Eating and judging. Can you think of something I like doing more?
The answer is no, you cannot.
When I was asked to be a judge for the 2018 Taco Takeover at the Brooklyn Expo Center, I jumped at the opportunity. A day filled with tacos, tequila, and churros? And the ability to judge them too? Sign me up asap.
I was given a clipboard with a list of all the tacos I had to try and rate on the following categories: Taste, Presentation, Creativity. Honestly it was a bit harder than I thought, considering there are only so many ways you can present a taco (in my mind), but believe me, people got creative: Queens Bully used white bread as their “taco shell” and filled it with Nashville Hot Chicken and pickles. Major points for creativity!
My favorite tacos were probably Zen Taco and Dos Caminos. Zen Taco was just a very simple and straightforward carnitas (pork) taco with raw onion, salsa verde, and cilantro. It was executed perfectly and the flavors were all well balanced. My second favorite was Dos Caminos also with carnitas, barracho beans (delicious), avocado and tomatillo salsa, pico de gallo, red onion, and cilantro. The fried fish taco from Rib in a Cup was bomb too – the lines for that one and Empanada Papa were outrageous.
Amidst all the taco-eating and tequila-tasting, we played cornhole, we posed for silly boomerang photos (see below, that’s my BFF Katie say hi to Katie), and capped off the day with sweet churros from Eddie’s Churro truck. The Don Julio pickup truck was a prime spot for photos, and other sponsors of the event included Lyft and Deadpool, who had beer pong and an inflatable pool/floaties for pics.
There was one last thing I should mention: the “Holla-Peno” eating contest. The contestants had to eat 3 jalapenos, challah bread, and they played “Hollaback Girl” the whole time. The people loved it.
Thanks to Cannonball Productions and The Taco Takeover for having me this year! More pics below. See ya next year!
