El Taco - VA Highlands

Roasted chicken taco, fried chicken taco and side of grilled corn in chili-lime mayo.

We had not been to El Taco since it changed hands and joined 5th Group. We started with the lime-salted corn chips and house salsa. Paying for chips and salsa at a Mexican restaurant is one of my pet peeves, but how can you pass up chips and salsa?! I also found it odd that although there is a nice salsa bar in back, you can't get the "house salsa", which I liked a lot, unless you order the chips. I enjoyed trying the various salsas available at the bar but would like to see slightly larger cup size available so the salsas could be more easily dipped and shared.

I ordered two tacos (fried chicken and roasted chicken) and the side of corn. The corn dish and the fried chicken taco were my favorites. Something about the chili-lime mayo on the corn really adds a wonderful flavor. Calvin enjoyed his short stack with pork also. The short stack includes open-faced corn tortillas, red and green chili sauces, refried beans, Mexican cheeses, sunny-side-up egg plus the optional pork.

El Taco has a varied and interesting menu and it would be fun to try some of the other items like the fajitas, the Mexican pizzas or the shrimp del diablo. I very much want to try 5th Group's newest Mexican restaurant, Alma Cocina - hopefully you'll read about it soon in a new post!

El Short Stack + pork carnitas.