Sooooo….Long time no hear and I know...probably not missed. I have been lazy and distracted and probably too opinionated to be doing my job and keeping the world safe for diners in St. Louis. There have been a LOT of great developments in town in the last year on the low and intermediate “culinary” spectrum. Today we discuss and disect Taco Circus.
If you had the pleasure (because it a delightful town for food, music and weather) and or misfortune (because it has become a city replete with traffic jams and angry Republicans) of going to Austin in the last few years you will hopefully availed yourself of the pleasures of their two GREAT taco chains. Those are Tacdeli http://www.tacodeli.com/ and Torchys http://www.tacodeli.com/. It is a matter of fighting words to chose one over the other but the fact is that they are both….absolutely fucking great. Mexican street tacos… fanccified up for the family and made simple and exotic at the same time. I would like to have the local franchise but… no one has called me and of course… I dont have any money.
So I eat a LOT of tacos in town. Most of them are nice mexican places on Cherokee, up in Overland or over in beeeeeeutiful Fairmont City. So when a culinary expert (Commissioner of my Fantasy Football League) told me about Taco Circus...on Morganford… I was intrigued. Morganford by Bevo Mill has lapsed from its Germanic heritage and now is a bastion of Bosnian culture. I dont know anything about Bosnian food but have not been impressed with my limited culinary tastes but tacos? In Bevo? So I went.
I was… not impressed with the location. It seems neither smart, nor particularly well thought out. I assume one of the partner’s mother must own the building. It is slightly omantic just because it is positively off beat but… that front porch is positively not up to code.
I was espcially intrigued however because they advertised “BREAKFAST TACOS!” So I went and found their egg and chorizo was unstoppable. Small and easily edible and easy to eat two. They claim to have good coffee but I cannot speak to that. There is on the other hand a slight problem with their brewed iced tea and their styro-foam cups but… the breakfast tacos were worth overlooking. I cannot speak to the rest of the tacos in the morning but…
Everything they make is cooked right behind the counter. There are normally two guys. One cooking and the other taking orders and doing a little bit of prep. Everything seems very fresh and they after several visits I believe they have good quality control as they turn out a consistent product and it is a nice quality product.I think breakfast tacos are only served until 10:00 and they dont compromise.
Lunch...lunch is excellent at well. They make their bones on a pork steak taco. Obviously the pork steak taco is a St. Louis favorite and they sell a ton but I have a strong CHRISTIAN bias against the St. Louis pork steak. There is always a tough bite and I have NO patience for anything tough in my tacos. They were really good but… I also have a bias against ground beef tacos (I think Taco Bell) but these are to die for. They reminded me of Delta Hot Tamales and i dont think they use Frank’s hot sauce but they make a hot sauce that goies on the ground beef tacos that make me eat 3 of them and three equals a belly ache… but damn their good. The chicken fajita taco is also excellent and flavorful as well.
I have not tried the burritos because they flour tortillas (of course) but every taco is offered on soft corn, soft flour and hard corn. They also seem pretty “clean” from a gluten free/celiac front. I have not had any bad reactions other than the one brought on by eating 3 ground beef tacos.
The place is not perfect. It is small. It has two picnic tables outside and likely seating for about 6-8 comfortably inside. It is hot. No airconditioning or weak air conditioning but over all, this place is a gluten free winner and I strongly reccomend!
Additionally… here is a picture of my daughter with our late and much lamented rooster.
