In Need of Ground Beef Tacos

I've had a craving for some ground beef hard shell tacos, but all of the Mexican Restaurants I visit (with the exception of Uncle Julio's) only offer up steak or chicken. Where does everyone like to go for their ground beef tacos?

My favorite ground beef tacos with a hard corn shell are the ones I make with fixins from Jewel.

Ortega.








(self-professed "taco salad" afficianado)

I realize I left the question open ended but how about some restaurants? Surely places serve ground beef.

Las Mananitas does some of their stuff with a really good ground beef mixture. I don't know if they do tacos, but the flautas are delicious.

3523 N Halsted St
Chicago, IL 60657
(773) 528-2109

Kesey wrote:I realize I left the question open ended but how about some restaurants? Surely places serve ground beef.

um...that *was* my point. I didn't misunderstand your question. Taking a philosophical stance: why seek that most marginal(though tasty) of ethnic bastardizations outside the provenance of one's own kitchen?

clip a coupon
get thee hither to the Jewel's
buy a box of Ortega product
doctor up the ground beef with the Mexican spices and mixes you presumably already have in your cupboard

fold mixture in taco shell, add veg.

consume

---

I like a good ol' quasi Tex Mex hardshell taco on the occasion.

but, outside of Taco Hell(I miss the heydey of TH pre-1990 when they still had paper wrappers the color of 500 dollar Monopoly bills) it's not something I'm seeking someone "else" to make.

---

sidenote:

Jewel Flier from last week:

"Feed a family of 4 for under 6 bucks!"

buy

1 tub pre-cooked Taco Hell ground beef product mixture
1 box of Taco Hell hardshell tacos

receive either

1 bag shredded iceberg lettuce

or!

1 bag cellulose-dusted pre-shredded 'Mexican" cheese blend

free!

Hi,

Just another page in the land called Jewel Foods. Walked into the Jewel in Highland Park this morning. They had moved a refrigerated case to the front of the vegetable section filled with Cinco de Mayo supplies. One outstanding offering was the tub of Chi-Chi's taco filling. I suspect this might fill the bill for the ground beef taco.

In a restaurant setting, Las Tres Hermanas offers three taco fillings: beef, chicken and pork. The beef option is ground beef. This place offers Americanized-Mexican circa 1980 when we didn't know better.



Las Tres Hermanas
329 Waukegan Ave
Highwood, IL 60040
(847) 432-0774

Regards,

At the risk of being mocked off this website, I dare to suggest you might get your fix at Uncle Julio's Hacienda.

Yes...it's overpricied.

Yes...it's a chain and a meat market, all wrapped up into one.

Yes...it's located at a mecca of scary no parking shopping...

BUT...the ground beef tacos, a craving that I often get (and I do make my own at home -- I like the la preferida taco mix along side of some extras I add in on my own) at Uncle Julio's aren't half bad. And they have decent salsa and really fun thin crispy chips and taco shells, which is what makes a taco for me.

Their ranchero beans are pretty darn tasty as well...and they have lovely little pieces of bacon floating in them.

So...hie to Uncle Julio's for a ground beef taco fix.

Unlcle Julio's Hacienda
855 W. North Ave.
312-266-4222

earthlydesire wrote:At the risk of being mocked off this website, I dare to suggest you might get your fix at Uncle Julio's Hacienda.

Yes...it's overpricied.

Yes...it's a chain and a meat market, all wrapped up into one.

Yes...it's located at a mecca of scary no parking shopping...

BUT...the ground beef tacos, a craving that I often get (and I do make my own at home -- I like the la preferida taco mix along side of some extras I add in on my own) at Uncle Julio's aren't half bad. And they have decent salsa and really fun thin crispy chips and taco shells, which is what makes a taco for me.

Their ranchero beans are pretty darn tasty as well...and they have lovely little pieces of bacon floating in them.

So...hie to Uncle Julio's for a ground beef taco fix.

Unlcle Julio's Hacienda
855 W. North Ave.
312-266-4222

I don't mind the food at Uncle Julio's(the crowd, the atmosphere, etc. as mentioned above...are a problem)

whenever someone posts asking for Chicago Tex Mex rec.'s(something that doesn't really exist in Chicago) Uncle Julio's is a decent choice

actually, Uncle Julio's ground beef tacos sound pretty good right now

Perhaps the 'white boy tacos' mentioned in this thread?

I know the EXACT taco you MUST seek out.
Juicy ground beef in a homemade hardshell with little patches of grease seeping thru.
Nuevo Leon has them in spades and they are what taco fantasies are made of.
Please let me know if you try them....
And, it is BYOB, which makes it all the better.
Plus...their huevos rancheros (with whole beans) rock.
mst


Nuevo Leon
1515 W 18th St, Chicago, 60608 - (312) 421-1517

If you want top notch hard shell ground beef tacos the way to go is your own kitchen but if you dont have the time or energy as mentioned above the white boy tacos at picante in bucktown are exactly what you seek and they arent half bad but its much cheaper to just grab all the fixins needed and dice up some onions and jalapeno throw them in a pan and sautee them up and proceed to add the ground beef and I actually make up my own seasoning consisting of chili powder, paprika, ground chipotle, crushed red pepper, white pepper, cumin, onion powder, fresh garlic, some adobo seasoning and then I add some pilsen lation seasoning from the spice house and some mexican oregano and a lil' water or broth and crush the heck out of the beef with a potato masher, if im feeling up to it at times ill add a mashed potato mixture into the beef to give it a tex-mex feel. The result is as good of a gringo taco as your going to find, I too have looked everywhere and determined that making them is the best way to cure your fix.

Que Rico!

Took a look at the Nuevo Leon website. Looks like I'll have to give it a try. Do they only serve their tacos on tortillas?

http://www.nuevoleonrestaurant.com/

Da Beef - Is this the Picante you're referring to...?
http://www.yelp.com/biz/EMj-Ke8PAxA0ppWbcsirAg

Da Beef wrote:If you want top notch hard shell ground beef tacos the way to go is your own kitchen but if you dont have the time or energy as mentioned above the white boy tacos at picante in bucktown are exactly what you seek and they arent half bad but its much cheaper to just grab all the fixins needed and dice up some onions and jalapeno throw them in a pan and sautee them up and proceed to add the ground beef and I actually make up my own seasoning consisting of chili powder, paprika, ground chipotle, crushed red pepper, white pepper, cumin, onion powder, fresh garlic, some adobo seasoning and then I add some pilsen lation seasoning from the spice house and some mexican oregano and a lil' water or broth and crush the heck out of the beef with a potato masher, if im feeling up to it at times ill add a mashed potato mixture into the beef to give it a tex-mex feel.

yes I said yes I will Yes.

I second Las Mananitas. I have eaten their ground beef enchildas verdes for years. I tried the other meats but none had as much flavor as the ground beef. I ordered take out from there as well.

JimInLoganSquare wrote:

Da Beef wrote:If you want top notch hard shell ground beef tacos the way to go is your own kitchen but if you dont have the time or energy as mentioned above the white boy tacos at picante in bucktown are exactly what you seek and they arent half bad but its much cheaper to just grab all the fixins needed and dice up some onions and jalapeno throw them in a pan and sautee them up and proceed to add the ground beef and I actually make up my own seasoning consisting of chili powder, paprika, ground chipotle, crushed red pepper, white pepper, cumin, onion powder, fresh garlic, some adobo seasoning and then I add some pilsen lation seasoning from the spice house and some mexican oregano and a lil' water or broth and crush the heck out of the beef with a potato masher, if im feeling up to it at times ill add a mashed potato mixture into the beef to give it a tex-mex feel.

yes I said yes I will Yes.

I doubt Faulkner ate much Tex-Mex, though....

Fernando's...N. Lincoln Ave.

Kesey wrote:Took a look at the Nuevo Leon website. Looks like I'll have to give it a try. Do they only serve their tacos on tortillas?

You were expecting them on rye maybe?

Evil Ronnie wrote:You were expecting them on rye maybe?

One of the best lines I've heard in a long time ...

JimInLoganSquare wrote:


yes I said yes I will Yes.


chitrader wrote:

I doubt Faulkner ate much Tex-Mex, though....

Neither did Joyce, for that matter...

Just about every Mexican restaurant offers up their version of ground beef. They call it picadillo. Some places mix vegetables in their beef, like carrots, potatos, corn, raisins, green beans and some do not. Most of them do not serve hard shells. But this is where everybody is mistaken. They actually do serve hard shells, but they call them Tostadas.

But getting back to where you can get good tacos de picadillo. (ground beef)

Atotonilco's on 26th & Harding. (order them with the beans) No hard shells or tostadas here.)

Mr Taco on Ogden and Austin. (the quesadillas with the ground beef are to die for. They pile chihuahua cheese on the tortilla and slightly brown it on the grill) Tosatadas are very generous.

El Taconazo on Western & Cermak (Tostadas with all the fixins piled high and are as big as a pyramid)

and just about any Pepe's Tacos.

I hope this helps.

Jesse

Taco al Pastorius wrote: Most of them do not serve hard shells. But this is where everybody is mistaken. They actually do serve hard shells, but they call them Tostadas.

I think the OP was looking for hard shells curved a la Taco Bell (which is usually recognized as the originator of curved taco shell).

In my early, naive years, I couldn't believe Mexican culture could have developed such an unwieldy and poorly engineered eating platform as the curved taco shell. Years later, I realized Tom Bell was to blame, though his business reasons (portion control, shelf stability) are understandable.

Hola David!

I find tostadas to hold more ingredients than the curved shells. But be it flat or curved, they're basically in the same family, which is good eating.

Jesse

Evil Ronnie wrote:

Kesey wrote:Took a look at the Nuevo Leon website. Looks like I'll have to give it a try. Do they only serve their tacos on tortillas?

You were expecting them on rye maybe?

Funny guy. Hard Shells vs. Soft is what I was getting at.

Taco al Pastorius wrote:and just about any Pepe's Tacos.

There you go. Pepe's pork tacos in a hard shell are great. Not like anything you'll find anywhere else, but good in their own right for what they are.

Cogito wrote:

Taco al Pastorius wrote:and just about any Pepe's Tacos.

There you go. Pepe's pork tacos in a hard shell are great. Not like anything you'll find anywhere else, but good in their own right for what they are.

Pepe's, as I recall, was one of the first Mexican "chains" in Chicago (I remember going to one on Lincoln in the late 70s -- for all I know, it may still be there). In those days, the hardshell taco was pretty much all you could get, and it wasn't until later that I realized that most of the world eats tacos with soft tortillas (which, from an engineering standpoint, really make a lot more sense).

Not only that, but Pepe's serves their soft shell tacos on flour tortillas. Which is really a rarity.

I suspect it may be because they don't have any soft corn tortillas in the place?

I don't know if they would serve it to you in a hard shell, but a lot of Mexican places serve picadillo tacos, which are made with a ground beef mixture. I had some pretty good ones at Dona Torta a while back. No hard shells, though.

I must confess my quilty pleasure. Having a craving for BK's crispy tacos ala Jack in the Box.