Comparing Local Tacos to Taco Bell Cantina Tacos

Taco Bell, which has a Patchogue location at 174 Medford Ave., recently began selling Cantina Tacos - corn-tortilla-wrapped tacos inspired by authentic-style Mexican street tacos.

But, there are several taco shops in Patchogue that have been selling this type of food for much longer than the fast-food franchise. Patchogue Patch visited local Mexican restaurants Mexican Grill 2000 and El Nopal to compare their tacos to the taco chain's.

All three sets of tacos come wrapped in two small corn tortillas with a lime provided to give the meat more moisture and flavor if desired. A chicken taco was tried at all restaurants, along with one other meat option.

Mexican Grill 2000, 703 Medford Ave., sells its tacos wrapped in aluminum foil and includes a side of tortilla chips. The restaurant offers several meat choices, including fish, chicken and steak. The fish taco at Mexican Grill had strips of crunchy fish fillet covered in a ranch dressing with tomatoes, cilantro and onions. The meat in the chicken taco was lightly spiced and red colored. It had a chewy texture and also came with cilantro and tomatoes.

El Nopal, 350 E Main St., serves two tacos wrapped in aluminum foil inside a styrofoam take-out box, with two varieties of salsa, a lime and a radish wedge. The corn tortilla was hot enough that it required slower eating at first until it cooled down. Meat in the beef taco was cut into small pieces, like steak tips, and mixed with cilantro. Similarly, the chicken taco was primarily meat mixed with cilantro. The meat was somewhat dry by default, but it was provided with the salsa and limes to add flavor.

Taco Bell was the fastest of the three places to serve its Cantina tacos, which came out less than 30 seconds after being ordered. However, in comparison to the local tacos, it was obvious that these tacos were a franchise product. The tacos were wrapped in an aluminum foil wrapping that was thinner than ordinary foil. The corn tortillas appeared more fragile than those at the other restaurants. The carnitas (pork) taco had a goopy consistency, similar to a pulled-pork sandwich, and was mixed with cilantro. The meat of the chicken taco was made up of small blocks of chicken that were very soft and lacked texture.

Overall, while Taco Bell's Cantina Tacos are not a substitute to authentic tacos, they follow a fast-food franchise's formula of imitation. One thing that was obvious from going to all three places was that the food at the local restaurants was cooked and prepared entirely on-order and the Taco Bell taco was thrown together using pre-prepared ingredients. While there was an estimated 5-minute wait for tacos from Mexican Grill 2000 and El Nopal, it's a respectable turnaround for something cooked and prepared for a customer.