For National Taco Day, New Mexico-style tacos at a backroad cafe west of Fort Worth
National Taco Day is a corporate promotion, but it’s also a good time to explore.
Sure, chains like Fuzzy’s Taco Shop will pack a crowd Oct. 4 for $1.50 tacos all day.
But try looking for unique neighborhood tacos.
La Choza, the region’s only restaurant with Santa Fe-style cooking, offers Indian frybread tacos like you’d find in New Mexico.
“It’s just part of Santa Fe, to have fry bread tacos,” said Anthony Aguillon, founder and chef at La Choza, 7001 Confederate Park Road on Farm Road 1886 about 9 miles outside of Loop 820 west of Fort Worth.
“A lot of people see them and think they’re chalupas — they’re served open like that,” Aguillon said.
The thin, light flatbread is essentially the same as a lightly fried flour tortilla.
“It’s like you’d find on Cerritos Road or in Old Town” in Santa Fe], Aguillon said. “We sell a lot of tacos every day. It doesn’t have to be Taco Day.”
Texas Monthly magazine’s taco editor, José R. Ralat, traces the history of Taco Day to the 1960s and local restaurants in San Antonio. But it became a corporate promotion.
“Skip the chains and support your local family-owned taqueria,” Ralat wrote by email.
“They need all the help they can get, especially during the ongoing pandemic.”
On the edge of SIlver Creek Estates but still a country drive away from much of northwest Tarrant County, Aguillon has been hoping more customers find La Choza.
But not too many. Like lots of restaurants, he hasn’t been able to hire a full staff.
“Some days we can’t open, or people have to wait,” he said,
On those days, he offers a shorter, one-page menu. And for now, La Choza is only open for dinner.
Food and restaurant supplies are running short everywhere.
“It’s the weirdest things,” Aguillon said. “One day I can’t get to-go boxes. The next day, there’s no saltine crackers.”
It all adds up to La Choza’s strangest year since Aguillon, a former airline corporate chef and Santa Fe restaurateur, first opened in Parker County south of Azle.
In 2011, he moved the restaurant into its current strip shopping center location, a short drive on Texas 199 from Lake Worth or on Silver Creek Road from west Fort Worth.
La Choza serves stacked enchiladas or burritos ($11.49) smothered in New Mexico red or green chile, along with chile stews and “naked” chiles rellenos with beef or chicken.
Aguillon’s menu also offers finer dishes, such as tenderloin steak-and-shrimp, and better dinner entrees for less than $20, such as salmon chimichurri, shrimp Veracruz and chicken Portofino with artichokes and mushrooms in a spinach cream sauce.
Again, don’t go when it’s busy.
La Choza opens at 3 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays; 817-751-9060. (There’s a Facebook page, but it’s out of date.)
Other National Taco Day specials Oct. 4:
▪ Fuzzy’s, known for Baja-style fish tacos, will offer any regular taco for $1.50 on Oct. 4, except the fajita, shrimp or mahi varieties.
(For something different, go by the original Fuzzy’s, 2917 W. Berry St., for a breakfast pancakes platter or “pancake taco.” They’re offered at only a few locations.)
▪ Torchy’s Tacos promises secret special offers for members of its rewards club, plus free delivery Oct. 4-Oct. 8.
This story was originally published September 27, 2021 at 5:45 AM.
