It may sound like a dirty euphemism or something else, but last week I went to the Rusty Taco to pick up dinner. If the weird name doesn’t draw you in, the currently broken out (or never put in) glass on their front door that is an ad covered sheet of plywood will make you feel like you are walking into a bar. Once you make it through the door, it seems more like an artist studio that has been converted into a restaurant, by bringing in tables and chairs and a familiar burrito “make and take” wall where you place your order, and pick up your food.
One of the things I noticed when I walked in was that they must not have that much cooler space so they had tall boys to the likes of Pabst, Red Stripe, and some other low end beers stacked near the door. Probably why they now have a plywood door filler.
Like more and more restaurants these days, they have their menu and prices hanging conveniently by the door in a somewhat Jimmy John’s style. If they didn’t use such flavorful words I would have probably had a better idea what I wanted to order. But for $2.50 – $3.00 for Taco’s and $4 for a Tall boy or “BIG Cans” as they say we should being doing pretty well right? Because I was with the wife and we had heard that they had “Giant” tacos, we ordered 3 of them randomly selected from the list and got a chips and salsa to go along with it (a must at nearly any taco or burrito joint). The chips and salsa were alright, but looking back we should’ve gotten guacamole or pico de gallo.
After a short wait, the 3 tacos were picked up from the counter in an large tray like container, and I was some intrigued by the ingredients in the tacos being fairly different. Every taco apparently comes with a very pungent lime, that I would throw away and not let it taint the tacos. We mistakenly ordered a vegetarian taco (pretty sure it was vegetarian) that was pretty watery, but the other tacos were pretty good. For the $2.50 price the wife and I debated their value. They are probably twice the size of something you’d get at Taco Johns, and definitely more flavorful. And priced like they are, if 2 tacos don’t fill you up get another $2.50 out.
If you haven’t been here, I would say it’s worth the trip at least once. It’s a unique style at least for me to find in the Twin Cities area. If you visit their webpage you’ll find they are fairly spaced out in the Midwest with 3 locations in Dallas, Texas and 1 in St. Paul, MN. The MN location is in the Strip Mall located next to the Trader Joe’s next to I-35E south of downtown.
