Taco Punk un-punk’d

Hey Gabe-

"Do you think I planned on screwing up?"

Love this, and I'm totally with you! I think I will hang it on the wall by my desk as my new mantra.
We'll be back in soon-
Deb

.... I've never dined at your place (Taco Punk) and honestly it's WAY out of my way, so I probably never will...

...I was roundly criticized for negatively "reviewing" Doc Crows

Steve, these two places would be about...7 blocks apart?? ooops, credibility takes a holiday....

Ehhhhhhhhh....Not really. I simply don't frequent that part of town on even an irregular basis. Occasionally I will find myself at Stevie Rays and I did attend one concert at YUM but I wouldn't say I frequent that part of town for the purpose of dining on anything but an extremely infrequent basis.

( personally, I never rush to a newly open place, to save my dining dollars from this exposure. ) .

Deb

Interesting. I thought I recalled you reporting on attending a "preview" night at Guaca-Mole. Never say never

( personally, I never rush to a newly open place, to save my dining dollars from this exposure. ) .

Deb

Interesting. I thought I recalled you reporting on attending a "preview" night at Guaca-Mole. Never say never

Yes- that was the "preview night" - private event for friends and family. Like Ned noted, these are pre-opening and a way to tryout things before opening to the public. ( PS I always make sure to mention this is write-ups as it's not necessarily the same as once a place is open.

"Coals baked literally hundreds of "test"pies and their staff had ample training (POS, menu, etc) before they ever served pie-one to the public."

Steve to be fair we had a heck of a time getting things right. The first night the kitchen staff was dusting the pizza skins with pastry flour. Every single one of those pies were burnt to a crisp with us having to redo orders only to watch them burn again. We had a lot of irate customers that night. Live and learn..never use pastry flour in a 1000 degree coal burning oven.

"Coals baked literally hundreds of "test"pies and their staff had ample training (POS, menu, etc) before they ever served pie-one to the public."

Steve to be fair we had a heck of a time getting things right. The first night the kitchen staff was dusting the pizza skins with pastry flour. Every single one of those pies were burnt to a crisp with us having to redo orders only to watch them burn again. We had a lot of irate customers that night. Live and learn..never use pastry flour in a 1000 degree coal burning oven.

Madeline,

....Had not heard this. I attended the fist nights private "preview" (we had the very-first pie as I recall) and we were back in two, maybe three nights after your "hard" opening...both times I was impressed with the entire operation from the quality of the food to the knowledge and efficiency of the staff...everything was impressive. I also recall stopping in to say "hi" on a couple of occasions prior to opening and it seemed like every time I did Mark was helping Chef Mike to hammer out the test pies, in search of the right crust for the conditions. .If you were indeed paddling like a duck swimming upstream below the surface...you certainly kept it hidden.

Steve, you are right. The first few weeks we were under the radar and it made the opening a little easier. It was after the review in the Courier Journal and Robin Garr's review that all hell broke loose. I just remember a disastrous night when all the pizzas came out burnt. All I know is that I would not wish that experience on my worst enemy!

Steve, you are right. The first few weeks we were under the radar and it made the opening a little easier. It was after the review in the Courier Journal and Robin Garr's review that all hell broke loose. I just remember a disastrous night when all the pizzas came out burnt. All I know is that I would not wish that experience on my worst enemy!

Madeline, you summed it up perfectly. Even after years of doing this, there are still those nights wheni it all falls to pieces. Unless you live it you will never know the fear and loathing that accompanies a terrible night. When the kitchen falls apart the front of the house collapses and all you can do is pray that it will end soon. As Gabe said "do you think I planned on screwing up "? Heck no. The feeling in your gut is in describable. Test run test run test run. It is impossible to predict everything that will be thrown at you. It is all improve. You have the basic script but everything else is an ebb and flow.

Finally made it to Taco Punk today for lunch...we both had the Seasonal Veggie Mole tacos...I had rice & beans for my side and my friend had gazpacho (which she said was delicious). Everything was excellent. I really liked the taco filling, and that it was brought out from the kitchen in the hot skillet to be placed on my tacos, super fresh. I had to eat some of the filling before I could pick them up and eat them like tacos, but they were quite tasty. The guac is really good too. I got it to put on my tacos but wound up eating it with my chips. The pumpkin seeds are a nice change-up for the taco toppings also.

Went to Taco Punk a couple of nights ago, and just have to sing the praises of the chipotle-pinapple gulf shrimp taco. It was spectacular. And it was only $4.25?? Yes, I know it is a taco, but there were 3 huge gulf shrimp on this thing. Cheap and delicious as well as the shrimp being cooked to order.

Have to bump this past thread as we just made our first trip to Taco Punk today. My son Matt is on break from Sullivan and he really wanted to try it so the 3 of us went as Hubby had a rare Friday off work. Honestly I was prepared to be ehh not so excited but was I pleasantly surprised. I had the Pineapple Pork punk plate son and hubby both had the chorizo and potato punk plate ...all 3 got rice and beans...loved loved loved the pineapple habanero salsa .
Matt had to go back and buy himself a shrimp taco for the road...on his own dime...he really must love the place He insisted on buying it himself!