A couple of years ago, Paco’s Tacos moved from Stoughton to the south side of Madison, and the former’s loss is the latter’s gain.
One of the first things that jumped out at me was that Paco’s Tacos has some meat selections that you don’t typically see at other Mexican restaurants. For example, I chose the cecina (dried beef) for my gordita ($7.99). I was worried the meat would be tough or dry, but fortunately, it was neither. Although it was a little salty, it meshed perfectly with the avocado, cheese, onions and tomatoes of the gordita. The shell was perfectly created so that it was crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. All in all, the gordita was quite enjoyable.
In a taco, I had the pork rind. I admit this meat choice is not for everyone, but I loved it. It’s tender, not crunchy, and very flavorful. The only negative of the taco was that it was loaded with cilantro–you’ll need to take some out to back down on that flavor. That taco was accompanied by a tamale on the Dos Ts lunch ($9.48). The tamale was moist and went very well with the green and red sauces. Both those sauces are super tasty.
Another lunch item was the burrito lunch ($9.48). This time, I chose pork. It was nice to see a normal-sized burrito that you could actually pick up. It wasn’t stuffed with filler, meaning it had a decent portion of the tender pork. The burrito did need some of the sauce, since it was slightly bland, but I still liked it.
Out of curiosity, I tried the Paco burger ($10.99) and was pleased. It’s got Oaxaca cheese on it, plus avocado, a fried egg and a slightly spicy chipotle mayo.
Among the entrees, I ordered the Ranchero steak ($13.99), which is massive and delicious. You get a ton of sliced steak, as well as onions and some peppers, all topped with fried eggs. The accompanying tortillas are nice for sopping up all the juice.
Paco’s Tacos is open Monday through Saturday for lunch, dinner and carryout.
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See more photos in our Paco’s Tacos Flickr album.
Tags: Mexican, south side
