Review: Taqueria Cholula

Chorizo tacos are underrated.

I love it when I see chorizo on a lunch menu.  Taqueria Cholula had no shortage of options for the taco fanatic. Sure there are the typical beef fajita, chicken, pastor and barbacoa options. There are 14 total options; though, two were out on the day of my visit.

Taqueria Cholula is the first place I’ve been to that serves suadero, a thin cut of meat from the breast of a cow. Sorry I didn’t try. If you have, please share your thoughts.

Besides opting for the chorizo, I ordered beef fajita, pastor and barbacoa tacos on corn tortillas with chopped onions and cilantro.  My carryout order also included some salsa roja, more orange than red, and salsa verde.

The two hot sauces are made in-house. I enjoyed them both, but the salsa verde had a bit too much lime in it making it too sour for my taste; though, I found it a good option with the beef fajita tacos.  The chorizo didn’t need any salsa. The pastor and barbacoa tacos went very well with the spicy salsa roja that had a wonderfully potent kick to it.

To finish singing the praises of the chorizo, the taco comes with a heaping amount of crumbled Mexican sausage enveloped by two corn tortillas that have been lightly dipped in oil then heated. The sausage used is spiced perfectly with red chilies and just the right amount of cumin and garlic making for a taco that needs nothing else to support it.

Taqueria Cholula is at I-35E and Royal Lane. The gas station does little to promote the tacos inside having only a temporary banner focusing more on the word “Breakfast” than “Tacos.” Once inside, a third of the gas station market is the taqueria with one of the largest cooking areas I’ve seen yet and two tables and a couple stools for dine-in service.

Back to the food.

I am often disappointed in most barbacoa tacos for being too fatty or worse slimy. The barbacoa here is done to perfection with just a little fat. The flavor is balanced and the meat tastes like good quality shredded beef, not something that’s been sitting in a vat of oil for three days.

The pastor and fajita beef tacos are good too. Nothing outstanding, but the meat is lean and the spices are appropriately blended to make for some solid tacos.

Every taco is served with  double-ply corn tortillas, a decent helping of chopped onion and a scant amount of cilantro. My takeout container came with one container of salsa roja and one container of salsa verde plus three lime slices.

The better known Flash Mart taqueria is less than a mile away from Taqueria Cholula and while I wasn’t expecting much out of this place, I have to admit they are the better of the taquerias in this area.  The chorizo and barbacoa tacos are standouts and definitely worth several more visits.  Perhaps next time I’ll get daring and try some suadero.

Gas Station: Conoco

Address: 11368 Emerald Street, Dallas, TX 75229

Rating (5 out of 5 oil drops):