Tacos El Rancho

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“Would you like some tongue?” Ask a stranger that question and you'll get a slap, a blank stare or maybe the flu. At Tacos El Rancho, tongue is just a menu option – one of six meats you can get in your tacos, burritos and enchiladas.

The grill is right behind the counter and often, your order is being prepped before you even finish paying. The dining room walls are painted adobe orange and hung with sombreros and blankets as if management went to the restaurant supply store and said, “We need a box of stuff for a Mexican restaurant.”

The radio at Tacos El Rancho is pleasantly quirky, as if different family members keep switching  stations. One meal started with Rick Springfield and ended with Mexican pop. Another time, I heard two versions of “Jingle Bell Rock” back to back ... in October.

With “tacos” in the name, you have to start there. For $2, you can get one with ground beef, chunks of chicken, chunks of pork, or veggie. Traditionalists will probably skip most of the toppings, but you can add (at no cost) cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream, and a few salsas. The beef is fine-grind. The chicken and the pork are spiced (not “spicy”) similarly, but I prefer the pork. I know a lot of folks only eat white meat chicken, but when griddled, it's too dry for me.

Bump up to the $2.25 taco and you can fill it with carne asada (chopped steak), carnitas (shredded pork) or lengua (chopped beef tongue). I can't remember ever eating tongue before, and I think I'd remember something like that, but I would now recommend it over the steak. Because it's a fattier meat, tongue is richer and more flavorful. Just eat your first one before looking inside at the taste buds that will soon be rubbing against your taste buds.

Enchiladas (3 for $5.50 or $5.75, depending on filling) are just over my usual $5 limit, but still cheaper than buying three individual tacos. Meat is put in soft corn tortillas, grilled to crisp them up, then topped with green tomatillo salsa and whatever else you want. At $4.50, the plain quesadilla is a little pricey. Even if you throw on the toppings, it's still just two tortillas and cheese. Spend the cash on more tacos instead.

If you're the do-it-yourself type, a plato/platter ($5.50 or $5.75) comes with one meat, tortillas, rice and either pinto or black beans.

Menudo (tripe soup, not the boy band) is supposed to be a good hangover cure. The kitchen makes a pot on weekends, but it's not on the menu, so if you've got the kind of headache that only spicy stomach-meat stew can conquer, now you know to ask. Tacos El Rancho also makes fresh guacamole ($1.60) each day for the tortilla chips (75 cents).

Dish: Both the hard and soft tacos are made with corn tortillas. I recommend you get the traditional soft. It's more flavorful, but also because you can only cram so much filling in a crispy shell. Tacos El Rancho seems to pile the meat higher in the soft taco. In fact, the kitchen lays down two tortillas for each soft taco – like double-bagging at the grocery store.

Damage: It's getting harder to find a decent lunch for fewer than five bucks, but two tacos with the works is a decent deal. If you team up with another luncher, you can get some of that guac. 

Decision: Let Tacos El Rancho slip you the tongue. (Okay, that was childish, but at least I didn't bring up beef or pork. Oops.)

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