Breakfast tacos are proof that God loves us and wants us to nom happy.
The biggest drawback to Taqueria El Crucero (to me) is its early closing time. Specifically, it's the fact that I never seem to be passing through Waco when they're open. This being said, they do make up for it by serving breakfast for the entirety of their business day. This means that I can still get fabulous breakfast tacos in the early afternoon. Now that I've tried them, I have a good reason to leave a little earlier if I know I'll be going to Waco.
I've said before that tacos are the most genius food ever invented. They're everything you need for a meal wrapped up in a tortilla, and better yet, they're tasty. A perfect taco isn't just sustenance for the day--it's a work of art. You can practically hear the heavens open up and the angels start to sing the Hallelujah chorus with every bite. I often feel as if I am preaching the gospel of the breakfast taco to the unwashed masses who don't think that eggs belong in a tortilla because it is, in fact, a near-religious experience in your mouth.
This brings me to the breakfast tacos at Taqueria El Crucero. The ordering system is a cinch, since you pick from a list of ingredients on the menu. This allowed me to get exactly what I want in my taco--nothing more, nothing less.
El Crucero's breakfast tacos are pure joy. The tortilla was warmed up to perfection. It arrived warm without being brittle in any spot, which is a good sign that my taco is going to stay together. The construction of the inner ingredients of the taco itself was a notch above most breakfast tacos, too. The eggs weren't as fluffy as the scrambled goodness at Leal's or Lolita's, but they were mixed in with the other warm ingredients (for my order, sausage/chorizo and cheese). Consequently, the eggs themselves soaked up all the delicious flavors of the other ingredients. I don't think I ever got a bite of just egg.
Crowning my heaps of perfection was El Crucero's pico de gallo, which had the distinct look and taste of homemade pico, straight out of El Crucero's kitchen. I felt like the pico could have marinated a bit longer to soak up more of the vinegar and the flavors of the other ingredients, but it was so fresh tasting and the seed-laden bits of jalapeño were spicy enough that it really didn't matter.
The portions are more than enough here. Both of my tacos were stuffed to the edge of the tortilla. Best of all? My two breakfast tacos and a coke came out to a little over $5. I left full and happy.
The friendly lady who worked at the counter brought me two salsas in squirt bottles to go with my tacos. The first was a fairly ordinary mild red salsa. I could taste a faint onion flavor, but mostly, it was too mild and tomatoey for me. The second was a creamy pale green salsa that was adequately spicy and produced a nice, gentle burn in my mouth. It looked and tasted like a jalapeno sauce, but whatever it was, it was delicious. I really enjoyed having the salsas on the table in squirt bottles, too, because if they had been in smaller little cups, I probably would have had to ask for more. With the squirt bottles, all I had to do was resist the urge to squirt the green salsa directly into my mouth. (It was that good.)
If you're looking for ambiance, go elsewhere, or pull up to the drive-thru window and find a good place to have a picnic elsewhere. This is a taco stand in every sense of the word. It appears to be a converted house with a small dining room in what was once a living room. The floors seemed a little messy by the time I passed by for a late lunch, but that could've been as much of a byproduct of the gravel parking lot as anything else. The fact that it was a damp day made it look like Rick James's shoes (of Chappelle Show fame, of course) had their way with my car's floormats after I ate here. Look, you're not there to stare at the booths or the parking lot--you're there to eat some tacos. And these are some serious tacos.
