Good, honest Mexican cuisine at El Taco de Oro

• El Taco de Oro 303 St. Patrick St.

• Type of food: Mexican

• Appetizers: $5-$12

• Mains: $14-$22

• Diet: Some vegan, vegetarian and gluten free options

• Wheelchair accessibility: Stairs into the restaurant

• Licensed: Yes

• Website: El Taco de Oro

When I last spoke with the manager of one of the places I reviewed in the Ottawa Mexican guide in our Insider newsletter she suggested I try the tacos at El Taco de Oro. Good call.

I stopped in just as they opened and was cheered by the decor. It was a sunny day and it fit the mood perfectly.

They’d kept the front door open and I assumed it was to create a cross-breeze as it smelled as if they’d just had the carpets cleaned.

Televisions were mounted on the walls and frankly I was expecting them to be broadcasting some telenovela. Instead I saw they were showing the American daytime drama The Bold and the Beautiful. My mother loved this soap opera and she fell into a funk when they stopped broadcasting it in Germany.

So with those memories in mind I ordered my soup and tacos.

The tortilla soup arrived and I hadn’t expected this depth of colour to the broth. Could it be beef? I’ve always been a soup guy and I pride myself on being adept in this department but what I’m learning from the Mexican kitchen is that there are some recipes that require no animal protein at all for the stock.

This tomato-based soup was a knockout. A substantial concentration of flavour and very fresh toppings of avocado, fried tortilla and queso had me chasing spoonful after spoonful.  Leave out the queso and you’ve got a vegan version. As we get ever more into fall, this is the perfect small lunch to fill a cold weather craving.

Sometimes robust flavors can go a long way to satiating an appetite and although I had two tacos coming, I was afraid I might not finish them.

I was right. Tacos at El Taco de Oro are a little larger than average and are seasoned perfectly. 

The pork conchinita pibil was made with moist shoulder meat and the barbacoa beef got much of its flavour from the high heat char around the edges. Just as it should be: crunchy and roasted. The tacos came with a trio of house made sauces: toasted habanero oil, salsa verde and Pico de Galo. I enjoyed all three but the habanero was beyond my tolerance. 

This is good, honest Mexican cuisine but there was a major distraction throughout. The sickly perfumed smell in the room. I thought it might be coming from a carpet cleaning solution and then I looked further down and along the wall. There was the culprit: a plug-in air freshener.

If you go, I recommend asking them to unplug it. It might spare you the headache I took away.