So, I didn’t end up posting restaurant reports from the Twin Cities, Seoul or Delhi last week. And I also missed this week’s Bombay report. The ramp-up to the new term plus a sudden and short deadline on a major project killed any hope of that. But I’ll hopefully be able to catch up with extra posts in the next couple of weeks and not have my backlog get really backed up again.

Here now is the Twin Cities report that I was planning to post last week: a quick look at a quick lunch at El Taco Riendo up on Central Ave. in Northeast Minneapolis.

I’m not really up on the food scene in this general part of Minneapolis. There was a time when this is where we came for our Indian and Korean food shopping: to Little India and/or Pooja Grocers for Indian essentials and to Dong Yang for Korean, with a stop usually at the Holy Land mothership to buy goat meat. We’d combine those outings with meals at Chimborazo or Maya Cuisine. But in the last decade the immigrant grocery scene has exploded in the Twin Cities metro and I only need to go as fas Apple Valley (to Spice Village or Mantra Bazaar) for my Indian kitchen needs, and the missus to Bloomington (to Hana Market) for Korean staples. And so we don’t eat in the Central Ave. corridor as often as we once did (though I really wish I could get to NY Gyro more often for their excellent Pakistani food).

This visit was not linked to groceries either. Instead, I needed to be in the general area to get some knives sharpened at Eversharp. I had the boys with me and the timing meant we needed to eat lunch between dropping the knives off and picking them up. Mexican was the younger generation’s request; I took a desultory look on Google Maps for options in the general vicinity and hit on El Taco Riendo (I believe there’s also a location in Robbinsdale). Just about 10 minutes after dropping off our knives we were at the counter, contemplating our order. Here’s what we got:

The younger boy got three tacos—one with carnitas, one with tinga de pollo, and one with carne asada. The older boy is locked into getting quesadillas al pastor wherever they’re available and they were here as well. I got the sope combo, which gets you three sopes with a choice of meat on each: I got one with tripa, one with lengua and one with pollo verde. How was it all? The older boy liked his quesadilla fine. The younger boy was likewise happy enough with his tacos, though he said, and from my little samples I agreed, that the tinga was much better than the others. Of my sope toppings, I’d only order the tripa again before trying other things, and the sopes themselves were nothing to write home about. We liked everything with the red and green salsas drizzled over. The boys got Jarritos to wash down their food; I stuck with water.

For a look at the restaurant—which is large, with two separate dining rooms—and everything we ate launch the slideshow below. Scroll down to see how much it all cost and to see what’s coming next.

The staff were all very friendly—you order at the counter and they bring your food to your table. Cost? Just over $52 or just over $17/head. Which these days is pretty good value for food of any kind in a restaurant. I wouldn’t say that I would go out of my way to eat at El Taco Riendo again but if in the neighbourhood I wouldn’t object to returning and trying more of their offerings. Though I might first give All Tacos next door to them a go (does anyone have any intel on them?).

Alright, I’m going to try my best to belatedly post last week’s intended Delhi report tomorrow and last week’s intended Seoul report on Friday. Let’s see how it goes.