Toledo Carniceria & Taqueria
While browsing through some of the recent entries here at Carpe Durham, I noticed that we’ve experienced a serious taco drought lately! So I set out to cure this problem with a trip to Toledo Carniceria & Taqueria (2223 East NC Highway 54 # F) in the Park Terrace plaza.
The menu at Toledo offers typical taqueria fare – tacos, gorditas, tortas, quesadillas, burritos, etc. A hand written note taped to the bottom of the menu board informed me that the weekend’s special was menudo and pozole. I was excited to see various beer choices on the menu, but when I ordered a Pacifico the gentleman taking my order told me they were all out of cerveza.
After placing the order, my dining companion and I browsed around the store while our food was being prepared. The carniceria is at the back of the store and has a variety of fresh and frozen fish, beef, chicken and pork products.
In case you were wondering, that mess sitting on top of the counter is a big ol’ pile of house made chicharon! Here’s a close-up for anyone who’s into chicharon porn!
We didn’t have long to browse the carniceria, because our order number was called pretty quickly so we sat down to eat. Now, typically when I go to any taqueria I try to order a variety of items, but on this visit I couldn’t muster the willpower to resist ordering a taco trifecta, one taco al pastor, one pollo and one choriqueso. The corn tortillas were griddled and served hot, but these were much “cornier” in taste than at other area taquerias. Of the three tacos, the al pastor was my favorite. Even though the al pastor didn’t have any pineapple, it had grilled onions a nice spiciness. The choriqueso was, surprisingly, a little on the dry side and didn’t seem to have a lot of flavor.
My dining partner had the chicken quesadilla plate which was good but not especially noteworthy. The chicken filling was of the diced variety, not shredded, and came with a large portion of lettuce, avocados and pickled jalepenos.
Not only does Toledo’s have a carniceria and taqueria, but they also have a decent selection of grocery and convenience items. On the way out, I bought a huge bunch of really fresh cilantro for $1.00! There are a lot of good things going on under this one roof.
Toledo Carniceria
2223 NC Highway 54
(919) 405-4240
Carpe Durham does not issue ratings, but registered users can agree or disagree with our opinion. If there is significant user disagreement, we highly recommend that you review all of this post's comments, because, sometimes, we just don't know what we are talking about.
No members have expressed a view on this post.
I generally agree.I generally disagree.
Good to know! If/when you return, I’ll be interested to hear about the gorditas or tortas. No salsa bar eh?
[Reply]
Unfortunately, there’s no salsa bar but each table has several different hot sauces to choose from. In addition, we were offered two squeeze bottles full of salsa. One salsa verde and one really spicy salsa roja.
[Reply]
I nearly tried Toledo instead of Jamaica Jamaica a couple of weeks ago, but jerk was calling to me. Those tacos look delish, though, so I will definitely give it a whirl! Anybody found chorizo in the area that isn’t too dry? I love a good chorizo helping but have noticed that it’s rather dry a lot of places.
[Reply]
I had amazing chorizo tacos at one of the stands at the Durham Green Market. I’m not sure about its availability during the winter, as it was one of the stands outside. But its something to look forward to in the summer. You can’t miss them though, they have one of the giant cast iron round skillets with a variety of mexican meats on them.
[Reply]
Thanks for the tip!
[Reply]
Is this any relation to the Toledo Carniceria/Taqueria in Carrboro, in the old El Chilango space? I used to live across the street, and the decor/ signage/ bins look very familiar.
This isn’t as close to my new house as the Carrboro location was to my old place, but it is a lot closer than Carrboro.
[Reply]
I work in the triangle right near that place. My work requires me to go in at least once during the weekend. Try the Posole some time. I think you’ll be pleased.
[Reply]
Your work requires you to go into the taqueria at least once every weekend? I want that job! But seriously, when I was there a couple of weeks ago another customer was eating a huge bowl of posole that looked awesome. Even though I was pretty satisfied with my tacos, I was a little jealous of that posole.
[Reply]
when posole is good, its frikin amazing. who knew good broth could be so intoxicating and healing…lol
[Reply]
Posole – The “Hangover Helper.”
There’s a delicious Japanese hangover cure. Go to Kurama on 15/501, sit at the sushi bar and tell the chef you’re hurting. It’s amazing.
I just had lunch there today and I must say it was great. I got a al pastor taco and a la lengua gordita. The al pastor was great, also against what was noted earlier there was pineapple in mine. The gordita was good as well, the accompanying salsas were good. Definitely will be back.
[Reply]
I had lunch there today. I ordered an al pastor taco (which included pineapple). It was delicious! I also ordered a carnitas gordita. The gordita was a little oily but tasted so good and was packed with yummy carnitas, cheese, beans, lettuce and sour cream. I’ll definitely be going back!
[Reply]
[...] tomatoes). The carnitas were good, but I think I personally prefer chunked (like those you get at El Toledo) to the shredded variety I had at Chubby’s. My dining companions enjoyed the pastor (which [...]
Leave your response!
Recent Comments
Lifestream
Help Wanted!
Archives
Categories
Food Blogs
Other Durham Blogs
You need to log in to express your opinion
Carpe Durham requires users to be logged in to express their opinion on this post.
Alternatively, if you do not have an account yet you can create one here.
Powered by Vote It Up