Taco de Oro

Just for hoots, I Googled "translate taco de oro". The result? "Gold heels". Hee hee.

I’m continuing on my tour of Mexican restaurants in town. Next up at bat: Taco de Oro.

Taco de Oro is a sit-down, fast-food restaurant where you place your order and listen for your number so you can pick up your meal at the counter.

Luckily, I went with a friend who could tell me that the “T.D.O.” prominently featured on the menu board is a taco salad. Other than the salad, the menu choices were primarily enchiladas, tacos, and burritos.

You have a choice of having your meal smothered or not.

Smothered? Um . . . well . . . I don’t want to be eating live food, I guess, but smothering is an awful way to die.

I jest. “Smothered” means topped with pork chili. Which brings to mind this 1980s PSA.

I got the enchilada meal: two flour-tortilla cheese enchiladas with beans and rice. Not smothered.

For beverages, you can choose between Coke and Pepsi products (another non-sellout!), a margarita, or beer. The only Mexican beer is Corona; the rest are American brands.

Another diner at the restaurant, upon hearing that I’d not eaten there before, commented “There’s crack or something in the food. It’s addictive.”

Yes, indeed. The appeal of Taco de Oro lies primarily in its addictive combo of fat, salt, and carbohydrates. Other than the iceberg lettuce of the T.D.O. and the refried beans, the only trace of vegetable matter I saw was the reddish tinge to the enchilada sauce and the rice.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

If you need a fast-food hit, T.D.O.’s the way to go.

Text copyright 2010 by Katie Bradshaw. “Gold heel” photo credit to Jenny Rollo at sxc.hu. T.D.O. image from nebraskathegoodlife.com