Tres Carnales Taqueria- Edmonton, AB

Tres Carnales Menu

I love the Food Network. I could spend days watching whatever is on this channel. Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, Chopped, Top Chef, these are some of my favorite shows. Something about food captivates me (I guess that's why I blog! :D). So when the show "You Gotta Eat Here" first aired, I was pretty excited. For those who do not know this show, "You Gotta Eat Here" is essentially Diners, Drive-ins and Dives for Canadians. The host, John Catucci, goes across Canada finding and showing some of the best restaurants in each city. Now Edmonton is not what I would call a food paradise. Yes, it does have some really good restaurants, but as many compared to the bigger cities of Calgary, Vancouver or Toronto. So when this show came out, I was interested in seeing what places in Edmonton were picked. In the first season, YGEH decided to highlight Tres Carnales Taqueria. Tres Carnales specializes in tacos, quesadillas and tortas.

Pescado tacos: battered and fried red snapper 

Now I won't blog too much about it as I see there are SO MANY blog posts already. But my quick take on it is that it's a great place to have some Mexican cuisine (I think my favorite Mexican place in Edmonton). For those who have never been there (and like fish), the Pescado tacos are a MUST-TRY! This is 3 soft tacos containing lightly battered and fried pieces of red snapper fish (priced at a modest $10) and topped with a slice of radish.

Pollo Asado: marinated and grilled whole chicken tacos

Carne con chile tacos: slow cooked beef brisket

The carne con chile is a huge helping of braised and slow cooked beef brisket marinated in beer, chocolate, tomatoes and chiles. Fall apart delicious, but even though it has so many spices, it could still use more flavor. The guacamole and homemade chips is one of my favorite sides. The guacamole is so creamy and the chips are fried to a perfect crisp.

The atmosphere is really lively. So lively that on the Saturday night when a few of my colleagues tried to go (only 5 people!), we couldn't even get a spot to sit. But the great thing about most restaurants is that if they are super busy and you have no reservations, you can always go with the take-out method. And that's what we decided to do. There are tons of bright and festive colors (red, yellow, green) and some graffiti on the walls to add that little, unique touch. The music is very loud; maybe too loud as I felt you needed to yell to talk to someone right beside you.

Whatever you choose at Tres Carnales, you really cannot go wrong. It is clear that they put time and effort into their dishes and that is why they are constantly busy most nights.

Pick of the Night: Pescado Tacos

http://trescarnales.com/

Rating:

3.5/5 Erics'