Tako Tacos: Food Review

Bored of your typical Tex-Mex style tacos? Spice it up with some octopus legs! Team TakoNet staff writer Brody Salzman goes into his experience trying out some Tako Tacos in this review.

Tacos are one of my absolute favorite entrees. Just brown some ground beef, toss in a flavor packet or two with some water, and put it in a tortilla. If it’s a particularly rough day, some cheap tacos from the Taco Bell down the street are fantastically satisfying. But I’ve long wondered how they could be improved even further.

When I was walking down the street recently, I saw a Mexican-themed ramen shop, and that is when it hit me:

TAKO TACOS!

Overjoyed, I ran to the nearest Internet to Google this delicious idea, and it seems I wasn’t the only one to think it up. There are so many clever combinations out there that I was overwhelmed. Tears came to my eyes. It was truly a thing of beauty.

Or that could’ve been from the Taco Bell Diablo sauce I got in my eye… nevertheless, I knew what had to be done. The following were necessary for my Tako Tacos:

1.5 – 2 lbs ground beef

2 packages taco seasoning

Flour or corn tortillas

Octopus legs from the local H-Mart

1.5 cups water

Lettuce

Tomato

Whatever other toppings/spreads you like in your tacos

First, I browned the ground beef in a large pan while cooking the octopus legs in another pan. I used various guides online for different ways to prepare and flavor the legs, but the goal is just to make sure they are cooked. Next, I added water as listed on the back of the taco seasoning packets. Then, I poured in the seasoning and combined the beef with the octopus. After some thorough mixing, I left this to simmer for 5 – 10 minutes as the seasoning thickened. After a bit more mixing, it was ready for the tortilla!

After putting the beef and tako into the tortilla, you are free to add lettuce, tomato, cheese, and salsa. Some people also like black olives or sour cream in their tacos.

Preparing these Tako Tacos took only one extra step compared to normal tacos. So how was the result for that extra effort? One word: chewy.

I love texture so the extra chewiness of the tako really made each bite that much more substantial. For extra contrast, hard shell tacos are definitely the way to go! Although, there was still one strange aspect to this dish. I felt like the beef was competing with the tako… So, I tried one more thing: replacing the beef with the octopus legs entirely.

This way, you could focus solely on the Mexican flavors mixing with that of the octopus. Just watch out- my jaw got super tired after chewing for five whole minutes.

Overall, would I recommend this dish? Absolutely! Just don’t go feeding it to your toothless grandparents.

Itadakimasu! Delicioso!