Taco Deli (north) & Sodade Coffee Shop

Taco Deli is one of those restaurants that I have always heard about with superlatives like “best breakfast taco.”  We actually intended to take the kids to MamboBerry for some tamales and frozen yogurt for lunch over the weekend, but when I noticed on their website that their breakfast tacos were from Taco Deli, I swear that I heard Nelson Muntz mocking me, “Ha! Ha!” that we had never been to Taco Deli.  Hubby and I packed up the kids.  We were having ourselves some Taco Deli.

We found the north store in the Gracy Farms shopping strip at Burnet & Mopac, and to our surprise, the place was hopping at 10:40 am on a Sunday.  Every outdoor table was taken, and there was a line of people at the counter though the restaurant itself was relatively empty inside.  We looked over the menu and did not see any specific time delineating lunch or breakfast fare, so we decided to order from the extensive lunch menu.  I was disappointed that barbacoa was not on the menu, but there sure were a slew of inventive offerings like bison taco and spinach taco.  When we got to the counter, we were told that lunch tacos were not served until 11 am.  We had 20 minutes to wait, and once hubby decided that he needed a bison taco, we had no choice but to drag the hungry kids out of Taco Deli to wait it out 20 minutes.  What were we going to do with the kids for 20 minutes that did not involve listening to incessant whining?

Our preschooler noticed some succulent plants and powder blue, retro-styled seating outside so off she galloped, and we followed.  It was a locally owned coffee shop, Sodade.  The windows were tinted in such a way that we could not tell if the place was open if not for a person zenfully sipping his coffee outside.  We pulled the door open, and I was immediately taken with the modern decor.  I loved the look of it, the simplicity, like a page straight out of Dwell magazine.  Here I was clutching the utility diaper bag, with my two hungry fussy kids, hubby with bison on the brain, and I spotted the one lone coffee drinker with her Louis clutch and laptop using the WiFi.  Suddenly I felt the need to quickly get some food -any food- into my kids before they morphed into monsters so that the lady whose bag outranked mine was not disturbed.  It was silly, and hubby did not seem the least bit perturbed that we might be encroaching on someone else’s quiet time.  I tend to be more sensitive about that.

Hubby grabbed a chai latte, and the kids split a croissant and fresh berries.  All three of them had their mouths full so indeed the space remained tranquil.  I quite enjoyed Sodade and would love to come back here on my own sans kids.  We used up 20 minutes, and off we headed back to Taco Deli.

Egads.  

11:00 am promptly, and the line was seriously to the door.  It was only contained inside Taco Deli from the sheer will of hungry people cramming together.  Every table was taken.  There was only one spot outside, and I camped out with the kids.  I told hubby to surprise me, order me anything.  Eventually we found a table inside to escape the heat though sitting outside would have been more comfortable. To say that this place is popular is an understatement, and you have to give up personal space to be with the in crowd.  It was tight quarters.   Ten minutes after ordering, we got our tacos: adobados, fish taco, bison, mole, puerco verde, with a side of rice and beans for the kids.

The tacos were not the most authentic Mexican fare, but I don’t think that Taco Deli is pretending to be that.  Their tacos were flavorful, and all but the bison did not require any additional salsa even though we grabbed a small sampling of each.  I was surprised at how good the puerco verde and fish ones tasted.  Is it as good as Torchy’s?  I don’t know, but this place is pretty darn good.

The interior of the restaurant has tables along the perimeter with one long bar top in the middle of the restaurant, flanked with stool.  It looked so chaotic with servers bringing out brown bags (to go) or trays of food and calling out the name on the order, but the system seemed to work.  There was a constant flow of people coming in, going out.  I think if my kids pitched a royal hissy fit in this restaurant, no one would notice or care.  There was a real ease about the place even though it looked to me like it bordered on controlled chaos.  I cannot even imagine how long the lines would be during business lunch hour.

We saw a family get high chairs from somewhere in the back of the restaurant.  The drinks, salsas, utensils, napkins are all self-service.  The tacos are $2.75-$2.95 each so not too expensive.  We definitely liked Taco Deli enough to eat here again.  We still haven’t tried the breakfast tacos.

Taco Deli and Sodade Coffee Shop are hosting a “Tacos and Coffee” Tweetup up on July 25 at 10am with taco and coffee discounts for Twitter fans.  It’ll probably be crazy busy, but we might just make the trip there.  I figured it could not possibly be any busier than what we experienced on Sunday, right?

Taco Deli (north)
12001 Burnet Rd
Austin, TX 78758
(512) 339-1700

Taco Deli (south)
1500 Spyglass Dr
Austin, TX 78746
(512) 732-0303

Sodade Coffee House
12001 Burnet Rd.
Austin, TX 78758
(512) 837-1800 

twitter.com/tacodeli
twitter.com/sodade

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1. Fuzzy’s Taco Shop (Cedar Park)
2. Taco Real (Cedar Park)
3. NoRTH: Modern Italian Cuisine
4. Pumpkin Patch (north and south Austin locations)
5. Walton’s Fancy and Staple, gourmet sandwich shop and more