Review: Trompo Taco

I spent last Saturday morning at the Elm Fork Shooting Sports Club riding around in a golf cart holding a 12 and 20 gauge pair of shotguns with Mike Merrill from the Social Media Club of Dallas.  We had decided to take advantage of a Facebook Deal a month ago and finally made it out on Memorial Day weekend to pretend we actually knew what we were doing. Though, most of that pretending came from me as Mike was a far better shooter than I.  Considering I was a good 10 years removed from last firing a gun it wasn’t that big of a surprise.

On the way to the Elm Fork club we passed three gas stations with taco stands.  All were located on Northwest Highway not too far from Love Field Airport.  I decided to make a quick trip out that way for lunch and stopped at the closest one first – Trompo Taco.

Trompo Taco is hard to miss. Its building is painted in a bright yellow and takes up 60% of the gas station mart’s facade.  There is an odd sign by the road advertising a Burger Combo even though the place was mainly all about Mexican food and yes there is a burger on the menu, but not one of the 10 patrons I saw during the lunch hour had anything in front of them without a tortilla, maybe a torta or two but not a single hamburger in sight.

The grill had a colorful decorative look with drawings of guitar players wearing large sombreros.  It felt almost like a family restaurant inside with tall red stools and bright pictures of painted cacti to go with the guitarists.

I ordered four tacos: Two beef, one BBQ, and one carnitas all with corn tortillas.  They arrived quickly after I paid for them at the service mart’s counter.

When I returned to work the tacos required a bit of fat removal. There were some small chunks of fat and quite a bit in the BBQ (barbacoa) taco that left only about half the meat after cleaning it up, but the fat isn’t very heavy so if you are not adverse to a little fat the tacos are just fine.

Unfortunately, none of the tacos really shined here. All three meat options I went with were shredded and had no distinct flavor beyond just being meaty or porky tasting. It’s almost as if there were no spices or even BBQ used to add flavor to the meats. On the good side, the double-corn tortillas were sturdy and flavorful.  There was also a generous helping of cilantro and onions to the side of the tacos with a grilled jalapeno hiding underneath the pile of cilantro and onion.

Only a green salsa was in my container. Perhaps there is a hotter red choice too, but I was a gringo and might have been given the milder option because of it.  Fortunately the green medium spiced sauce was flavorful and gave the tacos some much needed help. Unfortunately, all four tacos tasted about the same since the green hot sauce was the only vibrant flavor in them.

Overall, I doubt I’ll be back as there, since there are some better choices in this highly competitive gas station taco Dallas market. I am though looking forward to driving a little further west on Northwest Highway to try the other two places I spotted last Saturday.  Hopefully one of the three will shine.

Gas Station: Chevron

Address: 3311 W Northwest Hwy Dallas, TX 75220

Rating (2 out of 5 oil drops):