True confession: Until Monday I’d never had a taco salad. Why? Because when I go for a taco I am essentially saying, “Yes, I would like about three handfulls of meat. Radishes on the side.” When I go for a salad, that’s a totally different story. That is a time when I am essentially saying, “I’m feeling kind of gross lately.” It had never occurred to me to stop compartmentalizing my eating until Monday when a friend said to me, “Come get taco salad. It’s Taco Salad Monday at La Loma in the Midtown Global Market on Lake Street.”
Okay, I know that Taco Salad Monday doesn’t have quite the same ring to it as Taco Tuesday, but cheap tacos is cheap tacos no matter what it’s called.
But wait – does a taco salad qualify as tacos?
Let’s see:
A tortilla shell? Yes.
The taco salad at La Loma does come in a bowl that is forged of a delicious hard tortilla shell. But wait, don’t I hate hard shell tacos? Yes.
As you may or may not know (depending on how much and often you real All the Tacos, or if you’ve ever dared to listen to our podcast), I’m not particularly a fan of the hard shell style tacos. However, this tortilla bowl was really tasty, and because I could chip away the sides to dip into the filling, I avoided my most feared hard shell taco pitfall: cut up gums.
Are the insides delicious? Yes.
Now, I don’t know about taco salads you’ve had, but this particular taco salad was a little confusing, as what filled the tortilla bowl was all sorts of goodness that I usually expect (and delightfully receive) from a burrito. The taco salad contained: pinto beans, rice, steak (I went with steak rather than chicken because of Mary’s chicken intolerance), lettuce, sour cream, guacamole, and picked jalapeños.
Personally, I find “taco salad” to be a misnomer, but I guess the name has got everything to do with not what’s on the inside, but rather the outside. Tacos are a shallow food. I guess that if I got any food that came in a curvilinear hard or soft shell I would call it a taco. The bowl counts.
On Mondays the taco salad is only $5.39. It is a taco. And a salad.
I’ll have to return for Taco Thursdays at La Loma – which is actually a tamales place, so I’ll definitely have to go back for those.
Ohhh! One quick note about Midtown Global Market.
I’m originally from Philadelphia, where we have the Reading Terminal Market – which is amazing and a totally fun place to spend the afternoon. The Midtown Global Market is pretty similar, and has a bunch of amazing places to eat, including Los Ocampos where I bought and reviewed my first Minneapolis tacos (they also have awesome horchata).
And, though it’s not a taco, MGM also has this amazing pastry place called Salty Tart. AND now that I have a car I give a hoot about this part: MGM will validate your parking for THREE righteous hours while you hang there.
Party on.
Breakfast All Day, Bitches.
