Taco Garage

*** THIS RESTAURANT IS PERMANENTLY CLOSED ***

With plenty of open space and, one trusts, good ventilation, an old auto-shop garage makes a nice restaurant dining room. At San Antonio’s Taco Garage, once a Brake Check shop, the automotive theme endures in the form of front door handles that are little chain-link steering wheels like in a low rider’s Impala. The front of the menu advertises “Tex-Mex Cruizine,” and the bill of fare is divided into such categories as “Licensed Plates,” “Wrenchiladas,” and “Tail Lights [desserts].”

There is a connection between custom cars and tacos – both are fields in which Mexican craftsmen excel; but once you are seated in this place, the food commands serious attention while the car stuff seems like fluff. As soon as you sit down, salsa is brought to the table. Dark and smoky, hot enough to make sure every taste bud is wide awake, it keeps you eating as long as there are chips in the basket, or until meals arrive.

Made with corn tortillas that have been rolled out and griddle-cooked just moments earlier, tacos are sure proof of San Antonio’s hegemony in the taco world. Cooked either flat or puffy (the latter quickly deep-fried), they can be filled with crisp-broiled shrimp and cabbage, ground beef, or chicken and cheese, or, for breakfast, huevos a la Mexicana. Flour tortillas — also hot off the griddle — are available and seem especially right with beef. In addition to over two dozen different kinds of taco, the menu lists enchiladas, burritos, quesadilas, fajitas… even hamburgers and chicken-fried steak, the latter topped with house cheese and pico de gallo served with borracho (drunken) beans and Mexican rice.

Drinks include a bevvy of high horsepower margaritas, Mexican Coke,  local and imported beers, and coffee made using beans from the state of Chiapas.