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| - An inaugural year for a festival rarely goes perfectly and the first Tacolandia in Phoenix is no exception. But this festival has enormous potential and this year was a solid intro into what could turn into the valley's biggest and best taco festival. The Los Angeles version of Tacolandia draws upwards of 10k per year and clearly the Phoenix New Times is doing a number of things in an attempt to replicate the event's popularity in the valley. On a perfect winter Saturday afternoon in Downtown, I began the inaugural festival with an empty stomach and boundless optimism.
This year approximately 20 different taco vendors were on hand to showcase their best incarnations. The festival doubles as a contest between the vendors to see which restaurant wins the vote of the crowd as the best taco at the event. Most restaurants I saw were doing two different taco options, though I saw one doing 4 different options and a few that only offered one. One of the things that makes this event such a worthy contender for best food festival in the valley is the fact that admission buys you unlimited tacos. Seriously, if you want to suck down every taco in sight multiple times over, you're free to do so. And with an online admission price of $25, that's a pretty damn good deal. Drinks however were not free, so I'm glad I brought some extra cash just in case.
I managed to take down 12 tacos before my appetite finally gave out, but I managed to get in a number of tasty taco recipes along the way. My favorite of the bunch (and subsequently the one that won my vote for best taco) was a short rib taco with fried guacamole from none other than valley icon Chef Silvana Esparza at Barrio Cafe Gran Reserva. In fact Chef Esparza brought all four of her restaurants to this event, each selling different taco options from pollo (chicken), to cochinita pibil (pork), to a vegan mole taco (would take too long to explain this one). Other vendors I tried included Presidio, Willie's, Boca Taco Truck, La Flor de Calabasa, Loco Patron, America's Taco Shop, Macayo's, and Mr. Mesquite.
Now then, a few areas they need to improve in. Some of the vendors were clearly more prepared for the crowds than others. The lines got long everywhere as the crowd swelled about an hour into the event, but most of the vendors had a large enough staff and enough equipment to crank out the food pretty quick and keep the lines moving. A couple of vendors however were woefully understaffed and under equipped to handle the throngs. The event also probably could've used a couple of extra bar areas as the lines for drinks were quite long and moved relatively slow. For the most part the seating and tables provided were adequate, but there was enough room and enough people that a few seating and chairs areas wouldn't hurt. And lastly, let's get some more taco vendors in next year. They definitely had some solid options this year, but there's so many more great ones here in the valley that I'd love to see compete.
As tacos are pretty much as synonymous with Phoenix as abundant sunshine, there's almost limitless potential for this event in the coming years. There's room in Hance Park to expand the event, there's more taco vendors that could be added, and there's tons of people who would attend this event in a heartbeat had it not been sold out early on. I'd expect we'll see this event grow next year for sure. Take my advice and get there at opening to beat the crowds. Unlimited tacos from chefs competing for your vote? Taco democracy never tasted so good.
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