Quick Fire Food Addictions

Things that I find myself easily excited about are great service and great food. When you combine great service & great food together, I’m all in!

One of my latest crazes of excitement is all over taco trucks! Food trucks are relatively new to the Detroit area & I’m totally pimped out by Tacos el Toro, which you can find parked at Michigan Ave & Martin on the outskirts of Mexican Town.

The first time, I saw the truck; I was on my way to an event downtown. Before you know it, I whipped a u-turn & headed back toward the truck to see if the hype was really all that.  3 chicken tacos, a Mountain Dew & 5 bucks later, I can say that food at this particular taco truck is the BUSINESS!!!

The service was great, the flavors were robust & totally filling. The tacos come on a corn tortilla with carrot & radish slices, jalapeños & lime wedges.

The thing that I find funny is when they ask you if it is for here or to go. No tables, no chairs, just a little shelf that barely holds your plate in place. Yeah, I dined in at least twice.

I mean you get tons of food for very little cash. It’s totally a win-win.

Since that 1st visit, I just cannot stop talking about “the taco truck!” Every trip that I have made to Detroit over the last month has included at least 1 stop for chicken tacos. I’m totally addicted!

I love making it rain at the taco truck!!!!

My other more local craze is all about Frita Batidos, a new Cuban street food inspired restaurant downtown Ann Arbor owned by my boo Eve Aronoff.

Frita Batidos has been in the works for a little while now & it JUST opened last week to good reviews by local foodies.  The price points are friendly, the atmosphere is bright, super casual & reminiscent to a school cafeteria but one that serves edible foods & yummy drinks!

On my first visit to my favorite new spot, I tried a chorizo frita (burger topped with french fries, muenster cheese & sweet chili mayo on a soft warm biroche), twice fried plantains topped with cilantro garlic butter & last but certainly not least a passion fruit batido (milkshake). And I know this is going to make me sound greedy but I also had a super refreshing lime-ginger-ade.  It’s basically just like the ginger lime martini served at Eve’s full service restaurant Eve but without the premium vodka.

Everything that I ordered was over the top delicious! The frita was just right and much to my liking; the chorizo was not very strong like I have had it in other spots.  The plantains were MAGNIFICENT! They were actually better than the love of sweet white Jesus! And the passion fruit batido???? It was so good that I ate it with my eyes closed while I moaned.  It was quite the experience! It really was.

The passion fruit batido was so damn good that I made two trips back to the restaurant since last Thursday to get another with today being one of those days…

On today’s trip, I went for plantains & a batido to share with Suite Suzy. While I waited for my goodies, I had a chance to talk to Eve in the kitchen, which was hopping like a disco show. It was quite exciting.

While watching the goings on, I observed one of the prep cooks put together an awesome looking black bean soup dish that Eve calls “black bean cream.” Lucky me got a nice surprise in my bag from Eve!!!!

The black bean cream is the shiznit! It’s topped with cilantro lime salsa and crème fraiche.  Every bite was better than the last with nice spice.  The black bean cream & plantains actually made for a nice complete meal.

I planning on being back at Frita Batidos this coming Saturday after I see “Black Swan.” I’m claiming a great night already! Can’t wait to get my hands on another passion fruit batidos!!!