Tacos – when you just don’t want to bother rolling up a burrito. These handheld hunger-hammering hammocks carry so much flavour in such a compact package. Being small also allows for more variety – it’ll be like a tasting flight, but for tacos.
I usually go to La Taqueria, but oinkyCHAN and I decided to head to Gastown for a change of scenery. Gringo in Gastown’s Blood Alley sets itself apart from tacquerias and cantinas by zapping its patrons back to the 80’s and 90’s with its bright pink neon lights, old school TV shows and retro tabletop designs. We initially walked past this place because it looked like a night club from the outside.
The menu is simple – 3 tacos for $8 or 6 for $15. Unless you want just one, it’s $2.75… but who eats just one or two tacos? We wanted to try as many as possible, so we orders 9 tacos total (3+6).
It was pretty dark, so it was hard to tell which taco was which. We ordered:
- Chuck – house-seasoned ground beef, salsa and green onion
- Austin – saucy brisket, fried onions, slaw
- Encino – spicy hand-pulled roast chicken, ranch, salsa
- Wilbur – mazatlan braised pork, chiles, vinegar, salsa
- Pink – poached white fish, chimmichurri, slaw, tomatillo sauce
My favs were the Austin and Wilbur. Big, bold flavours. And the fried onions added a nice crunch. I wouldn’t get the roast chicken again… kinda bland. oinkyCHAN wasn’t particularly fond do the poached white fish, but I thought it was okay.
To bump up the flavour and heat, there are little buckets of sauce. Pour ‘em, mix ‘em, eat ‘em. Drink ‘em? (No, don’t).
Dear photobomber, I hope you see this online :P
Final Bytes
- Can Blood Alley BE anymore scary?
- A bouncer lets in people as seats open up
- They also serve booze, chips, quesadilla, burrito, bowls, etc.
Foodobyte’s Rating
