Tasty tacos, tasty price

Taqueria del Sol
334 Prince Ave.
706-353-3890

By MARTIN MINSCHWANER

Trying to settle a feud between friends or family members? While calm discussions and compromise are nice, I’ve found something better, easier and tastier. Take them to Taqueria del Sol, and if they can’t agree on and take joy in the simple beauty of cheap, tasty tacos, beer and margaritas, there’s no hope for them.

The taco joint, located on Prince Avenue just outside downtown Athens, probably won’t solve all of life’s problems. But it serves good food at a good price in a good atmosphere.

The name means “Taco Shop of the Sun,” and on this bleak November evening, I feel the warmth emitted by the restaurant’s so(u)l. Walking in from the cold, I am welcomed by space heaters and a friendly staff. I eat in the “outdoor” area, where more space heaters and a plastic enclosure offer an outdoor dining experience while keeping me warm.

Every week the dinner menu features three specials—a chef’s special, a seafood special, and a taco-of-the-week. Six other tacos and four enchiladas round out the menu. Tacos will cost you about two bucks, making Taqueria the perfect place for us cash-crippled collegians. Enchiladas cost only a dollar more while the chef’s and seafood specials run closer to ten dollars.

The drink list is expansive. You know how scientists say the earth could fit inside the sun about a million times? Consider Taqueria del Sol’s tequila selection the sun and the tequila selection at similar restaurants the earth. The beer selection is respectable too, with all the Mexican classics.

At Taqueria, customers find a table and wait after ordering and paying at the front counter. My cheese dip arrives at our table immediately. Our entire order arrives soon after—a couple minutes faster than the eight minutes it takes light from the sun to reach earth.

The cheese dip is soft enough for easy dipping, but not so runny it gets all over your shirt. Chopped green jalapeños add a nice kick. The tortilla chips are fresh and don’t even need extra salting.

And the tacos! I’d recommend trying at least two different types. For the price, they’re much better than the seafood special, and three tacos make for a hearty meal. The seafood special—Shrimp Flautas—was the only blemish (sunspot?) during my dinner.

The Shrimp Flautas are two shrimp-stuffed taquitos served atop yellow rice, lettuce, and chopped tomatoes. The menu claims these taquitos are “topped with sour cream and served with a jalapeño dressing.” The topping is more like a golf ball of sour cream between the taquitos, while the dressing hides under the rice, barely even there.

The Flautas are too dry and crunchy; the sour cream can only moisten two or three bites. Not until I dip them in the leftover cheese dip do I feel like I’m eating something worth ten dollars. Meanwhile, the shrimp are small and sparsely distributed. Remember those feuding friends? Steer them away from the flautas and towards the tacos.

The taco-of-the-week is the Cheeseburger Taco. One-fifth the price of the dry flautas, it already has a healthy helping of cheese dip poured over its contents. This taco is basically a ground beef taco, but its combination of lime jalapeño mayonnaise and cheese dip helps it stand out. While lime jalapeño mayonnaise may sound strange, it is actually the perfect combination of something delicious that is hot (jalapeño), something delicious that is cool (mayonnaise), and something delicious (lime).

I try two other tacos, the Fish Taco and the Carnita Taco. The Fish Taco is a sinful treat; tilapia is breaded and deep-fried, then placed in a taco amongst poblano tartar sauce and pickled jalapeños. The Carnita Taco is filled with pulled pork, salsa, cilantro and onions. The pork is perfectly tender while the salsa, cilantro and onions mesh into a kind of super-salsa.

Sun jokes aside, the place knows how to make a taco. I leave Taqueria del Sol content with the world—hopefully your bickering friends or family will too.

You could even say it eclipsed my expectations.

Cali n Tito's offers a Latin excursion

Cali n Tito's
1427 S. Lumpkin St.
706-227-9979

By TAHNI SEGARS

As soon as I walk through the squeaky hinged screen door at Cali n Tito’s and hear the quick, loud slap of the door hitting its raw, wooden frame, I’m transported to a faraway land. That very door is a portal to a small beachfront restaurant on the coast of some South American country. Perhaps Peru, Mexico, Costa Rica or Belize. The atmosphere here takes me right up to the warm and inviting sandy shore via an authentic Latin food experience.

Most of the seating is outdoors, so this dining event is more suitable for nice, warm weather, but the restaurant also offers a small section of tables inside and expands the dining room in cooler weather with a plastic tent and heaters. Under my feet, I hear the crunch of sand and pebbles, as I approach the long line of hungry patrons waiting to place their order at the counter. The progression of eager diners yearning for a bite of the sweet and savory smell that fills the air twists and weaves through the tables.

At a worn, wooden picnic table with a few friends and a cooler in tow, we took advantage of one of Cali n Tito’s most enjoyable features: its BYOB status. For just $2 a person, Cali n Tito’s allows its visitors to bring their own brews. The tables and chairs around us are an eclectic mixture of furniture. It seems that no two items match. The tables are of varying heights. The chairs range from wooden benches to orange plastic chairs common in grade schools in decades past. An old wooden boat with chipped paint serves as a water feature in front of the restaurant. At night, the lighting is intimate with a few bell-shaped fixtures hanging from wooden beams and strands of stringed lights placed around the dining room. The walls and ceilings are heavily adorned with eclectic accoutrement — a bevy of baskets, blankets and Spanish posters.

When the food arrives, it’s clear this is quality fare. The portions around the table are generous. The ingredients are brightly colored and fresh. The chicken quesadilla, simple in its construction and contents (a folded tortilla of white rice, pinto beans, chicken and cheese), offers some complexity and depth when accompanied by the side sauces and offerings — lettuce, sour cream, guacamole and tomatillo sauce. The warm slices of the quesadilla serve as a hearty base for the cool sour cream and guac, while the tomatillo sauce adds a little spicy kick. The dish also comes with a spicy green sauce made mostly of green peppers, onions and jalapeños, but its aftertaste isn’t pleasant. There’s a hint of something bitter and sour left behind, not to mention its watery, green appearance isn’t exactly inviting. The fish tacos are topped with cole slaw, providing the perfect combination of a crunchy slaw with soft, warm fish. A faint whisper of something slightly sugary lingers on the tongue. Tito’s Big Burrito, a huge serving of steak, green peppers, onions, lettuce, cheese and mushrooms, was nothing short of delicious and messy — the kind of messy you don’t mind licking off your fingers.

And now for the sides. The real winners are the maduros and the yucca frita. The maduros, sweet plantains, come in a plastic red basket. The warm, smooth texture is comforting and the plantains are larger than those typically served in Latin restaurants. The yucca frita, or fried cassava, is cooked perfectly. It is like a firm, thick-cut french-fry with a little more flavor and a bit more of a starchy texture. The real star of this side dish is the sauce. Every table comes equipped with a bottle of this delicious creamy dipping sauce. With the look of Thousand Island dressing, it’s very familiar in appearance. Its cool and refreshing taste gives the yucca frita an inviting sweet flavor.

Cali n Tito’s is no fine dining affair, but its eclectic, casual atmosphere, complete with a grainy, turn-knob TV perched in a dark corner, tuned to a soccer game, gives the feel of a Mexican beach bar with a superb local menu. The menu includes favorites from Peru, Cuba and several other South American countries. This Latin dining experience is worth the wait in line and the lingering smell of onions that follow as I walk away with satisfaction and the assurance that I’d be coming back.