Nestled on a back street, Taqueria Franco of Miko Calo can be found on San Agustin St., Salcedo Village. It’s a French-Mex culinary dream come true. You don’t have to be a true-blue Francophile or a Mexican mariachi devotee to enjoy the cuisine. The Taqueria answers the question of whether French dishes can be served up as Mexican tacos, tostadas, and quesadillas. The answer? A resounding yes.
Given her background in French cuisine, it’s not surprising to find this eatery as a high-flying concept that Miko Calo developed and opened late last year. In fact, it was my sons who clued me in on this establishment, as it’s frequented by kids at night and enjoyed by families during lunchtime and weekends. I happened to be with my boys on a Sunday and suggest calling in to reserve, as it got crowded quickly.
The dishes are visual delights and offer a great taste and flavor. As with tacos and tostadas, there’s an art to eating them by hand, as they can get messy. But it is part of the magic, as the different ingredients ‘explode’ in your mouth with each gratifying bite.
Here is a rundown of the dishes we indulged in:
The Eggs & Caviar Tostado features egg salad, avruga caviar, tartar sauce, pepper sauce, and pickled vegetables. Along with the Raclette & Bacon Quesadilla, which includes raclette cheese, bacon, potatoes, pickled veggies, and tomato jam, these two could work just as well for a late breakfast or brunch. The caviar adds a great touch to the egg salad, while the combination of raclette cheese and bacon is very Swiss-French, and the tomato jam is a perfect addition. The Raclette and Bacon comes in four portions, good for passing around.
The French Horn Mushrooms Taco, made with sautéed mushrooms, tomato salsa, cilantro and parsley pistou, arugula, and frisée in a buckwheat tortilla, was our version of a salad or veggie course. I liked how the taco serving comes in twos with holders and is substantial if you’re flying solo. It’s good to share!
For seafood taco choices, we first had the Japanese Oyster Taco. It’s a breaded XL Japanese oyster with tartar sauce, pickled veggies, and tortilla. The breading adds to the size and dimensions of this taco, making it great for eating alone. The Soft Shell Crab is deep-fried soft-shell XL crab with cilantro, harissa mayo, chili lime vinaigrette, purple cabbage, and tortilla. I loved both of these, and we found the Oyster to be the more popular choice.
The Fish Taco is one of their fabled pièce de résistance—the ultimate in French taco glory. The butter-roasted cobbler is joined by sauce meunière, honey-glazed carrots, garlic béchamel, almonds, lettuce, and tortilla. It’s a must-try and the one people come back for. I got that and could see why it’s a crowd favorite with the lemon, butter, and parsley sauce. But personally, my favorite was the…
Steak Frites Taco, with seared hanging tender, béarnaise sauce, watercress, beef jus, shoestring potatoes, and tortilla. Call me a sucker for béarnaise, the butter and tarragon, but this is the one that you can waft in front of me, and you can drag me anywhere you like. The morsels of meat made this the most filling taco. I loved the shoestring potatoes.
For dessert, I recommend the Chocolate Tart; it’s dark chocolate, crème anglaise, and pink peppercorn. It’s rich and dense, hitting the spot without being overly sweet.
Taqueria Franco was a wonderful discovery, and I’ll be back. Miko Calo has a winner here, and I loved the French bulldog motif and the R2-D2 on the bar.