Taco Tuesday: Crunchy beef tacos at the Washington State Fair

In my continuing quest to find the area’s best taco deals, I stumbled on something weird at the Washington State Fair.

Tacos appear immune to fair markup prices.

Fair prices are widely known as one hair shy of outrageous. It’s enough to make you extreme scream “I PAID $10 for an order of fries!!?”

But not tacos.

I found three booths with tacos around $2. Granted, they’re the kind of basic tacos you find at a Taco Bell — the crunchy, beefy type — but they carry the price of a street taco from a taco truck. Even at the fair.

Here’s where to find taco deals at the fair, in order of best execution.

MO’S FRESH MEX KITCHEN

Where: Near the Blue Gate/Earthquake Burger.

Taco price: $1.99 (cash only).

Taste it: These were those typical crunchy beef tacos that were the star of your family’s weeknight taco feed, circa 1987. This booth executed every element better than the competition. Crunchy, fresh shell. Tangy taco meat with chile seasoning. Crisp shredded iceberg, a generous portion of diced tomatoes and a topper of shredded cheddar. Even if these weren’t at the fair, I’d still call them awesome.

Grade: A

FIESTA MEXICANA!

Where: Inside International Village food court.

Taco price: $1.97 (cash only).

Taste it: I learned long ago that a restaurant with an exclamation point in the name rarely lives up to its punctuation. So true here. The brittle taco shell broke; the under seasoned beef released a slick of grease. Soggy lettuce didn’t help. At least there was a lot of cheese.

Grade: B-minus

MACHO MEX

Where: Inside Restaurant Building.

Taco price: $2 each (cards or cash).

Taste it: Stale taco shell, bland taco meat. I wanted my two bucks back instantly. Lettuce and cheese were the only decent parts of this taco. If that’s the best a restaurant can do with a taco, I’m sad.

Grade: C-minus

This story was originally published September 14, 2015 at 10:00 PM with the headline "Taco Tuesday: Crunchy beef tacos at the Washington State Fair."