Restaurant Review

10th Street Tacos

Downtown Austin’s newest taco joint has only been open seven months, and it has already been the subject of a lawsuit that resulted in a name change. The tempest in the taco shell developed after El Paso native David Sahugan and some of his buddies from home opened a taqueria in a little creek-side cottage on the western edge of the Downtown legal ghetto. They christened the new place Chuco’s Tacos, an homage to the Spanish word “pachuco,” which they say is a well-known slang term for the city of El Paso itself.

Along with the standard taqueria fare of tacos, quesadillas, burritos, tortas, nachos, tostadas, salads, and burgers, their menu also includes one definitive dish well-loved in their hometown. The kitchen here whips up tacos ahogados, literally “drowned tacos” – flautalike, rolled and deep-fried tacos filled with beef, chicken, or vegetables that are covered with grated cheese and “drowned” with your choice of spicy red or green salsa. This particular style of taco is the house specialty at the revered Chico’s Tacos, a long-established chain of taquerias in El Paso.

It seems that after discovering the hometown specialty at Chuco’s in Austin, homesick El Pasoans shared the good news with friends both here and at home in El Paso. Word about the upstart Austin eatery reached El Paso’s Mora family, owners of the Chico’s chain. The Moras filed a trademark infringement suit, charging that Chuco’s was too close to Chico’s for comfort. For a while, the lawsuit was the subject of news stories and the buzz of the blogosphere. Turns out all the free publicity helped the new taqueria, now called 10th Street Tacos, establish a solid client base here in Austin. In addition to El Paso expats, the friendly spot attracts business types, folks from the nearby neighborhoods, and students from the Austin Community College campus. The menu is very affordably priced, and the ambience is casual in the extreme – we’re talking counter service, napkin dispensers on the walls, strategically placed flat-screen TVs tuned to sports, and headbanger rock blaring on the sound system. They offer daily food and beer specials and shady seating at picnic tables overlooking Shoal Creek in the evenings.

Two girlfriends joined me at 10th Street for lunch recently. We sampled dishes from all sections of the menu, stuffed ourselves, and were still not able to spend $30. The definite winner among the dishes we tried was those special tacos – crispy chicken flautas topped with jack cheese and drowned with an exemplary salsa verde (three for $2.60, six for $4.93). Our other favorite was the fish taco ($1.95), a perfectly cooked tilapia fillet in a hot corn tortilla dressed with finely chopped fresh lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and cilantro with a spritz of lime. So very tasty and priced right! The overall thing that impressed us most at 10th Street was the exceptional quality of the salsas, especially the salsa negra, made with roasted tomatoes and tomatillos, a little garlic, and chile de arbol. These guys could be serious contenders in the restaurant category of the annual Chronicle Hot Sauce Contest, coming up Aug. 24, if they choose to enter, whatever they call themselves.

This article appears in June 13 • 2008.