Last Thursday’s Taco-Rita Showdown marked an unusual foray into the 21+ social scene in St. Louis for me. The competition, located in the Public Media Commons just east of the Central West End, was a joint collaboration between Sauce Magazine and St. Louis Public Radio. It provided a stage for eight local Mexican-inspired eateries to showcase their single best taco-and-margarita combination for the mix of locals who were able to attend the sold-out event.

The venue was essentially an empty lot between two buildings, with the margarita bar on the left and the taco stands scattered throughout the right. Logically, I was given eight tickets each to buy the liquor and food, as well as two “voting cards” that permitted each entrant to throw their support behind their favorite choices at the end of the night. The featured restaurants represented a combination of familiar and new names for me. Washington University favorites Seoul Taco and Mission Taco were present, as well as Yo! Salsa, whose food truck provided me an occasional escape from my mediocre made-at-home lunches at work this past summer. The other five were entirely new to my palate.

Brock Workman | Student Life

The Taco-Rita Showdown took place last Thursday, Sept. 22.

The contestants had several different strategies for wooing the crowd, with some taking the more traditional approach to making their tacos and drinks, while others deviated from the classic Mexican style. Amigos Cantina took the former approach, with a juicy carne asada taco lightly coated with spicy guacamole. Club Taco went for more of the latter, with a Greek-inspired chipotle lamb barbacoa with cucumber sauce that I swear tasted just like a gyro from the Danforth University Center. For my evaluation, I would choose my favorite taco and margarita, and also my favorite pairing, which should have been an important aspect to the competition that the event did not facilitate very easily.

I promised myself that, no matter how the other tacos tasted, I would not pick Seoul Taco’s taco as my favorite. I am as basic a Wash. U. student as any, but I wanted to remove the bias my constant thirst for Seoul would place on my judgment. In addition to Amigos Cantina’s taco, I heavily enjoyed Cha Cha Chow’s chicken tender taco due to its great combination of spice over its lightly fried chicken nugget. However, their gimmick of placing the taco in an ice cream cone-shaped holder to make a “walking taco” would not sway my decision (Is every taco not a walking taco? Who has trouble eating a taco and walking at the same time?). In the end, my favorite selection was Yo! Salsa’s shredded beef taco. While it fell apart in my hand from its juices, the combination of classic pico de gallo flavors with crumbled Cotija cheese gave it a composition that set it above the rest.

Brock Workman | Student Life

Cha Cha Chow’s Walking Taco is meant to faciliate a seamless eating-while-walking experience.

The margaritas saw just as much variation, with a couple restaurants cheating and making red concoctions that basically just tasted like sangria. Amigos’ had a well-balanced traditional margarita, and Yo! Salsa’s cucumber drink was a very refreshing break from all of the event’s strong flavors. Club Taco, who had their own separate bar for their drinks, eventually took my vote. Their creation was sweet with fruity influences, but still sour, as a margarita should be, and I could have drank a few more if I had not used my last liquor ticket on them.

As for my favorite combination—despite their cheap tricks—I loved Cha Cha Chow’s pairing the most. Coincidentally, their walking taco and photogenic margarita would win both of the popular votes with the other eventgoers. Who ever said that presentation doesn’t matter?