Taco Grande

What's it like?

Taco Grande is one of my favorite spots in Fresno for absolutely delicious tortas.  The bread is fresh and soft, the chicken is saucy and flavorful, the avocado is always ripe and delicious, and instead of mayo they use crema, which is just delightful.  An absolutely delicious sandwich made even more delicious with their spicy red sauce.  Hubby prefers the green sauce, but I think the red is the best. 

Hubby oftentimes gets the grande corn quesadillas, which the owner would make for himself for lunch, but became popular with customers.  They take a fresh corn tortilla and slap it on the grill.  A little cheese is melted on it, then your choice of meat is laid on top of the cheese.  Hubby prefers the carnitas.  Then the freshly cut avocado is put on top of that.  Hubby will drown it in the green sauce.  And you have the perfect little bite, a little char taste from the grilled corn quesadilla, with the melty cheese and the crispy carnitas and the fatty taste of the avocado.  All finished off with the tangy sauce. 

They also have breakfast burritos.  I get the veggie one and hubby gets the chile colorado, which he thinks is one of the better chile colorados he's had.  The burritos are huge and made to order.  Highly recommended.

The tacos at Taco Grande actually won first place at the now-defunct Taco Festival that was held in Fresno.  To me, the tacos are delicious but not really tacos.  They are almost like burritos.  They have a ton of meat in them and also come with beans.  Now that I think about it, Don Pepe's also serves their tacos with beans.  I wonder if it is a paticular style of taco? 

Taco Grande also has various plates and burrritos as well as a taco salad and a variation of nachos.  The space itself is pretty small, with two four-seat booths and four two-seat booths.  There is also outside seating overlooking the scenic parking lot :).  The place is kept spotless and the staff is friendly and will explain the menu to you.

There are four Taco Grande's in town, all owned locally.  The one I go to is the Pinedale location, which is what I will give directions for, but the website has all four locations.