What I Ate: May 2, 2009 (La Hacienda de los Barrios)

I forgot my SD card at home and for some reason I didn't have a backup card in my bag… so I had to take a picture of my lunch with my cell phone. It was late and we were meeting friends in San Antonio for dinner, so we shared a panini from HEB called "the Cuban".

For dinner, Tina and I joined Braden, Kelly, and Dan at La Hacienda de los Barrios (18747 Redland Rd, San Antonio, TX‎ - (210) 497-8000‎) in North San Antonio. This restaurant was made (more) famous by an episode of Throwdown with Bobby Flay where he challenges them in making a Puffed Taco. We all ordered a puffed taco of some sort and dinner plates.

Beef puffed taco. Flavorful filling, but a little too salty. The taco shell was thick and chewy in spots and light and crispy in other parts but had good masa flavor. I prefer the tacos from Las Palmas Taco Bar (55 Front St., Santa Cruz, CA 95060 - (831) 429-1220) where the puffed taco shells are light and crispy all over and the filling is mildly flavored. This taco was so salty that Tina could only eat a few bites.

Chicken puffed taco.

This puffed taco was so soggy that it could not be eaten by hand. There was no pleasure in eating the shell.

I had a little bit of Tina's Fajita Dinner (beef and shrimp combination which they served us as beef and chicken - Tina complained about the chicken and they offered to bring her another platter. When we refused because we didn't want an entire plate thrown away, our waitress said she'd bring us some shrimp on the side. We eventually got the shrimp but not before we were pretty much done eating.)

I ordered the Costillas Rancheras (Short Ribs cooked to perfection. Served with avocado & tomato salad, Spanish rice, frijoles a la charra, fresh tortillas, and salsa ranchera. ¡Magnifico!). The short ribs were prepared flanken style (for some reason I didn't expect this) and were slightly over cooked. The Spanish rice was a bit low on flavor for my taste and watery/soggy. I forgot to eat my pinto beans.

We had a good time at the meal and most of that was due to the company and conversation. The food wasn't bad, but the dishes we had weren't great. The real stand out at La Hacienda are the corn tortillas. Dan had ordered several for his meal and I tried one. It smelled of heavenly corn and tasted like real masa. They are thicken then normal and have a great chewiness. I'll go back just to eat their average quality Tex-Mex in those amazing corn tortillas. The flour tortillas we had were also good, but the corn is out of this world.