Media
We are very grateful to all of our media friends and always welcome their articles and news reports!
If you have any questions or need any information, please contact
Aviva Bowman
Director of Marketing
727-793-5446
aviva@taco-bus.com
Taco Bus Featured on Tampa Bay Dining Out
Yelp.com Customer Reviews
http://www.yelp.com/biz/taco-bus-tampa
Some select reviews from Yelp about Taco Bus:
CreativeLoafing: Tampa’s Taco Bus hosts cookbook author Diana Kennedy
January 15, 2009 at 9:18 am by David Davisson
http://blogs.creativeloafing.com/dailyloaf/2009/01/15/taco-bus-hosts-diana-kennedy/
Renowned cookbook author and Mexican cuisine authority Diana Kennedy will be at Seminole Heights’ favorite Mexican food diner — El Taconazo (affectionately known at the Taco Bus) — Friday, February 13. She’ll be signing books at 5:30 and teach a cooking class at 6:30.
I’m a huge fan of Kennedy’s. The first cookbook I ever owned was her The Art of Mexican Cooking, which is due for anew printing this March.
While she’s visiting Tampa she’ll also do a book signing at Inkwood Saturday the 14th and offer a cooking class at the Rolling Pin Kitchen in Brandon on Thursday the 12th. Her schedule is posted below.
Rene Valenzuela, owner and chef of the Taco Bus writes:
“Diana never announces ahead of time what the menu will be. Part of the reason is that she will come and shop for ingredients locally not knowing if they will be good enough for a pre-set menu. The class will be about 2-3 hrs, she will cook 3 or 4 dishes.”
“One of the dishes will probably be a sophisticated, time consuming and difficult mole or adobo. She mentioned her intent to include a fish dish but it’s not for sure.”
Inkwood Books will set up a stand of her books at El Taconazo so you can purchase them in the weeks leading up to her visit, and then have them signed at the Bus.
It’s $75 for the class. For more information, email Rene Valenzuela at DianaKennedyTampa@me.com.
Here’s her schedule while visiting Tampa.
Thursday Feb 12th 6:00 PM cooking class at The Rolling Pin in Brandon
Friday Feb 13th 2:00 book signing at Barnes and Noble South Dale Mabry (Maybe this one, neither store has posted any info yet)
Friday Feb 13th 5:30 book signing at El Taconazo
Friday Feb 13th 6:30 cooking class and book signing at El Taconazo
Saturday Feb 14th 2:00 PM book signing and food sampling at Inkwood Books Tampa
MetroMIX: Cheap Eats: The Taco Bus
Big belly-busting burritos served from a bus
Susie Ulrey
http://tampabay.metromix.com/restaurants/restaurant_review/cheap-eats-the-taco/979087/content
The Taco Bus (El Taconazo) is an institution in Tampa’s Seminole Heights neighborhood. The kitsch factor (that the kitchen is located in a bus and the dining room backs up to it) brings ‘em in. The food (fresh, flavorful, authentic and easy on the bank account) keeps ‘em coming.
The digs: El Taconazo is a favorite lunch spot and a no frills dinner stop. The music is loud (some may call that atmosphere while others call it a distraction) and the décor is hardly posh. Just east of the corner of Nebraska and Hillsborough, right across the street from High Tide Fish and Chips, high class it ain’t. But this neighborhood favorite consistently delivers to satisfied repeat patrons without leaving a dent in their wallets.
The grub: Make your choice from daily specials or a multitude of options (for both carnivores and herbivores) – burritos, tacos, quesadillas, salads and more. The best value, in my opinion, is the Meal Deal ($5.95 for lunch and $6.95 for dinner, $6.50 all day on weekends) – a Taco Bus “value menu”: 2 Tacos (any filling) or one Burrito plus rice and beans. Try the Meal Deal with the Conchinita Pibil filling – pork marinated in achiote and bitter orange, then wrapped in banana leaves and slow roasted in a smoker. Based on a 5,000 year-old Mayan recipe, this choice withstands the test of time. It’s tender and flavorful – albeit a little messy. Just grab a big handful of napkins and you’ll be golden.
Or forego the Meal Deal and opt for the Burrito Prenado ($4.95), a gigantic belly buster stuffed full with a meat of your choice, cheese, veggies, rice and beans. It’s a two-hander. Or better yet, pick up your fork, for crying out loud.
The rice and beans are a nice compliment but pale in comparison to whatever main attraction you choose.
In it for the true experience? Wash your tacos down with a cold bottle of Jarritos Mexican Soda ($1.50) – sweet and fruity with flavors like strawberry or guava. Then top of your meal with a slice of Tres leches cake ($2.99) soaked in sweetened condensed milk or traditional Mexican Flan ($2.49), silky custard situated in a puddle of caramel sauce.
The cost: At most, you’ll rack up a little over $11 for a meal, a drink and dessert. Not too shabby for the high quality food dished out in a quirky locale.
The bottom line: El Taconazo is a must for ridiculously tasty and affordable Mexican food. Period.
***
El Taconazo
913 E. Hillsborough Ave.
Tampa, FL
813-232-5889
©2010 Metromix.com
Tampa Tribune: Cousin Is New Driver Of ‘Taco Bus’
http://southtampa2.tbo.com/content/2007/dec/29/st-cousin-is-new-driver-of-taco-bus/
By JAMIE PILARCZYK, The Tampa Tribune
Born in Sonora, Mexico, he worked during high school and later owned two taquerias, restaurants specializing in tacos and burritos. In 1991, Valenzuela came to the United States and started from scratch.
“I was an employee and worked hard,” he said. “It was all about savings, sacrifice and work. And not having a lifestyle.”
Now 37, he is the new owner of El Taconazo. Known by regulars as the Taco Bus, the restaurant’s kitchen is in a gutted school bus near Hillsborough and Nebraska avenues. Valenzuela bought the taqueria from his cousin Roberto Morfin and Morfin’s wife, Monica, at the end of November.
Valenzuela said the Morfins were worn out and looking for a break.
“They left it with me. I’m family. I respect what they did,” he said. “This is their baby. They wanted to leave it with someone they trusted.”
Valenzuela said he extended the hours to include Mondays and Tuesdays. He closed the Mexican shop that shared the parking lot, freeing up spaces for restaurant patrons. He will use the building for storage.
Tofu now can be substituted for any meat on the menu, and Valenzuela also is adding daily specials, such as Monday’s chilorio, a pulled-pork dish with ancho pepper sauce.
“Only thing that has changed is the owner,” waitress Lilia Amperez said. “Everything is still good.”
At the same time Valenzuela bought El Taconazo, which means “snap of the heel,” he started the Plant City restaurant Monterrey Mexican, which his wife, Lladira, runs. The menu there is more extensive and the kitchen is larger, which allows them to bake desserts, such as the tres leches cake sold at El Taconazo.
Valenzuela, who makes regular trips to Mexico to learn from chefs there, said cooking is his passion. He said he grew up in the same region as Roberto Morfin and they share the same family recipes, so Taco Bus customers can expect the same authentic Mexican food.
“This isn’t Tex-Mex,” he said. “It’s Mex-Mex.”
IF YOU GO…
WHAT: El Taconazo
WHERE: 913 E. Hillsborough Ave.
HOURS: 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday to Saturday and 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays
CONTACT: (813) 232-5889
