Each week the Dude Food guys assess the 'masculinity' of Dallas area
dives. The more fried meat and junk on the walls, the better the
rating...
Taqueria El Si Hay
601 W Davis St.
214-941-4042
Dude Factor: 10, or El Santo, on a scale of 1 (these guys) to 10.
Sorry for the tardiness, blog bros, but Dude Food is dragging ass today thanks to a visit to el doctor, who diagnosed us with the tendinitis. Likely cause: tacos. Or more specifically, the fervor with which we dispatched them.
You see, last night we paid our first visit to the oft-championed Taqueria El Si Hay, located across the street from that trendy place named after a bag in Oak Cliff. Having spent most of the day on I-35, a quick, simple dinner was in order, and El Si Hay delivered with ease, serving up four tacos in half as many minutes. Honestly, we would have loved to wait a little longer, because the guy serving up elotes from a cart around the corner was a true artiste, cutting the corn freshly off the cob and throwing it into a cup along with healthy dollops of butter, sour cream and chili sauce--if only there had been a tropicalia soundtrack playing, it would have looked just like a scene from Nacho Libre.
Out of seven or eight taco options, we opted for al pastor, chicken fajita and barbacoa (on corn tortillas, naturally), though we were tempted to try all of them. The barbacoa was easily our favorite of the three, even outdoing our last order of Fuel City picadillo tacos in the taste department--we're not saying they're definitely better (yet) but rest assured, we will continue to investigate.
The fajita chicken also bested Fuel City's pitiful version (easily their worst offering) by some margain, holding it's own in the flavor department even with the addition of cilantro, hot green salsa and a dash of lime juice.
The al pastor was just okay, but at $1.20 a taco, we're willing to take a gamble. In fact, considering that the cost of dinner for both ourselves and the little lady was less than $7, we'd say El Si Hay is the perfect date night destination in these dark economic times--some great tacos, some culinary performance art and a little cultural pizzaz never hurt anyone's game. You'll just have to do you're making out before dinner. And if you're not gonna get some, what's the point of springing for someone else's tacos anyway?
