Recap: Arizona Taco Festival Dos

What can be said about the Arizona Taco Festival?  This is a cacophony of sights, smells, sounds, experiences. There are dozens of food booths, a VIP tent, a tequila tasting tent, a party tent, a music stage, and then, in the very far corner, the dustiest, most forgotten corner of the event, just past the wrestling stage, in a white unmarked tent there I sat. I, along with 40 or so others and a few cases of beer was a certified taco judge.

So, since I judged the tacos, I can tell you exactly who had the best ones, right? In a word, no. You see the National Taco Association models itself after the Kansas City Barbeque Society. And one of the main focuses of the judging system is blind judging. While it’s true that they brought us tray after tray after tray (after tray) of tacos, all we really knew was the # of the competitor. And even though we sampled somewhere north of 30 tacos, that only represents about 1/6 of the total entries.

I can tell you that the tacos we sampled ran the entire spectrum from spectacular to nearly inedible and every conceivable combination in between. There were several tacos which had me savoring every bite and wishing that I had more, and too many tacos that had me scratching my head wondering just what exactly the chef was trying to accomplish, and did they really fail as badly as it seemed. However, the weirdest trend I saw was the stone cold tacos we received in the Seafood round. Not lukewarm, not cooled, stone cold. Trust me, it was not pleasant.

The best taco I had all day wasn’t from one of the four main protein categories, in fact, it didn’t have a protein at all! It was a dessert taco that was submitted in the ‘Anything Goes’ category! This taco generated all kinds of speculation as to who submitted it and it turned out it was from the Loot N’ Booty BBQ team! Quite a surprising turn.

Loot N’ Booty’s dessert taco

Overall a great time was had by all. Or at least by me.  I’m already looking forward to next year’s festival!

Check out comments from my fellow judges:

Amy Martin: “This was my second year judging the taco fest and after having a blast last year, you can imagine how excited I was rallying up to the Arizona Taco Festival Dos! Is there really any higher honor than being deemed a ‘Taco Judge’? I think not. The taco-filled afternoon had its highs and lows back in the judges’ tent. Among the highs? The taco we can only refer to as the ‘chicken taco on the red plate’. Like Taryn, I only wish we could find out who was responsible for this deliciousness so I could go order a few more. Surprisingly enough, the chicken round outshined the others, in my opinion. Seafood was meh… though I’m positive we didn’t get to taste the winning team’s (Distrito) seafood taco. My low? Biting down on a twig in a pork taco that still wouldn’t have been less than acceptable without it.

Proof of said twig

A bonus: our table had the pleasure (or torture… by then we were stuffed) of judging a short round of salsas and the ‘Anything Goes’ category. Maybe we were delirious from the coupling of the hot temperatures and far more food than any one  person should attempt to defeat, buy when this came along, our silliness took over…”

Carrot butt-cheeks, anyone?

Bottom left: the “Chicken Taco on the Red Plate”

Taryn Jeffries: “I had been looking so forward to being a Taco Judge. I had heard all about Amy’s experience from last year and couldn’t wait. While a bit overwhelmed at the prospect of tasting over 30 different tacos, I suited up in some comfy clothes, Thanksgiving Day style and headed out! The judging tent was filled with enthusiasm and a few growly bellies. We had a chance to chat before the first round of tacos came in. I met a few new people and then the ‘cool kids’ converged at Table #1. We were brought some beer (hoorah!) and then in came the tacos! As Rodney said there were some great ones and some not so great ones. I only wish that for the ones that were truly stellar we could somehow figure out what restaurant they belonged to. The chicken tacos on the red plate were divine!!! In between rounds we were able to walk around and check out all the action in the VIP and Tequila tents. Amy and I even had a chance to get a mini massage – amazing! I was also a big fan of The Surfside IV who were performing on the main stage though I think there was someone that was a little more into them than me. I had a great time at the Taco Festival and was so thankful to have been able to have been a part of it. I have my fingers crossed to be asked again next year!!”

Dennis Eckhoff: “The Holy Grail. The City of Atlantis. “Rosebud”. Chicken Taco on Red Plate. These storied artifacts are, for all intents, lost to the perils of time, not to be recovered. Indeed, the one photo I had taken of Taco Round: Chicken is now kept in the lowermost drawer of my burnished mahogany desk, where it has curled at the corners and adopted a pronounced sepia tone. Sometimes, when I’m alone, I’ll pour myself two generous fingers of scotch and gaze at the bottom left corner, where The Red Plate resides, and silently curse the fact that the origin of this marvel has evaded me. To really drive my point home, I make sure there are sheets of rain beating the windows and a grandfather clock chiming ominously in the background. . .

Ok, all hyperbole aside, this was a damned good taco, perhaps the finest I have sampled in two years of judging. May the creator please step forward and accept their well-deserved credit before the taco dissipates from my pic like Marty McFly in Back to the Future III.

As mentioned earlier, this year’s festival saw improvements on almost every front, and judging was still a privilege and a very enjoyable, very filling experience. My sole disappointment lies in my affinity for seafood coupled with the festival organizers’ insistence that the day’s most volatile protein be served last and closest to the day’s peak temperature at 2 p.m. For two years now my hopes have been high for our aquatic options, and for two years now I’ve been frustrated by the end result.

This is quickly becoming an annual event worth getting excited about, and my thanks go to the EaterAZ guys for having me (and my friends above) back. I witnessed perhaps a dozen unclaimed judges’ badges that remained on the table as the event kicked off, and I wondered aloud what those poor souls could have to do that would best being fed spectacularly, plied with booze, and surrounded by terrific company. Bring on Arizona Taco Festival Tres!”