Kansas City Magazine: Best New Restaurants 2021 - Taco Naco KC
Excerpt from Kansas City Magazine, Best New Restaurants 2021
Words by Natalie Torres Gallagher
I never trust a label avowing something as “spicy.” I have too often been disappointed by wimpy grocery store salsas and fancy hot sauces emblazoned with danger warnings. As I considered the salsa options in Taco Naco’s cold case, I plucked out three that sounded flavorful: creamy jalapeno, peanut macha and roasted fuego. Later, when I set these offerings out on the grazing table at a gathering, I would regret the lack of a disclaimer. Chef Fernanda Reyes’ fuego salsa—made with roasted habaneros, garlic and tomatoes—was, indeed, on the fiery side. My friends were taken by surprise.
Most of what you find at Taco Naco takes you by surprise. The casual counter-service taqueria and market in Overland Park is colorful and festive. Beyond the grab-and-go case stocked with salsas and margarita mixes, there are house-roasted spices, Mexican candies and fresh fruit paletas. But most people come for the tacos: Reyes’ slow-cooked cochinita pibil (aromatic shredded pork), barbacoa that melts in your mouth, the vegan potato with mole pipian. (A lot of folks come for the fortifying breakfast burritos, too.)
Since it started just before the pandemic in 2020, under a tent at the nearby Overland Park Farmers Market, Taco Naco has always done Mexican food just a little bit differently. Reyes’ tacos, served in artisanal Yoli Tortilleria tortillas, are not street tacos. Then again, though Reyes is from Durango, she has never considered her food to be “authentic Mexican.” She gets granular on this: Guajillo peppers here, she says, aren’t quite red enough, or the texture is off, so she’s not going to build a dish around them.
“Sometimes you want to follow the tradition but you don’t find the right ingredients because we’re not in Mexico,” Reyes says. “So I give it a twist. I don’t change things, because I like to respect the traditions, but I move things around. We’re adapting to what Kansas City offers us. If I’m making tamales, I go to the market and I see different ingredients and I get ideas. What happens if I add zucchini or squash blossom? As a chef, it’s about two things: what your customer wants and the ingredients you have at that moment.”
Pro tip: The passion fruit margarita mix is the only thing missing from your party. Use it as a mixer with tequila or your favorite spirit.