Christopher Baccus is a taco junkie and blogger. Not just any kind of taco, primarily those found in or near gas stations. In his last report he took you here. This week he presents…
Not long ago I was tooling south on Central Expressway and I caught a quick glance of what looked like a taqueria sign next to a Valero Gas Station. It was tucked back off North Central just past the High Five (where 635 and 75 intersect).Weeks later I returned and tried to find the Valero station but not even Google Maps could find it. I ended up eating at a nearby favorite Taqueria Dulce.
The next time I made my passage down 75, I spotted another landmark: there’s a Motel 6 near the Valero. Google Maps found the motel (even without its light on) and led me to La Casita. The taqueria is nestled between a market and tax preparation business. It does not share interior space with the gas station. La Casita offers a few tables draped in blue vinyl tablecloths with some tall counter space for solo diners.
Let’s get to the tacos.
The menu is fairly typical and offers a variety of tacos, tortas, burritos, and a few additional options. Tacos can be ordered with corn or flour tortillas and filled with tripe, suadero, pastor, beef, chicken, carnitas, barbacoa, or chorizo. I ordered a couple beef and pastor tacos and one suadero all on corn tortillas with cilantro and onion.
The beef fajita tacos were dry and underseasoned. The beef is not really fajita, it’s thinly sliced strips of meat quickly heated and placed in the tortillas. Te suadero taco was full of flavor, seasoned properly, and could be enjoyed with or without hot sauce. They offer salsa verde and it’s a nice accompaniment to the suadero taco.
The pastor tacos stood out most. Diced into small chunks with just a bit of fat for extra flavor, the marinated pork was rich in color. The depth of flavor was not as intense as other taquerias, the pork could have used more chiles or garlic. Regardless, the pastor tacos are a decent choice thanks to the right balance the minimal pork fat provides.
While initially a bit difficult to find, La Casita makes acceptable tacos for the local lunch crowd; however, Taqueria Dulce is a better option that’s less than a mile away. I will visit again to see how the barbacoa and chorizo tacos are hoping to find there is more to La Casita than this first visit delivered.
Gas Station: Valero
Address: 13205 Maham Road, Dallas, TX 75240
Rating (3 out of 5 oil drops):
