Sunday, May 15, 2011

taco asylum

Taco Asylum is a great little restaurant in Costa Mesa. They serve (great) non-traditional tacos from 11 am to 11pm. The link shows what is in each taco if you scroll down. They have 9 tacos and a flight of 8. The Ghost Chili Pork is the one not in the flight. They have Grilled Octopus, Pork Belly, Short Rib, Curried Paneer, Wild Mushroom, Lamb, Duck, Corazon (beef heart confit), and Ghost Chili Pork. They have 3 hot sauces, one of them the hottest chili in the world (Ghost Chili), one second hottest chili in the world, and the last one a mild chili. My dad rated the tacos in this order: 1-Duck and Lamb, 2-Beef Heart and Short Rib, 3-Pork Belly and Ghost Chili Pork, 4-Wild Mushroom and Curried Paneer, 5-Grilled Octopus. I Rated them like this: 1-Lamb, 2-Ghost Chili Pork, 3-Beef Heart and Curried Paneer and Duck, 4-Pork Belly, 5-Short Rib, 6-Grilled Octopus and Wild Mushroom (didn't have either). My mom liked the Beef Heart the best. I think the lamb was the best mostly because of the olive tapenade. It had the perfect texture and oomph to balance out the lamb and ratatouille. The Ghost Chili Pork had strands of ghost chili and the waitress said that it was going to be hot but I didn't mind the chili strands that much. The small spice was excellent in combo with the pork. My mom says the hot sauce that had ghost chili in it was much hotter. They had many beers and non-alcohalic drinks and sodas, in particular, tea and soda. It is in The Camp and has nice outdoor seating and a heat lamp and a counter/bar with only a few seating options. A nice atmosphere and waiting, with a screen that shows live tweets that mention @tacoasylum, this place is a great new place that you should help support as it is only 4 months old.