| rev:text
| - Arrived early to meet two friends here for happy hour, but Tapacubo doesn't offer happy hour. The one-page food menu listed delicious-sounding items with great prices, though, so I decided to stay. I initially had trouble finding a way to get into the restaurant after parking at The Normal's parking lot- wasn't able to locate the patio entrance, so I decided to try The Graduate's hotel entrance and found my way in from there. The reason I couldn't find the patio entrance from the outside was because it was latched shut.
Walked past the hotel's pool (which reminded me of The Saguaro's pool setup) on my left and walked around the central bar and sat down so that I could look out into the patio. Noticed the beautiful old gold coins on the counter set in a honeycomb pattern, which mirrored the honeycomb wallpapering at The Normal (and later on, I was able to check out Tapacubo's women's restroom to find that there's honeycomb wallpaper there, too!). I love honeycomb pattern, so I was delighted. There was a flatscreen TV facing me on this side of the bar, so I"m assuming that the other side had one, too. The bar is flanked by two old pumps (gas?)- not something you usually see in a bar, so they were nice touches. I also noticed that the barstools are different from the ones depicted on Tapacubo's website, which were very welcome, indeed! These had backings, plus comfy, if I recall correctly, padded seats. Tapacubo's a small restaurant, but with an intimate ambience.
To drink, I ordered the Macua, which consisted of Matusalem rum, guava juice, fresh lemon juice, and simple syrup. http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/tapacubo-tempe?select=blVnRlCN9aisxpYAxcpX2w#blVnRlCN9aisxpYAxcpX2w Light, not too sweet, tart, and very refreshing! I'd order it again. For my mains, I ordered the Cochinita taco ($3) http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/tapacubo-tempe?select=blVnRlCN9aisxpYAxcpX2w#3EYnivdyyjPmiWB1nR3fAA and Pollo torta ($8.50). http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/tapacubo-tempe?select=J5xjybRajxB9EYlkXrFYsw#J5xjybRajxB9EYlkXrFYsw The menu stated that the tacos come on either corn or flour tortillas, so I specifically requested for flour tortillas, because I was allergic to corn. I took one bite and noticed there was a corn texture and taste to it, and I turned to my friend to ask him if he thought it was corn, and he said it looked like flour, but felt thick like corn. I quickly spat out what I could and ran to the restroom (which is how I noticed that it had honeycomb-patterend wallpapering). When I returned, our server Tiffany said that it was a flour tortilla, but because she had touched my food, she went ahead and asked for another one. The second one was definitely flour, because it was thinner, more pliable, and softer. I found the juicy pork to be a little too sweet for my taste, but I appreciated its spicy flavor. Wish I could've eaten more of the sautéed onions in this dish (onion intolerance), as they looked and felt perfectly cooked. The side of pickled veggies (jalapeños, carrots, and perhaps cabbage) was a nice touch! I'd try other tacos next time. The pollo torta contained well-seasoned chicken, lettuce, cheese (cotija?), and chipotle mayo. Very tasty, but the chicken component was, as my friend described it, "indistinct." You could've told me it was beef in there, and I would've believed you. Still tasty, though. I thought that the filling was a little sparse. Definitely more bread to this pressed sandwich than I'd wanted, but the crunch factor made my mouth happy. Homemade chips were very good! Crispy and light, perfectly salted, and not greasy- perfect!
For dessert, I had the Brown bag churros, which came with salted caramel sauce. I noticed that the pastry was on the counter not by sight, but by scent-- it smelled wonderfu ! http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/tapacubo-tempe?select=blVnRlCN9aisxpYAxcpX2w#j6McW80vpbrn0LOXH7d5 g The textures of the churros were terrific-- fried exterior with deep grooves that were filled with sugar (unfortunately, there was too much sugar!), and the churro pieces were very pleasant to break into pieces, as I shared them with friends. Dipping them into the salted caramel wasn't easy, as the grooves were overloaded with sugar and thus had no more room for the delicious silken caramel. So, we just spooned the caramel into our mouths. Problem solved. Yeah, this is worth ordering again, but definitely with less sugar next time.
Friendly staff. When we asked whom I assumed was a manager for possible live music in the area (since Yelp app wasn't of much help), she said she was a new transplant and would ask around. We told her we'd try the front desk reps, who also didn't know of any places nearby, and it was a pleasant surprise to have one of the bar guests approach us with suggestions he found with his smartphone. Very sweet of him, and of the manager. Kudos!
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)