Valley fast-food restaurants filled with tacos and they come cheap

Max Jacobson

Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2002 | 8:24 a.m.

Tacos have become one of America's favorite fast foods. They are also big business at a wide variety of chain restaurants all over town. These places range from authentically ethnic to those geared more to the mass market.

Tacos should be cheap, tasty and just right for that small meal or quick pick-me-up. The following is a look at what to expect at a few local restaurants that serve tacos. All these restaurants have multiple locations.

Rubio's Baja Grill is a real American success story. The company was started in the early-'80s by a hungry San Diego State University graduate student named Ralph Rubio, who missed the delicious fish tacos he used to eat on the beach in San Felipe, on the Baja California peninsula in Mexico. Since 1983 the chain has sold more than 45 million tacos.

The recipe for the fish taco is a secret, but basically, the chain uses Alaskan pollock that is coated with a flour batter spiced up with mustard and oregano. Inside the soft corn taco shell are pieces of fish, shredded cabbage, and a sauce. You add salsa and condiments from a small but well-stocked condiment bar.

Rubio's uses cholesterol free canola oil for frying, and no lard or MSG. A fish taco here is under $2. Dress one up with freshly made guacamole, shredded cheese and the chain's special cilantro/onion mixture, and it becomes a fish taco especial, $2.15.

The regular fish taco has 300 calories and has 16 grams of fat. The especial has 370 calories, and contains 22 grams of fat. There are also chicken and steak tacos, a grilled fish taco using mahi-mahi, shrimp tacos, and even a lobster taco, the priciest item on the taco menu at $2.89. The most popular choice is the fish taco, and Rubio's price for a fish taco is 99 cents. This special price is available through March.

Rubio's chief competitor in the fresh Mexican taco niche is the estimable Baja Fresh, spotlessly clean establishments where there are no freezers, can openers or microwaves on the premises. Shrimp used in tacos here are wild, not farmed or frozen. The mahi-mahi used in the fish tacos is always fresh as well.

Tacos here are made with soft corn tortillas, a hot or mild salsa, a chopped onion and cilantro relish and your choice of meats. The mahi-mahi taco is $2.95, the char-broiled marinated chicken taco is $1.85, the steak taco is $1.85, and the "wild" gulf shrimp taco is $2.25. Salsas are made on the premises several times daily, and so is the guacamole used in the mahi-mahi taco.

In most areas of Mexico, fish tacos do not exist. So the small chain Tacos Mexico, which serves bite-sized tacos filled with nine different savory meat-based fillings, is more similar to what you would encounter in a taco stand somewhere in Mexico outside Baja. The prices are more what you would expect there, as well. Tacos here are considerably smaller than the the ones at Rubio's and Baja Fresh and are only 60 cents each.

A variety of taco fillings are offered: al pastor, barbecued minced pork, carnitas, oven roasted, shredded pork, marinated chicken and a lean, mean carne asada (pounded, grilled flank steak). With these tacos you can add add such condiments as sliced radishes, marinated onions, jalapeno peppers and carrots in a vinegar dressing, and fresh-chopped herbs.

Two of the larger fast food chains play a major role in the taco business: Taco Bell and Jack in the Box. Taco Bell, the giant of the industry, belongs to the enormous Tricon Global Corporation, which also owns KFC and Pizza Hut.

There is no disputing bang for the buck at Taco Bell or Jack in the Box.

Crisp taco shells filled with the standard ground beef, shredded lettuce and cheese are 69 cents. Soft tacos with the same filling rolled around a soft corn or flour tortilla are 79 cents, and the higher-end tacos, made with either chicken or steak, are $1.45 each.

The nutritional data for these tacos is as follows: The ground beef taco contains 210 calories and 12 grams of fat; the steak taco has 280 calories and 17 grams of fat; and the chicken taco's numbers are 190 calories and 12 fat grams. For an extra 30 cents, you can make any one of these tacos "supreme" by adding sour cream and tomato.

Jack in the Box is a leader in food quality and safety in the fast food industry, and can provide, on demand, a pamphlet called "Jack's Nutritional Facts."

Listed are all ingredients used in all items the chain sells: the stacking order of the various sandwiches, information about food allergies and extensive charts that give information about everything from the serving sizes to the amount of dietary fiber in its foods.

The tacos here are deep fried and not too bad at all, along with being inexpensive. Tacos are 69 cents each, two for 99 cents, and $1.59 for the Monster Taco, which is essentially just a bigger version of the small tacos. The meat filling in these tacos contains textured soy protein, a nutritious meat substitute. For those who are allergic to soy protein this information is important.