Situated inside the W Express on Fields Road and Sam Eig Highway, near the Rio commercial center and the newly built Crown Plaza, lies Taco Bar. There's no big or flashy sign pointing to this place. It's only a small sign right next to the gas station with "Taco Bar" near the bottom in small font.
The Taco Bar is truly a hidden gem. You can get an authentic taste of Mexico through their tacos, sopes, and tostones, among others. It's a very simple hole-in-the-wall sort of place with an open kitchen next to the service counter and few inside and outside. Next to the tables are racks of wine bottles and fridges filled with beer. So you can get your alcohol on your way home after a nice snack. There's also patio seating in the back for those that like an al dente experience.
The tacos here are tasty, filling, authentic, and cheap. The price depends on the type meat
($2.79 or $3.10 each). And they give you a lot of meat, which is cooked to order. But the greatest thing about the tacos is the tortillas. These are corn tortillas made from masa, water, and salt. Each one is hand pressed, and grilled to order. This provides the starchiness and great taste. They also use two tortillas to wrap the fillings. There's no definitive reason as to why this is done but considering how they are stuffed, it tortillas try to balance the filling-to-wrapping ratio.
Suadero- Shredded beef that is cut from between the belly and the leg. Nothing remarkable about the flavor, but this cut is new for me.
Chorizo- This is a Mexican version of the Spanish sausage. It is made with chilies rather than paprika. It's got a nice smoky and spicy flavor from the adobo seasonings its cooked in.
Bistec- Small chunks of steak. It's seasoned modestly and tastes pretty good.
Pollo- This was a bit of a surprise to me. Rather than grilled chicken breast, it's shredded breast meat cooked with adobo seasonings.
Al Pastor- This usually means that the meat comes from a spit like a gyro, but they don't have that here so it's just grilled pork. They say that it is flavored with pineapple, but I could hardly taste it. But other than that, it's really good.
Lengua- Even though it isn't my first time having beef tongue, it's the first time I've had it served in chunks. It has a very nice beef taste to it, which lingers in the mouth for some time. To me, tongue is way better than any luxury cut of beef. And at Taco Bar, it's considered a luxury cut since it's the most expensive meat.
Across from the service counter and open kitchen lies a small table with a variety of condiments. There are 4 kinds of salsas, red and white onions, pico de gallo, cilantro, jalapeños, hot sauce, and lemon juice. Personally, I overload on these even though the tacos are already overstuffed with meat. After all, veggies are good for you.
I can't speak for the other menu items, but I'm willing to try them at a later time. Otherwise, it will be al Pastor or lengua for me. Finally, I can say that I've had some authentic Mexican food and not some Tex-Mex forgery.
10003 Fields Road
Gaithersburg, MD 20878
