GUSTAVO’S GIVES GOOD ON TACOS

By Robin Garr | leo@leoweekly.com

I hope everyone enjoyed Louisville Taco Week last week and ate your fill. There’s a lot to like about a promotion that brings you tacos for $2.50 a plate at close to 20 local Mexican-style eateries!

I had big plans, but peaked too soon. All the advance advertising gave me such a powerful taco crave that I rushed out to Gustavo’s Mexican Grill and ate my fill a week before the event.

It was worth it.

If you missed out, it’ll be around again next year, I’m sure. And similar promotions abound, including Louisville Burger Week, Louisville Hot Brown Week, Louisville Pizza Week, Louisville Restaurant Week, Margaritas in the ‘Ville, and Louisville Wing Week.

They’re all worthy, and I hope you enjoy them. We’re here to talk about tacos and more Mexican culinary delights today, though, and Gustavo’s does them very, very well.

Like several other local Mexican restaurant groups – Los Aztecas, El Nopal, and El Tarasco come to mind – Gustavo’s is the product of an entrepreneurial immigrant from South of the Border, Gustavo Reyes, who built a popular business with a bilingual menu, friendly servers, and Latin-accented food that pleases just about everyone.

We tried the most recent shop in the group, Gustavo’s Hurstbourne property, which opened about a year ago in the much-renovated and spacious 300-plus seat venue vacated by a Romano’s Macaroni Grill.

The colorful eight-page laminated menu offers more than 150 options across its eight pages. Dishes are clearly explained in English, so don’t fret if you don’t know what queso fundido means … you can learn right on the spot that it’s a cheese dip made with Mexican Chihuahua cheese.

Dishes are sorted by category, from appetizers, salads, quesadillas, tortas and sopas through house specialties and signature dishes; steaks, seafood, vegetarian items and chicken dishes, fajitas, combo plates and a lunch menu. Virtually all main-course dishes are $10.99 to $16.99 range, with only a couple of steak items exceeding that by a buck or two.

Gustavo’s chips and salsa are exceptional: The chips appeared to have been cut from fresh corn tortillas and fried inhouse. They’re thick, shattering crisp, and grease-free. The salsa was thick and textured, dotted with bits of cilantro. It comes only in one mild flavor, but bottles of red and green hot sauce are handy on the table so you can doctor your own to taste.

Let’s get right to the tacos: Gustavo declares that its quesa birria tacos ($15.99) use a traditional family recipe. The Jalisco original usually uses goat or lamb meat, but here in El Norte beef is more popular. Gustavo’s uses Certified Angus Beef, roasted with mild guajillo chilies, herbs and spices, then hand-pulled into tender, toothsome chunks and shreds.

Three large corn tortillas that had been dipped in rich birria broth and grilled were

1860 MELLWOOD AVE #115, LOUISVILLE, KY 40206

REVIEW: “Not only is the food extremely unique and absolutely delicious, but atmosphere is super chill and you can tell love and care goes into the entire experience. Absolutely recommend.”

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