New taco joint the poor man's Chipotle

The Bakersfield Californian

08-22-2007

There are shopping centers popping up all over town, and the one across the street from the Costco on Panama Lane is just chock-full of restaurants. There's the new Jacalito Grill, a Subway, Happy Chopsticks, Starbucks, an Indian restaurant, Me-N-Ed's Pizza, Jo's Big Bad BBQ and even a food court. There's also one of the many Taco Del Mar restaurants.

Note the absence of the "s" on the word taco. It threw me, too. I kept telling my companion we need to go to Tacos Del Mar, as I guess I can't recall the last time I ever sat down to eat only one. It's interesting because they sell a plate with two for only $3.99, and the only way to get only one is on the kids' menu.

Basically Taco Del Mar is a less expensive version of Chipotle, and some would say you get what you pay for. No free-range pork, no delicious marinated and grilled chicken for the salads, but the most expensive item on the menu is $5.99 and the burritos, at $4.99, are about 50 cents less than the other chain. You order at a cafeteria-style counter and they make it in front of you so you can customize it by choosing the salsa and adding sour cream or guacamole if you choose.

My companion chose the taco salad with chicken ($4.99), while I selected the mondo burrito ($4.99) with carne asada. Other meat choices are "seasoned pork" and ground or shredded beef. The take-out menu said "Alaskan fish" was available, but we didn't see it and the woman behind the counter didn't offer. (The manager said in a phone call later that it always is available, and customers can ask if it's not offered.).

Overall, the food was merely OK. I'm a big fan of Chipotle, all the meats they offer and especially the spicy chunks of steak. The burrito beef here was just not as flavorful. You could say the same about my companion's chicken, which was moist and stringy rather than grilled and chunky, but devoid of flavor. I do give them some points for trying to make the tortilla shell crispy without really frying it. I'm sure this is much healthier. I saw the woman behind the counter put a tortilla in a mold and zap it in an oven or microwave. It just didn't have that crispiness that only scalding grease can give a tortilla.

Taco Del Mar is decorated in a surf theme with a plasma TV and includes helpful instructions on the wall about how to eat its foil-wrapped burritos. You are instructed to "peel as you go" and "don't unwrap or it's in your lap." Fearful of accidentally getting foil stuck in my teeth (don't ask), I unwrapped completely and just ate it over my plastic basket.