Las Vegas: Taco Y Taco

Las Vegas, Nevada, is a great city to find something delicious to eat, especially if your pockets run real deep. If you're willing to shell out top dollar, you can find some of the most luxurious meals served in some of the culinary celebrity worlds biggest names' own restaurants, from opulent sushi spreads to the latest in creative, avant-garden cuisine. Personally, I prefer to veer off The Strip (aka Las Vegas Boulevard and all those glitzy casinos) to find my meals, and Taco Y Taco is one of my favorite neighborhood spots for a satisfying, affordable, and consistently fantastic meal. There are other, more famous, restaurants that you could grab some tacos at, and some of those even have locations dotting that main-drag, but during my brief visit to my old stomping ground I made sure to pop in and get my fill on all the delicious offerings I could stuff into my face. CeeDro joined me on this venture, and we both got down on some taco goodness before parting ways for the evening. It was great to catch up with him over the evening, and who would complain about tacos?  

Taco Y Taco has a self-service salsa bar with an almost overwhelming array of options to choose from. I recommend the grilled jalapenos, who add a fresh pop of flavor with a smokey sweetness to contrast their shop bite. The ordering system can be a little confusing, especially if it's your first time, but the staff are used to it and are generally friendly and happy to steer you in the right direction should you get lost. All the meats are good, but they do offer vegetarian options (and maybe even vegan ones) for those who'd prefer that so you can bring everyone along! I ordered a ridiculous amount of food for just myself, but managed to devour all of it with gusto. I waddled my way out of the restaurant a very happy, very satisfied lass. Should you choose to visit Taco Y Taco, you too should feel that stuffed-to-satisfaction glee. 

So good.

Seoul: Hongdae Taco Bell

There's something about visiting a familiar fast food chain abroad only to discover a multitude of micro-differences that can lead one to feel a bit like they've stumbled into uncanny valley. While burger joints like McDonald's and Burger King have done well in Japan and Korea, proliferating like the American bases and ex-pats who so desperately love their existence, tacos have been a harder sell. There's a litany of different factors that play into that fact- for one, geographic proximity to any country where tortillas and frijoles constitute a key component of the diet. Any cursory glance at a map and you'll quickly recognize that while our world is growing ever more connected by the day, there's still some bridges to be built and Latin America and Asia are quite distant from one another. It's not that tacos are wholely nonexistent- you can absolutely find tacos in Tokyo and Seoul, but they're likely going to be rare and a bit expensive. When I was in Japan, there were no Taco Bells in the Tokyo area that I knew of (and I searched)... that may have changed in the intervening 4 or so years since then, though. Seoul, however, has several Taco Bell locations. I'm sure a socio-cultural study on the minute differences that lend Koreans towards being more accepting of Taco Bell's menu than Japan was would be absolutely fascinating- my best guess is that maybe the popularity of eating meats wrapped in vegetables via ssam makes tacos a little more easy to introduce, but that could be wrong. 

Whatever the reasons, Taco Bell exists in the Hongdae area of Seoul, and since I spent a lot of time in that area running errands and just exploring, so it was inevitable that I'd eventually find my way in. Taco Bell was one of those guilty pleasures I found myself missing while in Japan, and after being in Seoul for several months it was a comforting nostalgia. Taco Bell has one of the most consistent menus and presentations worldwide, which I've read is due to how meticulous their measurements are in preparing their items. Of course, being a foreign menu it was tailored to suit Korean tastes with items like the Kimchi Quesadilla or fiesta fries (which we're only now starting to see pop up in select Taco Bell stores in the US), but there were still some old faithful items on the menu, too. I got a volcano burrito and cheesy potatoes because they're familiar carby/cheesy comfort, but I definitely recommend trying to local menu. Every food chain will have their's and it's a lot of fun to try items you can't find back home!  

Obviously, this isn't a gourmet meal by any stretch. It's not even what I'd consider an especially decent meal in Korea, given that you can get a much more balanced (as in, contains real recognizable vegetables) meal for half the price... but if you're feeling a little homesick and need some cheap(ish) taco goodness to remind you of home, it'll do.  It filled my belly for the time being and I was recharged for the evening ahead... which is good, because I had to pop out to Hongdae for some medical test results. Luckily, all the results were good! Woo! Diabetes and heart disease run in my maternal family so I try to take semi-decent care of myself. I could definitely be better about it, though. Speaking of, I should grab a glass of water. 💦I also learned that my blood type is A-, which I guess means it's pretty rare. Something like 6% of the world's population shares my blood type, and it's especially rare in Asia...so it's a very good thing I didn't need any blood transfusions while there!