their fabled menu in an effort to put my hunger down in a bloody blaze of glory.
While the more authentic taquerias are further up the street—and mas power to them—Tacoville has specialized in the unappreciated art of borderland-based fast food for over 50 years, proudly cooking up pots of ground beef and refried beans and steadily simmered nacho cheese every day as shredded lettuce, grated cheese and sliced jalapenos wait to be anonymously bedded like an airbrushed puta on the side of mi primo's custom van.