I find that I need a burrito, both physiologically and emotionally, on a daily basis, but I don't…read moreactually get a burrito very often. I don't dine out as often as I used to, and sometimes it's necessary to get a cheeseburger. Of course I would never attempt to make a burrito in my own home.
I wouldn't have visited Seoul Taco today, except that another restaurant I intended to visit, nearby, was closed. I'd read on the app that it's sometimes randomly not open during posted business hours, and wouldn't you know, that turned out to be the case today. Did the owner decide he'd rather go fishing? Is he in jail for a crime that would be considered reprehensible even by Grove standards? I'm not into spreading rumors. Ask someone at Pie Guy. Oh wait, you can't.
This location of the local Korean fusion chain appeared to me like a beacon at the east end of the eclectic business district. It's in a weirdly nice building that may have been purposely designed to attract gainfully employed young people. The entire block, consisting of at least two apartment buildings and multiple storefronts, has the design language of a circa '08 Chipotle. If you wanted to, you could actually live in an apartment above Seoul Taco. Imagine how convenient that would be. I knew I should have tried harder in college.
The burrito here is an especially generous serving, the fact that it consists primarily of rice notwithstanding, but the tacos might be the thing to get. It's a perfectly fine serving size, and the emphasis is on the meat, as it should be. Right, Puff Daddy? The Seoul Tacos come with your choice of meat, spring mix that's probably from a bag, some sort of sriracha-mayo mix and that might be it. I'm not familiar with the Street Tacos, and in fact I wasn't aware that they existed until just now. They might have more of an attitude.
I toyed with the idea of getting a quesadilla, which is never bad, even if you get it from Taco Bell. Instead, I went with the Nachos, for a little textural contrast. I got one taco in addition to the nachos, because I hadn't had one in literally decades, and I figured it might be useful as a point of comparison if I visit any other restaurants that serve tacos.
The nachos were surprisingly beef-forward. Rarely are you presented with an entree that has more beef in it than you expected. I felt like I was in a Wendy's circa 1983. For anything with beef in it, you pay a surcharge that, depending on the item, is almost enough to purchase an entire meal elsewhere, so I guess that's the least they can do. Meanwhile, there's not much cheese. Should it not be the opposite? By definition, nachos are chips and cheese. You don't even necessarily need the meat. Was the person who made this on drugs? There's a dispensary nearby. You're bombarded by the smell, if you park at that end of the street.
For the taco, I went with the spicy pork, which might be the thing to get. The beef is great (ahem), and I suspect that the surcharge has as much to do with the taste as the food cost (they could just give you less of it, or jack up the price of everything else), but the pork is arguably just as good (with all due respect to the Honorable Minister), and it has the rare distinction of having a spice level appropriate for an adult of normal intelligence. You can actually taste it. If I were to return, I'd probably get the Seoul Tacos with the pork, even if money were no object. Like, if I won the lottery.
I was delighted to see that this place has cookies, and of course I felt obligated to try one, as part of a balanced diet. They don't seem to be freshly baked, and they cost too much, but they're great. If I'm not mistaken, one of them was a matcha chocolate chip. Clearly, it was designed to appeal to the kind of person who would pay a premium to live upstairs. I went with some sort of salted caramel--like a chocolate chip cookie, but with caramel instead of chocolate. It was ginormous, tasty and probably very unhealthy. It had a texture not unlike those soft batch cookies they had to pull from the market because the trans fats would cause your heart to explode. If I ever die, it's their fault.