I spent last Saturday’s lunchtime doing the unthinkable… eating tacos without a gas pump in sight. It was all for a good cause as I participated in The Great Taco Meetup of ’11. It was a beautiful day for some outdoor dining at a simple taco stand in Garland, Texas.
We gathered at In & Out Tacos. As a fan of the famous In-N-Out Burger, I wondered if I too would become a fan of a similarly named place to eat. The great burger news in Dallas is my home state’s fast food leader is coming to Texas this spring. I can barely wait to enjoy a double-double In-N-Out Burger with animal fries. Until that time I waited for my In & Out Tacos.
The menu was full of variety including tacos, hamburgers, hot dogs, corndogs, chicken nuggets and gorditas. Though they were out of gorditas, none of us tried to order a corndog so who knows if they were really available. Fortunately, the taco blogger crowd stayed to what we all know best – a good taco.
For me this was a much needed break from the gas station variety taco and I was expecting to have some amazing tacos. I ordered a beef fajita, chicken fajita and pastor taco plate with rice and beans all for $4.99 plus a dollar more for a can of Coke (sorry no glass bottled Coke from Mexico here.)
The rice and beans I could’ve easily skipped. They didn’t add much to the meal. My taco plate included several limes, green hot sauce, red hot sauce, and a couple individual plastic containers of diced onions an
d cilantro.
The chicken fajita taco looked amazing and I had to try it first. It had a wonderful orange-reddish color that literally shined in the hot Dallas sun. I scooped out some onion and cilantro, squeezed a bit of lime juice in the taco and dipped it in some green hot sauce. What a wonderfully amazing chicken taco. I rarely order chicken tacos, but after this experience I may have to give chicken a chance. In & Out Tacos’ chicken was tender, full of flavor and I enjoyed every bite.
The pastor taco was not as exciting and I was disappointed to find the flavor really lacking after so much success with my first taco. I tried the pastor with a couple dips in the green and then red hot sauces. I really like the green hot sauce here. The woman running the stand that morning was making the green hot sauce from scratch as she had the blender running when we arrived.
Finally I tried the beef fajita taco. The meat was lean and flavor was good, but not outstanding. I enjoyed the beef taco after some disappointment following the pastor. Fortunately, the two fajita style tacos redeemed In & Out Tacos.
The place has a drive-thru and some outdoor seating. It’s at a rather busy local intersection so don’t expect a quiet meal, but you can expect some good quality tacos. Just be sure to skip the plate and order the tacos individually and if you really want to show how much of a gringo you are order a corndog too.
If you want to learn more about tacos in Dallas, especially tacos served places other than a gas station, please checkout some great taco bloggers:
Taco Sense, @TacoSense, http://www.tacosense.com
Dallas Taco Bracket, @BigDTacoBracket, http://www.dallastacobracket.com
Left-Field Lengua, @JRalat, http://joseralatmaldonado.blogspot.com/
Taco Cliff, @TacoCliff, http://tacocliff.wordpress.com/
Gas Station: N/A
Address: 413 S Garland Ave, Garland, TX 75040
Rating (3 out of 5 oil drops):
Gas Station Tacos 
I never get rice and beans, they just waste perfectly good taco space in my stomach. It was great meeting you on Saturday, I think we should make it a regular meeting!
I agree it was a great time meeting everyone and I would love to do another get together.
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