bartaco bonanza

We spent the night in Stamford to have a chance to catch up with Manny and Hirut.  Their area has soooo many cute restaurants and cafes all within walking distance, so the sky was the limit when choosing where to eat for dinner.  We decided on bartaco, a trendy new place with - you guessed it - tacos galore.

The decor from outside to inside is fabulously whimsical.  You feel like you've stepped into a Nautica ad with all the blue and white stripes and perfectly sanded wood booths.  Hirut and Mel particularly enjoyed the fact that the booths are set high off the ground, so adults can have the fun of swinging their legs under the table.  :)

The way the place runs is pretty interesting, too.  Instead of having a server constantly interrupt your conversation to see how you're doing, they tend to leave you alone and let paper do the talking.  There's a carousel at the edge of the table that has a blue firefly card to stick on the post when you want service, and menu cards that you fill out and stick on the post when you want to order.  So efficient!

On their drink menu, they boast that all cocktails are made with freshly squeezed fruit juices.  To us this sounded fabulous, so DJ and Manny decided to split a pitcher of margaritas.  They were tasty, but quite tart.  Perhaps a bit too much of a 'good fresh juice' thing.  But with a dash more syrup to sweeten the deal, the pitcher would have been perfection.

 And now, of course, the food!  Manny had the clever idea of ordering the Chef's tray which provides a sample of a variety of tacos and the guacomole so we could narrow down what we would want to order more of.  Overall, the tacos (all soft-shell) were all really tasty, especially with the variety of hot sauces you can add at the table.  And the guac had a fabulous consistency and flavor - not too much onion at all!  The tamales and pickled side dishes created a great balance of spice with the taco fillings.  We really enjoyed trying all the different ones!  Will definitely come back on a hot summer night for more guac and cocktails.