Think you’ve eaten a big taco? These would like a word.
Across the country, a few restaurants have taken the taco and pushed it into completely unreasonable territory, four pounds, five pounds and sometimes even more, stuffed with everything from brisket and eggs to beans, cheese and an entire breakfast lineup.
These are not casual lunch tacos. These are clear your schedule, bring backup and maybe stretch first tacos.
Here are three giant tacos in America that are almost too big to believe.
Taqueria Azteca
7155 Amador Plaza Rd., Dublin, CA 94568
(925) 833-0888
TaqueriaAzteca.com
The name pretty much covers it. Taqueria Azteca’s legendary No Mames Taco has been reported at nearly five pounds, making it less of a taco and more of a structural engineering project.
A giant fried flour tortilla shell is packed with refried beans, rice, cheese, your choice of meat, lettuce and toppings until the whole thing becomes a Mexican feast disguised as one enormous taco. The No Mames Taco has continued to appear on delivery menus as a giant hard-shell taco, which means this monster isn’t just taco folklore.
Technically, you could order one for yourself. Whether you should is between you, your appetite and whoever has to carry it to the table.
Recio’s Smokehouse
5526 Old Brownsville Rd., Corpus Christi, TX 78417
(361) 444-7574
Texas looked at breakfast tacos and apparently decided they needed more breakfast.
The famous Recio Taco at Recio’s Smokehouse has been reported at roughly four to five pounds, earning a reputation as one of the biggest breakfast tacos around. Inside its oversized tortilla is essentially an entire Texas breakfast: refried beans, chorizo and eggs, potato and eggs, sausage and eggs, bacon and eggs, brisket and shredded cheese.
This is not breakfast on the go. This is breakfast that requires a strategy.
The taco has also been associated with an eating challenge, with past reports giving challengers just 13 minutes to finish it.
Thirteen minutes. Most of us need longer than that just to decide which salsa we want.
Vidorra
2642 Main St., Dallas, TX 75226
(469) 629-6396
VidorraCocina.com
Dallas was apparently unwilling to let Corpus Christi have all the fun. Vidorra has been documented serving the El Jeffe, a giant taco weighing approximately five pounds.
It’s exactly the kind of thing you expect to arrive with dramatic music.
Unlike some giant tacos created strictly for food challenges, the El Jeffe comes from a restaurant already known for a full Tex-Mex menu featuring birria tacos, trompo beef and plenty of other considerably more manageable options.
But manageable isn’t why we’re here. Five pounds of taco is why we’re here.
When One Taco Is the Whole Meal. America has no shortage of oversized food creations, but there’s something particularly impressive about the giant taco. Maybe it’s because tacos are normally compact, handheld and easy to eat.
Then someone makes one the size of a small household appliance. And suddenly we’re paying attention.
If a giant-taco road trip is calling your name, California and Texas are excellent places to start. Just remember: when a restaurant says a taco weighs five pounds, they’re not talking about five pounds of tortilla.
They mean five pounds of taco.
Proceed accordingly.
