Taking on a taco and tequila challenge
Thirty tacos, thirty tequilas, thirty days: WRAL producer Stephanie Beck takes on the Flying Burrito's 30/30/30 challenge.
Posted — UpdatedWe called ourselves “The Whovians” – a team of four Doctor Who fans. The team consisted of me (the news producer), my boyfriend (an engineer), my good friend (a physics PhD student at NC State) and her boyfriend (an engineering PhD student at Duke). With that kind of combined brain power, you probably won’t be surprised to hear that we took a methodical approach to it all that would allow us to study the tastes of each taco and tequila.
We’re all foodies, to a degree, so we quickly agreed on a common, if unconventional, rating system to provide our own unique context to the scale of 1 to 5. For the Tacos, a 1 meant “We left it on the plate.” A 3 rating meant ‘Solid offering, which means we would order it again,” and a 5 meant “Can’t wait till next time!”
We got more creative with the tequila scale. A rating of a 1 meant it was so unpalatable alone, you needed to “ask for margarita mix.” A tequila that scored a 3 was deemed “eminently drinkable and we would order it again without qualms if it’s available.” And a 5? That was reserved for those rare drinks that would make us say “DAY-UM! We need to buy a bottle for home!” (Yes, that was the actual spelling – check the pictures.) On both sides of the menu, we also jotted down phrases to make each item stand out. We hope it makes for good reading as others see us posted on the Wall of Success.
Then we established the approach. Tacos were ordered four at a time – one per person –shared, then rated immediately before starting the next one. Tequila shots were ordered in sets of two or three – grouped by distillery, one of each age/quality level for comparison purposes – with salt on only half the rim. They were also shared and rated.
This is the point where I have to stop and rave a second. Flying Burrito has been one of my favorite Mexican restaurants since it was in Chapel Hill. The ingredients are fresh, the chefs are creative, and the menu is always being tweaked to make it better. You can’t go wrong with the namesake dish – the flying burritos – or anything else on the menu, for that matter. Topping it off, they serve brunch all day long on Sundays. A draw, for sure, but for now, let’s get back to the tacos.
The list of 30 tacos at Flying Burrito ranges from the standards (chicken, beef, pork, veggie) to the not-so standard (BLT, oyster, salmon). I highly recommend checking out the not-so-standard end of the menu! Some of our highest rated tacos included:
- The Outer Banks – the crispy fish, habañero mayo, and slaw combination works marvelously
- The Carolina – the idea of pulled pork with Carolina BBQ sauce and yucatan slaw in a tortilla took me by surprise, but once you shake off your food expectations, it’s delicious
- The 5-Alarm Steak – Warning, when they say their salsa is Five-alarms-worth-of-hot, please believe them! Luckily, two of us liked uber-spice, so it got a fair shake and earned a 5
Then, there were the tequilas. The first thing we noticed about the tequila list was what wasn’t there – cheaper brands that had made both my boyfriend and myself avoid tequila for so long. That’s when we started to get intrigued. Could there be such a thing as “good tequila?” The answer is yes, there absolutely is. In general, our organized approach taught us that we like tequilas that were aged longer (blancos are younger than reposados, which are younger than anejos) and that salt could actually ruin the taste for us.
The entire process took us 26 of the 30 days – we didn’t want to overdo it on any one flavor profile – and I’m very glad we took the time to learn everything we could about the food and drink before us. We have all recommended it to friends, and I give it a “thumbs up” here, too. You can definitely go it alone and finish the challenge, like one or two of the other successful contestants. It’s a grand excuse to sit down with some friends on a regular basis for good food, good drinks, and good times.
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