Editor's Note: As Louis Fowler continues his recovery, we're going to republish some of his most delicious food reviews and writings. Today we take a look back at his 2017 write-up of Taco Rico.
Remember when you were a kid and all you wanted was a Sony Walkman cassette player with Bass Boost, but you couldn’t quite afford it, so you mowed a few lawns and eagerly made do with the cheaper drugstore knock-off, a Suny Walkmuch AM/FM stereo with optional volume control?
Yeah, it wasn’t the same, but it was all you had and, dammit, listening to KJ 103 while you did summer landscaping with your dad was sure as Hell better than listening to him bitch about how worthless you are at hedging. It did its job and, in retrospect, I was grateful to the Suny Corporation out of Malaysia for their efforts.
The only reason I bring that up is because those same appreciative feelings came rushing back as I stood in the lobby of the heretofore unknown (to me) Mexican fast-food joint Taco Rico—with an R—a taco-based eatery which has apparently been located right up the street from me at 3838 N. Lincoln Blvd., for lo these many years and I never once noticed it. Too busy turning right when I should’ve been turning left, I guess.
With a catchy name highly reminiscent of the late, lamented Taco Tico and a broad, brassy structure and logo that’s quick to draw comparisons to an old-school Taco Bueno, the memorably monikered Taco Rico, from the outside, might give off the idea that it’s just a cheap drugstore knock-off, complete with their very own Prince Akeem mopping the floors. But stepping inside and taking even the most discretionary glance at the immediately hunger-inducing menu will quickly prove otherwise.
This knock-off is truly its own special thing...