Written by Jessica (The One Who Doesn’t Share Food)*
Held at Ontario Place over June 16, 17 and 18 and presented by TasteToronto, Taco Fest is one of those food festivals that you could probably try once in your lifetime and that’d be enough. Don’t get me wrong, it was delicious, but there is nothing to do but eat – and I like a festival with some variety.
After buying admission tickets for $15, my boyfriend Craig and I ate an additional $60 worth of tacos in under 2 hours. We started with a fish taco each from Fonda Lola – the vendor closest to the entrance. We were hungry and ready to eat!
Fish tacos are always a favourite and these did not disappoint. You can see they’ve combined some really complementary flavours together but also kept it simple! It’s a crispy corn battered basa filet with cabbage slaw, cucumber, guacamole, cilantro aioli and salsa. This was a damn good taco.
It was already a filling taco, so we decided to stretch our stomach room and wallets further by sharing the next few *(look at me, sharing!). Next up was the Carolina Fried Chicken taco from Fidel Gastro’s. Also amazing! One portion actually came with 2 small tacos so this was a good choice for me.
I’m not a fan of green onion, fruit on food (this taco came with mango sauce) or raw onion (my poor stomach can’t handle it) so after dissecting this taco, I downed it and it was still delicious. It had plenty of other great flavour! Also, fried chicken is good any way you eat it.
Next up, the Fried Szechuan Chicken taco from Heirloom. This was a take on their regular menu sandwich made with a couple of pieces of brined chicken, their homemade Szechuan sauce, pickled cucumber and scallion aioli.
This one was good – and different than the usual tacos we like – but too saucy for our taste. We grabbed a couple of beers to wash it down and maybe with some alcohol we could get drunk enough to keep eating?
Next, Craig had a jerk pork taco from somewhere, but it looked horrible and he said it didn’t taste very good, so I didn’t sample it. Nor did I document it.
By now, we started to feel really full between the beer and the tacos so we decided to check out what else the event had to offer. Personally, there wasn’t much else except a mariachi band. That occupied our attention for just a little while before I was ready for more tacos. And I knew just what I wanted. The legendary Butter Chicken Taco from Kathi Roll Express!
This was dynamite! With chicken pieces, cheese, a little slaw and that butter chicken sauce on top, it was a tad spicier than expected. I started to sweat, but then again, it was also a hot day.
Next, we found a guacamole demonstration, which turned out to be quite informative as well as tasty! Did you know you’re not supposed to put tomatoes in the guacamole? True guacamole is made with tomatillos, the green tomatoes. The more you know…
We felt ready to leave by now but we still had tickets left. So, to use up the remaining taco tickets, we got Tacorito’s Elote Carne Molida taco, which is the most basic ground beef taco in a hard shell. Honestly, you could probably make this at home or order it from Taco Bell.
But then! Everything was OK again when we ended with the ice cream taco from Booyah Inc.
Look at that perfect blend of ice cream, sprinkles, chocolate crumble and waffle cone! This is the kind of dessert I will have!
Until we eat again.
Dinners of our Lives 