Café Merkén
2 Rue Aubry, Gatineau (Hull sector), 819-776-0220, facebook.com/cafemerken/
Open: Monday to Wednesday 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., Thursday 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Saturday and Sunday 10 a.m. to 7p.m.,
Prices: three tacos for $11
Access: steps to front door
La Ha Tacos
1400 Youville Dr., Orléans, lahatacos.com
Open: Monday to Saturday 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., closed Sunday
Prices: three tacos plus chips: $9 to $12
Access: one step to platform in front of truck
Nacho Cartel
200 Wilbrod St., 613-262-8988, nachocartel.com
Open: Monday to Friday 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Saturday 1:30 to 6:30 p.m., closed Sunday
Prices: $5 or $6 for a taco
Access: one step to patio
Nuvo Peruvian-Mexican Restaurant
1481b Innes Rd., 343-488-8388, nuvorestaurant.ca
Open: Monday to Thursday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Friday 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Sunday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Prices: three tacos for $12
Access: no steps to front door
Taqueria La Bonita Wellington
1079 Wellington St. W., 613-798-9292, labonita.co
Open: Tuesday and Wednesday 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., Thursday to Saturday 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., Sunday 2 p.m. to 9 p.m., closed Monday
Prices: $6 to $6.75 per taco
Access: one step to front door
Toro Taqueria
210 Slater St., 343-997-7066, torotaqueria.com
Open: Monday and Tuesday 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Wednesday to Friday 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Prices: three tacos for $13.50
Access: several steps
It’s time for another tour of the Ottawa area’s latest taco purveyors, a field which, to the delight of taco aficionados, has only become more crowded and diverse.
The batch under consideration today — which I’ve listed from what I liked least to most — includes trucks, lunch joints and a full-service, licensed restaurant, run by proprietors from Mexico or Latin America or by Canadian-born taco enthusiasts who have turned their passion into a business. At one place, the three-tacos-plus-chips deal for $9 seemed like a steal, but at another, $6.50 for a single taco seemed steep.
Nuvo Peruvian-Mexican Restaurant
Tacos at Nuvo Restaurant
A woman from Mexico and a woman from Peru operate this restaurant that replaced a Quiznos franchise in an Ottawa east-end strip mall more than a year and a half ago. On its website, the restaurant stresses that it prepares food that’s “free of artificial preservatives, fake flavours, and artificial fat substitutes,” and that it cooks with “antioxidant-rich, healthy alkaline water.” Still, my lunch of tacos made with grilled shrimp, chicken breast and braised pork, left much to be desired. The shrimp and chicken were overcooked and dry, and when the garnishes and sauces were factored in, the tacos simply felt and tasted messy and drippy, yet short on big, fresh flavours. Were I to return to Nuvo, it would be for other Mexican dishes, or for the Peruvian dishes that looked to be simple and rib-sticking and are available on Saturdays.
Café Merkén
Tacos at Café Merkén
Located on a pedestrian street off of Hull’s bustling Laval Street, this tiny, quaint café includes empanadas, tacos and sandwiches on its tiny menu. The steak, chicken and pulled pork tacos I had were reasonably well-made, with some character and flavour to them. At less than $4 a taco, the eatery delivered good value and the owners and their space were charming. I might not go out of my way to have tacos at Café Merkén, but if I were on the Quebec side, the option would cross my mind.
Taqueria La Bonita Wellington
Cochinita Pibil and Carnitas tacos at La Bonita on Wellington Street West
Chorizo taco at La Bonita Wellington
When La Cocina Loca in Hintonburg closed last fall, La Bonita, a taco eatery run by Mexican expats on Cadboro Road, opened a second location in its place. The menu common to both locations stresses the authenticity of its taco preparations, from chicken mole to carnitas to cochinita pibil. Here, I’ve tried tacos predominantly made with shredded and slow-cooked meats and found them flavourful but also sometimes light on moisture, and often salty. Most were minimally garnished, as their analogues in Mexico would be, with cilantro and onions, and hot sauces available at each table helped. Best was the barbacoa beef taco and the pork preparations. The mole featured on a chicken taco was thick and lightly sweet, and less complex than hoped for. With most tacos costing more than $6, Taqueria La Bonita felt like a relative splurge, although the decor, with its festive, hanging lights and old-time movies projected on the wall, makes for a relaxing vibe worth a linger.
Nacho Cartel
Tacos at Nacho Cartel
At this food truck tucked in a Wilbrod Street parking lot, the nachos and tacos were potently flavoured, blessed with well-seasoned meat, superior sauces and tortillas that benefited from some time on the grill. We particularly liked the shrimp taco, which my lunch partner thought was more special than the still-impressive veggie taco made with deep-fried cauliflower. I enjoyed the char on the chicken in my taco, and found the beef taco the drippiest. A covered patio provides respite from the noon-hour heat.
La Ha Tacos
House-made chips, fire-roasted salsa, tacos al pastor at La Ha Tacos in Orleans
Fish and steak tacos at La Ha Tacos
At this taco truck, which opened last year and is less than obviously tucked in front of an Orléans car wash, the tacos are sold only in threes of each variety, which makes sampling a range of them hard unless you visit en masse. However, the tacos have fine flavour and the meats a nice char to them. There are a wide range of garnishes, too. The combination of pricing — as low as $9 for three pork tacos plus warm, freshly fried corn chips and house-made salsa — and quality, as well as the availability of house-made agua frescas, should make a trip to this truck with a covered eating area appealing for non-Orléans-based taco fans.
Toro Taqueria
Campechano taco from Toro Taqueria on 210 Slater St. in Ottawa. Photo by Jean Levac
Tacos at Toro Taqueria
Unless you are a downtown worker, the trip to Toro Taqueria, which is only open for lunch on weekdays, will take you out of your way. But if you love tacos, I advise you to find an excuse to visit this eatery, opened in May by Anthony Bailey, who also owns the nearby Morning Owl coffee shop locations and is Toro’s chef.
I’ve been very impressed by the distinctive and well-made tacos I’ve tried here, which usually featured especially juicy, superbly seasoned and braised-that-day meats (although a citrus-marinated shrimp taco was also a winner). I’m a big fan of Toro’s campechano taco, a wondrous three-meat creation made with beef brisket, pork shoulder and chorizo, topped with bits of crunchy chicharron (fried pork rind). You eat this taco, like many others, at your own risk — or more specifically, the risk of damaging your shirt with sauce and food. But the tastiness of the cooking liquid justifies this forewarning. House-made red and green salsas, plus a sharp chimichurri, are available, but I haven’t found that the tacos need their boost. Good, fresh guacamole, agua frescas and a slice of tres leches cake completed our lunch nicely. Only the side dish of rice and beans struck us as more ordinary, and the mushroom taco felt overloaded.
After I’d eaten two lunches at Toro, Bailey told me his recipes rely on, among other things, special-order whole chilies that he grinds and rubs into his meats the night before cooking. That commitment to flavour plus careful cooking lifts this newest of Ottawa’s taco joints to the top of this heap.
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Peter Hum’s restaurant reviews