Torchy’s Tacos was the very first food truck that my family visited in Austin.  Since that first visit we have been to either their food truck or a storefront location (they have several in Austin) on every visit to Austin and between the 5 of us have tried many of the tacos on their menu…

Let’s begin with some of our family favorites, starting with mine and my daughter’s…

We both love the…

FRIED AVOCADO

HAND-BATTERED FRESH AVOCADOS FRIED AND
SERVED WITH VEGETARIAN REFRIED BEANS, TOPPED
WITH PICO, LETTUCE, & CHEESE. SERVED WITH
POBLANO SAUCE ON A CORN TORTILLA (PER MENU, BUT WE PREFER IT WITH A FLOUR TORTILLA)

And our other favorite is the…

BAJA SHRIMP

HAND-BATTERED FRIED SHRIMP WITH COOKED
CABBAGE SLAW TOPPED WITH PICKLED JALAPEÑOS &
ONIONS, QUESO FRESCO, CILANTRO & A WEDGE OF
LIME. SERVED WITH CHIPOTLE SAUCE ON YOUR
CHOICE OF TORTILLA (WE LIKE THE FLOUR)

My other daughter’s favorite was the…

TRAILER PARK

FRIED CHICKEN, GREEN CHILES, LETTUCE, PICO DE
GALLO AND CHEESE ON A FLOUR TORTILLA WITH
POBLANO SAUCE.

She likes to “GET IT TRASHY”, which means they take off the lettuce and add queso.

But during our last visit to Torchy’s she tried something new (to her)…

BRUSHFIRE

JAMAICAN JERK CHICKEN, GRILLED JALAPEÑOS,
MANGO, SOUR CREAM & CILANTRO. SERVED WITH
DIABLO HOT SAUCE ON A FLOUR TORTILLA.

She really enjoyed this so she might have a new favorite now.  The Brushfire was already my son’s favorite.

 

My husband’s two favorite Torchy’s tacos are the…

GREEN CHILE PORK (top)

SLOW-ROASTED PORK CARNITAS SIMMERED WITH
GREEN CHILES AND TOPPED WITH QUESO FRESCO,
CILANTRO, ONIONS, & A WEDGE OF LIME.

 & THE DEMOCRAT (bottom)

SHREDDED BEEF BARBACOA TOPPED WITH FRESH
AVOCADO, QUESO FRESCO, CILANTRO, ONIONS & A
WEDGE OF LIME. SERVED WITH TOMATILLO SALSA ON
A FRESH CORN TORTILLA.

 

So what other Torchy’s tacos have I tried other than my two favorites, the Avocado and the Baja Shrimp?  Well, I’ve tried a couple of the Breakfast Tacos…

 

THE WRANGLER

SCRAMBLED EGGS AND POTATOES TOPPED WITH
SMOKED BEEF BRISKET AND JACK CHEESE. SERVED
WITH TOMATILLO SAUCE ON YOUR CHOICE OF TORTILLA.

I’m not positive but I think this was the Wrangler, but if I’m wrong please correct me.  Whatever it was though, it was very good.

Here’s another photo to perhaps help identify…

 

The other Breakfast taco I’ve tried is the…

MIGAS

SCRAMBLED EGGS, CRISP CORN TORTILLA STRIPS,
GREEN CHILES, AVOCADO, PICO DE GALLO & SHREDDED
CHEESE. SERVED WITH TOMATILLO SAUCE ON YOUR
CHOICE OF TORTILLA.

And another view…

 

Again this was very good!

 

Then during my trip to Austin last week, our first stop after being picked up by my daughter at the airport was at the Torchy’s Taco truck.  I was determined to try some tacos that were new to me.  Here are the three I tried…

THE REPUBLICAN (oddly on the left, lol)

GRILLED JALAPEÑO SAUSAGE, SHREDDED CHEESE &
PICO DE GALLO. SERVED WITH POBLANO SAUCE AND ON A
FLOUR TORTILLA.

THE INDEPENDENT (the right)

HAND-BATTERED AND FRIED PORTOBELLO
MUSHROOM STRIPS WITH REFRIED BLACK BEANS,
ROASTED CORN, ESCABECHE CARROTS, QUESO
FRESCO, CILANTRO AND AVOCADO, DRIZZLED WITH
ANCHO AIOLI ON A FLOUR TORTILLA.

And also, following the political theme, I tried the…

THE DEMOCRAT

SHREDDED BEEF BARBACOA TOPPED WITH FRESH
AVOCADO, QUESO FRESCO, CILANTRO, ONIONS & A
WEDGE OF LIME. SERVED WITH TOMATILLO SALSA ON
A FRESH CORN TORTILLA.

Okay, starting from best to worst.  My favorite of these three, much to my surprise, was the Republican.  Although it was a bit spicier than I prefer, it was the most flavorful of this trio.  The Independent was pretty good, but definitely needed the ancho aioli to give it some flavor.  And sadly the Democrat I didn’t like at all. The meat was dry and and flavorless.   It was edible only with a generous amount of the tomatillo salsa and the avocado.  Note also that I don’t like Torchy’s corn tortillas, at all.  If I had noticed that this was normally served on a corn tortilla I would have requested a flour tortilla instead.  In looking at an old photos of one my husband’s Democrat tacos…

The Democrat (Nov. 2015)

 

The Democrat (Sept. 2016)

…it appears that it used to served on a flour tortilla, unless of course he requested a flour tortilla but I doubt that to be the case.

 

Before this last visit, our rating for Torchy’s Tacos was probably a 5 based on our favorites…mine still being the Avocado and Baja Shrimp.

But now after trying a few that we didn’t really like (and their corn tortilla), the rating has been downgraded slightly to 4 1/2 stars.  This agrees with the rating given by both the Yelp and Trip Advisor reviewers.  Of note is that Torchy’s Taco food truck is currently the #6 best of all the Austin restaurants reviewed on Trip Advisor.  #1 – #5 are all more expensive than Torchy’s, and the first three are fine dining restaurants.