Tenth Street Tacos

Another update to my update. It makes me frown and shed some tears. Where will I get cheese fries as good as Chuco’s now? :(
Taco shop that hit the spot for El Pasoans has closed
By Suzannah Gonzales | Wednesday, September 3, 2008, 02:28 PM
The taco shop formerly known as Chuco’s Tacos and more recently as 10^th Street Tacos located in a yellow house on West 10^th Street near North Lamar Boulevard has shut its doors for good, business co-​owner David Sahagun confirmed today.
Sahagun declined to say why, citing an ongoing federal lawsuit filed in El Paso. Chico’s Tacos, an institution there, is alleging trademark infringement, saying that Chuco’s played off Chico’s with, among other things, its signature dish — rolled tacos in a special sauce, topped with shredded cheese, bright green salsa and served in a paper boat tray.
«I really can’t say anything right now,» Sahagun said.
The owners of Chuco’s hoped changing the name of the restaurant would help settle the matter.
For many El Pasoans living in Austin, the restaurant provided hometown-​style comfort food without having to make the eight-​plus hour drive.

As a native El Pasoan, I can say that it was hard moving to Austin and being away from Chico’s Tacos. So, when I heard that Chuco’s Tacos, now Tenth Street Tacos, was opening, I had to check it out.
First of all, I love the fact that you can get rolled tacos in different types of sauces. I recommend the chicken tacos in the green sauce, SO GOOD!
Also, my sister and I went a couple of weeks ago, and we got free Queso just because the manager/​owner wanted us to try it. IT WAS DELICIOSO!

I have many friends from El Paso.
They have been pressuring me for a little while now to go and try the Austin version of Chico’s tacos. This place used to be called Chuco’s Tacos, in a crazy homage to the El Paso stronghold of government cheese and meat goo. As a result of Chico’s unappreciation of said homage, they had to change their name.
No worries. It’s still tasty.
I had three of what are now (as a result of legal-​ness) called Taquitos. Really, that’s entirely fair considering that that’s what they are to those of us who love outside of the EP.
You can get 3 of these bad boys for something like $ 2.50 or something. They come swimming in some sort of «sauce» that looks like grey water. Don’t knock it. It’s the traditional way these delicacies are supposed to be served. Atop the taquitos is melted cheese and some jalapeño stuff (which I asked for more of cause it was tasty). Be thankful they don’t use meat goo and non-​dairy government cheese!
I got the veggie ones. Tasty! I’m not sure what to think of the grey water. Maybe less of it would be a good idea?
Other than that, I had a chicken taco with their hottest salsa verde.
Decent taco. Nice and spicy salsa!
All that and a beer was like $ 6.35 or something. Great deal. I’m not quite convinced that this is my new faux fast food hangout, but I’m definitely willing to go back for trivia or Guitar Hero night.
Oh, and my girlfriend will kill me if she finds out I went without her. Don’t tell her. She scares me.

The food is decent, but the Thursday night trivia is awesome. My crew switched from doing BD Riley’s and Plucker’s trivia to go here, which has newly been renamed «Tenth Street Tacos» because they got sued by Chico’s.
Anyway, the trivia host and owner are friendly, we get free food when we win (and the food is CRAZY cheap when its not), and it’s free fun. Really fun! What else could you ask for? Churros? Don’t worry… they have them too!

Went here for lunch with a friend and ordered two chicken tostadas. Now bear in mind that a couple of days before, I had had five of the most amazing homemade tostadas ever. So… with that as my standard, I ordered some tostadas. The place was pretty packed, because we went right around 12:30, so we sat in the front room. The A/​C in there was broken so it was kinda hot. The food took about 10 minutes to arrive, and our server was pretty nice, making sure we had everything we needed.
As for the food… not as good as the homemade tostadas. The flat tortilla that my tostada was on was really chewy. Not good. The beans were so-​so; the chicken and the salsa were the only two things that made these tostadas worth eating. That, and I hadn’t eaten breakfast and I was starving. My friend got the taquitos and they looked pretty unappetizing. However, it must be said that I am not a fan of the taquito.
Prices were really cheap.
Parking: small lot in the back. Easier to walk there.

I’ve had nothing but great experiences every time I’ve eaten at Chuco’s. It’s a five minute walk from my office, so I frequent it for lunch on a semi-​regular basis.
Great food for relatively cheap. Queso rocks. Giving it 3 stars instead of 4 because there is definitely better tex-​mex all over Austin for the same prices, eg. El Arroyo, Chuy’s, Guero’s, etc. (though mostly only lunch prices can match Chuco’s prices at those places).
Overall I’d definitely recommend it. If you just order two tacos and a drink, you can get out of their for under $ 10. Just make your friend (s) pay for the queso or your bill is quickly over $ 10. Or split the cost. Either way.
Don’t go there if you have to drive. Much better walk-​to place.

If this review was solely based on the taco’s alone I would give it a 4 star rating. But, my strict Unilocal code doesn’t allow me to do that.
I’m gonna give Chuco’s Taco’s what I call a «compliment Sandwich», start with a layer of bad, then say something good, and end with a final layer of bad.
Layer 1:
This place is named «Chuco’s Tacos», so why wouldn’t I try a «Chuco’s Taco» from the menu? When you name your restaurant after a menu item you better be sure it’s the best thing on the menu… This «Chuco Taco» was awful. It looks like a Taquito is a pool of grease with some sort of weird topping. Honestly, it looked like something I would have gotten at a truck stop. Luckily it was Thursday and these things were only .50 cents…
Layer 2:
The Taco was awesome. I tried the beef and chicken and loved both. I would say these taco’s were slightly better then Taco Deli, but not as good as Torchy’s… if that helps.
Layer 3:
We happened to be there for «trivia night». We weren’t participating, but we could hear the questions from the other room. This was really disorganized… the girl asking the questions couldn’t pronounce the names on the questions… the questions were awful… the girl asking the questions hadn’t even heard of Ricky Schroeder OR Silver Spoons! Don’t attend this Trivia Night. Stick to Wednesdays at B.D. Riley’s.
Stay away from the Chuco Taco… Enjoy the Regular Tacos… Don’t attend Trivia Night.

I wish Unilocal had half stars. I would give this place 2.5. My experience started out great and went downhill from there.
I am a sucker for a good bargain and when I saw the Thursday special — Chucos Tacos 50 cents each — my heart jumped a little. Even after the waitress explained that they were not at all tacos, as you might think from the description «tacos». The waitress raved about these «tacos» and talked us into buying four — two beef and two «veggie». They sounded delicious from the description — peppers, onions, sauce, cheese, yum! Also, the queso was priced nicely, so we tried some of that in addition to my chicken taco.
The queso was delicious. Really. The chicken taco tasted good initially, but had a weird after-​taste that I couldn’t put my finger on. Oh well, it was good enough and I was hungry enough to eat the whole taco. Then there were the Chucos «tacos» (which were really some sort of taquitos sitting in a pool of what looked like dirty water with a strange «sauce» drizzled over it. I don’t know what it was, but it was a radioactive green color. The «veggie taco» was not filled with peppers or onions as promised, but with some sort of vegetable paste. Please don’t order these. Also, it was freezing in there and I had to wear my coat the whole time.

My El Paso friends persuaded me to try Chuco’s Tacos and finally I stopped by for an early lunch. Here you can enjoy your tacos in pleasant surroundings that include separate cozy and intimate seating areas and interesting wall art and posters. I like the flat screen HD TVs in most of the rooms – nice to get caught up on the delegate and superdelegate issues while I ate.
I was informed that the «chuco’s tacos» listed on the menu are «just like we used to eat at Chico’s Tacos in El Paso». So I took the bait and ordered these plus a small guacamole. They were good and tasted much like what I enjoyed years ago minus the delicious green chili salsa. These rolled tacos were dressed in the same spicy tomato sauce, topped with grated cheddar and finished with finely grated jalapeño. I know, it’s difficult to eat them with those plastic forks. Just grab a load of napkins and pick them up with your fingers – you will do fine. All El Paso home boys and girls eat them this way.
Monday night is Guitar Hero night with Trivia Night on Thursdays. You can also watch Mexican wrestling Sundays. Chuco’s Tacos is not in my neighborhood but if I’m in the area and hungry, you can bet I’ll pop in again.

Holy crap-​a-​moly these tacos are good. I went in here for a work related issue, and the owner was nice enough to offer to buy me breakfast. i almost always turn down those kinds of offers when they come from work, I get paid after all, but it was difficult on that occasion, the place smelled fantastic. So instead, I went by for lunch later that day and have been going back twice a week ever since. These tacos, and the salsas that go with them in particular, are what I have been looking for in food for a while.
Flavorful.
The place is itty-​bitty, and I like it that they are proud UTEP Miners with a big flag and everything. hey have parking, a plus when you are dashing in to grab lunch to go downtown, as I usually am here.
Seriously, try mixing the salsas with the chicken and carne asada tacos. Oh God, my tongue is happy.

I live right around the corner from this new taco spot so I was excited when it popped up recently.
In a former restaurant location, the décor was simple with Mexican flare and modern. Very clean.
Their menu is varied with tacos, tacquitos, quesadillas, and hamburgers too. Their specials look very promising with Monday hamburgers for under $ 2 & $ 1.50 Tecate’s. Other specials are great for Tuesday-​Thursday as well.
You order from a counter up front. Me & my guest ordered the Chuco’s Tacos, 1 chicken taco, 1 beef taco, and chips & queso. Prices are reasonable with tacos under $ 2 each.
Service was a bit slow but friendly. The chicken meat was very flavorable but the taco had a bit too much cilantro. The beef was bland but edible. The Chuco’s tacos that are really taquitos in a yummy red sauce were great. The flavor was unique and even with it drenched in sauce, it stayed crunchy. Next time I may tell them to go easy on the sauce b/​c it was little too plentiful for my taste. The queso was delicious. It had the right blend of cheese & spice. May be too spicy for some. It was a bit too runny but still very tasty.
I would visit again b/​c it was very inexpensive but rather tasty. Next time, I’ll try the hamburgers.

After a long morning of running errands without anything to eat or drink, I was starving to the point of being incredibly cranky. I needed to eat, but I also really wanted to go for a run pretty shortly afterwards, so I thought I’d pick up a quick breakfast taco somewhere. The problem was, it was 1:00 on a Sunday, so my usual grab-​a-​taco-​and-​go haunts in the vicinity of Town Lake were either closed or had stopped serving tacos. Fortunately for me, Chuco’s Tacos came to my rescue.
Chuco’s is located in the tiny space that used to be Basil’s (and a couple of other restaurants since then that I no longer remember the names of). It has completely re-​invented the space, changing it from a quiet, romantic, upscale nook to a bustling and bright, very casual eatery populated by plasma TV’s tuned to various sports games. You order at the counter and your food is brought to you.
Tacos come with a generous portion of lettuce, tomato, cilantro and onions and your choice of flour or corn tortilla. Free add-​ons include grilled onions, jalapenos, pico, and salsa. I had an adobado chicken taco on flour with the usual fixings plus grilled onions and pico. It cost me just $ 2, and the small tortilla was practically overflowing with ingredients. The chicken was a little on the bland side, but the flavor of the taco overall was pretty good, probably thanks to the addition of the pico and grilled onions. The tortilla was a little flimsy and didn’t hold up well to the demands of being stuffed to the gills. I ended up eating a fair amount of the taco with a fork.
Chuco’s also offers a selection of other casual Mexican fare, including burritos, quesadillas, taquitos and tortas. For some reason, they also serve hamburgers. There is not a single thing on the menu that costs over $ 5, and they even have a few daily specials at jaw-​dropping prices (like $ 1.50 quarter pound hamburgers after 4 pm on Wednesdays).
Service was very friendly and accommodating. Even though I had ordered my taco to go, I ended up eating it there, and one of the employees kept trying to help me, bringing me napkins, offering to refill my drink, etc.
I should probably note that I have always thought this is the most treacherous parking lot in Austin. Between the very narrow driveway (which accommodates a single car on a good day) and the big tree perched in the middle of the tiny lot, I feel sure that many a diner has had to add a car repair to the cost of their meal.
Scary parking notwithstanding, we can always use another quick, cheap eatery near downtown, and Chuco’s fits the bill. The one taco I tried didn’t blow me away, but the prices certainly did, and for this cheapskate, that counts for something. And when you consider that the prices are cheaper than Taco Bell, that gives you a little perspective from which to judge the food. I’ll definitely be back for another round, and to check out that $ 1.50 burger special!