Tuesday, January 5, 2010

El Pollo Palenque


4117 Hemphill St, FW. 817-921-1489.
Sun-Thu 9am-12pm, Fri-Sat 9am-4am.
All major credit cards are accepted

Consumed Tacos: Shredded Beef
Preference: Shredded Beef

In my first adventure within Fort Worth’s Great Taco Hunt, I decided to venture out to “Tacoville” in South Fort Worth. The outside of this building, with its vibrant colors caught my eye.



As I got out of my pick-up, I became a little tentative as I was unsure what “El Pollo Palenque” meant. I knew chicken was involved---but what kind of chicken? To be specific, would I walk in and see chicken heads on the menu? Remember, this is hard-core Tacoville, so all is fair game.

The inside is very bland. It looks like a place where you walk up and order. Two TVs hang from the wall (playing Mexican soap operas), and the menu is hand-painted above the kitchen.

I was one of three customers. Two Mexican families and me.
My waitress brought chips and salsa. The chips were slightly above par. I was appreciative of the fact I could freely poor salt on my chips. The salsa was incredibly good. Salsa. Many people like to say salsa. I like to type salsa. Salsa.

The waitress was somewhat cute. She had dyed dark pink hair. Have you ever seen a Mexican girl with dark-pink hair? She looked to be a hard 22-25 year old. Her attitude was “I wish I were anywhere but here.”

Upon reading the menu I almost panicked as it appeared in 100% Spanish. I’m thinking of calling KLIF and asking them to protest this restaurant as English is the official language of Texas. However, I realized they had a description of each item in English (in small print).

Seeing as this it a “Taco Hunt”, I decided to order tacos. Three tacos, that came with beans and rice. The choices were Beef, Pork, or Shredded Beef. I found it odd they did not have chicken tacos (due to their name) but I did not want chicken tacos anyway (still had the chicken head image in my mind). I elected for the Shredded Beef.



Let’s just say that tacos might have been the best I’ve ever had. They came with cilantro, onions, and a lime on the side (which I’m learning is staple for authentic Taquerias). They were wrapped in two freshly grilled white corn tortillas.

What I liked best about the tacos was how greasy they were. What I liked least about the tacos was how greasy they were. The beans were VERY good, and had a zesty tang to them. The rice was good; however it had green peas in it, which I dislike. Nonetheless, the tacos were simply out of this world and it will be a challenge to find anything to rival them going forward!

4 comments:

  1. I recently revisited this establishment after reading your review. I agree that the chips could have been a little better and the salsa was good. I ordered the asada tacos. They came as always with cilantro and onion garnish. They were greasy but not to bad. The rice did not have any peas anymore. The corn tortillas should have been doubled up since they fell apart easily. The verde sauce was not hot at all. Overall a decent taco but not a amazing experience.

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  2. This place is no longer there - it has recently changed ownership and has become primarily a torta place.

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