Chando's Doesn't Sell Crispy Fried Tacos - the Search Continues!

South Sac Blog has been searching for the best crispy fried tacos in South Sacramento.  We've been to Super Taco, Taco Fresco Burgers & Fries, and we even strayed into Elk Grove to check out Flakos and Chevys.  Today we resumed our search here in South Sac to see what Chando's Tacos on Power Inn offers.  Concerning crispy fried tacos, the answer is: nothing.  But don't let that discourage you from going to Chando's for their delicious street-style tacos and other items.

When I was growing up, my dear Mother, who was Mexican-American, made tacos by stuffing the corn tortilla with the filling and then frying the entire thing in a skillet.  The tortilla was crispy on the outside, but a little soft on the inside having soaked up the juices from the meat.  Yes, it may have been just a little oily, but that only added to the incredible flavor.  The sad thing is that I have not been able to find any crispy tacos like that sold in restaurants or taquerias.  Well, except for one place.  Cactus Taqueria down in Berkeley offers incredible crispy fried tacos that sets the standard.  My mission is to find similar tacos here in South Sac.

Taco Fresco Burgers & Fries took the early lead in my search with its crispy shrimp and fish tacos.  They actually make their own corn tortillas fresh and fry them just for you.  Their tortillas puff up a little when fried and are simply amazing.  I'm not even sure if Cactus Taqueria makes its own tortillas!

Enough small talk.  Chando's certainly makes the best filling for its tacos than any place I have sampled so far in South Sac.  You can read about the different meat fillings here, and Chando's history here.  When we were there they were grilling the meat outside.

Here's my three tacos below with chicken, carnitas, and carne asada; all with cilantro, onions, and salsa:

But those are in their soft corn tortillas - not fried.  And since I m searching for crispy fried tacos, there's no point in going further.  I did order a tostada just to fill my crunch craving.  I had the carne asada and you can see they don't skimp on the meat:

Yes, we got the delicious super nachos, too:

The nice thing about the super nachos is that the meat and cheese is layered between different rows of chips, not just all dumped on top. 

Anyway, Chando's isn't in the running for the best cripsy fried taco in South Sac.  So the search continues.  Where to go next?

Chevys "Fresh Mex" Doesn't Apply to their Crispy Tacos

Time for another crispy taco review!

I was talked into going to Chevys Fresh Mex down in Elk Grove on Laguna.  Well, as long as I was there, I decided to sample their crispy tacos as part of South Sac Blog's Search for the Best Crispy Tacos.  I wish I hadn't. 

To be the best, a crispy fried taco must be, well, freshly fried.  The crunchy taco at Chevys isn't freshly fried for you.  It tastes like a step up from Taco Bell's hard shell taco.  So much so that I asked the waiter if the taco shells were made fresh there, or taken out of the box.  He admitted they were prepackaged.  How this can be sold at a restaurant that claims it is "Fresh Mex" is beyond me.  If you went to a grocery store and saw two kinds of boxed taco shells, one cheap, and the other costing a little more, I think what I ate would be from the box costing a little more.  A little better quality, but hey, still out of a box. 

I ordered the two combo dinner with a crunchy beef taco and tamale - that comes with rice and beans as shown below.  The price for that plate is about $13 as I recall.  You can get better deals at smaller taquerias in South Sac. 

Notice the crack in my taco as it came out:

You would think who ever spooned in the filling would have noticed that and prepared another shell.  So much for quality control.

Another thing that bothered me about the taco was the lack of meat in the filling.  Take a look:

What you see stuffed inside the taco is mostly the lettuce, tomato and onions.  Very little meat as you can really see from the picture below:

I won't be ordering crunchy tacos at Chevys again.  I would rate what I ordered slightly below the hard shell taco at Super Tacos.  That's because there wasn't much filling inside. 

But I would order some other things.  For instance I've always enjoyed Chevys' chili rellenos.  I also enjoy the salsa that comes with the chips and salsa. 

The bottom line is this:  In the search for the best crispy taco in South Sac, Taco Fresco Burgers & Fries is still Numero Uno! 

Where to next?

Vineyard Community Planning Advisory Council Meets June 7, 2016

The South Sacramento "Vineyard Community Planning Advisory Council" will meet on Tuesday, June 7, 2016 at 7:00 p.m., at:

Heritage Peak Charter School
8065 Elk Grove-Florin Road, Suite 160
Sacramento, CA 95829

The agenda is here. 

 

The Game of Life and How to Play It – Chapter 2

By Amber (supreme happiness) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

So I began reading an old classic, entitled, The Game ofLife and How to Play It, by Florence Scovel Shinn.  It’s a kind of self-help book written in 1925.  In Chapter 1, Shinn mentions that most of us take life to be a struggle, or “battle.”  But she says that is untrue.  Life is a game, with rules.  But those rules are not taught at home or in school.  Yet learning these rules is essential if you want to experience true happiness and success.

As I did before, I provide notice here that Shinn was a Christian spiritualist, who quoted from the Bible to make her points.  I provide those Biblical references in these reviews. 

The first rule, taken from Chapter 1, is that life is a game of giving and receiving.  But the game originates in your mind.  You must learn to see clearly in your mind your goals and the good you would like to accomplish.  This includes removing all mental images of negativity, or evil.   In other words, learn how to visualize yourself achieving your goals.  You can read my review of Chapter 1 here.  Since The Game of Life was  first published in 1925, a lot has been written about the power of visualization.  You can find numerous sources on the internet, and many other books on the subject. 

In Chapter 2, Shinn introduces us to the “Law of Prosperity.”  All of the things we receive do not originate from our employers or the government, but from God.  God is the ultimate supplier of everything that is good.  God is our supply, and this is true for every situation or need.  If you look around South Sacramento, however, you will undoubtedly notice that many people do not have all that they want, or even all that they need.  There is lack, limitation, poverty, and unhappiness.  So is Shinn wrong?

Shinn’s answer would be that lack occurs when people don’t apply the correct Biblical principles to prayer.  It is true that Jesus is quoted in the Bible as saying: "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”  Matthew 7:7.   But Shinn reminds us that Jesus gave specific direction for how to ask.  She quotes Matthew 21:22:

“And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.”

Here then is another rule for the Game of Life.  When you ask for something in prayer, you must believe that you already received it.  If you can’t truly believe it, you can act like you already received it.  You can do this by taking actions of preparing for the outcome.  If you pray for success, but prepare for the worst as if that is what you actually expect, you will likely experience failure.  You should visualize yourself actually receiving your good.  Utilize your feeling nature, too.  How would you feel if you received a promotion?  How would you feel if you made that great sale?  How would you feel if you won a competition?  Can you feel that way although the good has not yet materialized?

Prepare for whatever it is that you ask for, regardless of the outward appearances!  Ignore thoughts that you have no idea how your goal will be accomplished, or how you will receive the good that is your divine right.  Leave that up to the universe.   Shinn provides another Biblical reference.   

“Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.”  John 4:35.

Shinn closes with another Bible verse:

“Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.”  Matthew 18:19. 

Shinn explains that you may get too involved with your affairs and not think clearly, or become discouraged.  Therefore you may want to confide in someone about your prayers and goals.  That person should be one who you trust, and believes in your potential.  A kind of prayer partner, or spiritual advisor.  That person will help you when your faith begins to waiver.

I’m keeping this review short, because the chapters and the entire book are short.  The two primary rules for playing the game of life we have learned so far are these:  1) Visualize your goals and remove all mental images of doubt and failure from your mind; and 2) when you pray, believe that your prayers have been answered, and prepare for that outcome.

Shall we give it a try?    

The Game of Life and How to Play It - Chapter 1

By Camdiluv ♥ from Concepción, CHILE - Colours, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19871961

So someone recommended a book to me called, The Game of Life and How to Play It, by Florence Scovel Shinn.  It was first published in 1925.  It has been republished many times and is available on Amazon – new and used – for just a few dollars.

According to Wikipedia, Shinn was an American artist and book illustrator who became a spiritual teacher and metaphysical writer.  Shinn expressed her philosophy as:

The invisible forces are ever working for man who is always ‘pulling the strings’ himself, though he does not know it. Owing to the vibratory power of words, whatever man voices, he begins to attract.

So according to Shinn, life is a game.  But most of us just never learn the rules.  That’s why people are depressed, live in poverty, and never realize their full potential.

The book is a short and easy read.  The edition I purchased from Amazon is only 77 pages.  So I’ll quickly review the chapters as I read them.

Being a spiritualist, Shinn quotes from the Bible quite a bit, particularly teachings attributed to Jesus Christ.  So be prepared.

In Chapter 1, Shinn asserts that Jesus Christ taught that life was a great game of Giving and Receiving.  I thought instantly of the Golden Rule:  “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”  Matt. 7:12.  She cites Galatians 6:7:  “[W]hatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”

From these principles we learn that if you hate, you will receive hate.  If you lie, you will be lied to.  If you judge others, then you will be judged.  So to play the Game of Life well, practice kindness to others, love one another, be truthful, thoughtful, considerate, and give generously.

Shinn takes the Golden Rule one step further.  She writes that it is not just your actions that count, but your thoughts and imaginations.   In other words, what you think will eventually manifest in the material world.  Imagine suffering, and you will see suffering, maybe even experience it.  Think about germs and getting sick, and you are likely to come down with a cold.  Think about crime, and you are likely to get robbed.

So to play the Game of Life, you must train your mind to image only good things – health, wealth, love, friends, joy, the expression of your highest ideas.  Shinn explains that your mind has three departments:  the subconscious, the conscious, and the superconscious.

The subconscious mind is like a machine or computer that does everything it is programmed to do.  Program it for failure, and you will fail at what you set out to do.  It is programmed by your deep emotions and what you clearly image.  I might add that our subconscious minds are being programmed all the time by what we think, feel, watch on TV, etc.

The conscious mind is what you use to perceive the physical world.  Your conscious mind does not ordinarily see truth, but the illusion of the world presented to you as sickness and lack.

The superconscious mind is God’s mind within you.  You can recognize this mind in you when you have great ideas that seem unattainable, or too good to be true.   Then your ego (which is not you) may kick in to tell you why that goal is impossible for you.  For instance because you are unworthy, too stupid, too poor, or other reasons.

To begin aligning yourself with the superconscious, or God’s mind and purpose, you can reject the ego and maintain those lofty ideas and images in your mind.  Instead of telling yourself why something is impossible, tell yourself mentally and out loud that it is possible, and that it is occurring right now!  

Shinn quotes Mathew 7:7:  “Ask, and it shall be given you, seek, and ye shall find, knock, and it shall be opened unto you.”  

So the first rule of the Game of Life is to see clearly in your mind your goal and the good you would like to accomplish, and remove all mental images of negativity, or evil.  Shinn ends with an affirmation on the last page of Chapter 1, which I can’t quote because of copyright laws.  The purpose of the affirmation is to make your subconscious mind do a data-dump of the negative programmed thoughts in it right now.  You’ll just have to pick up a copy of the book to get the affirmation.

So I wish I knew a study group interested in spending a couple of weeks getting together to discuss this book and put Shinn’s ideas into practice.  Since I don’t, I’ll just study it by myself and summarize the chapters.  

I’m imagining good things for South Sac and everyone that works and resides here.  I hope you are too.

Galt Strawberry Festival

The South Sac Crew ventured to Galt for the Strawberry Festival today - just a few minutes from South Sac down on Hwy 99.  We didn't find many strawberries, but we did find lots of tacos, corn dogs, and even Spiritual Enlightenment.

There were rows and rows of food vendors.

Corn Dogs

Funnel Cakes

Meat being grilled

A few stands with Strawberry goods - but not many

Lots of stands selling soft tacos (but not crispy fried)

 Corn on the cob (it was there a minute ago)

A Classic Car show - here are the two winners in my opinion

One booth even offered us Spiritual Enlightenment

All in all, not a bad way to spend a couple of dollars.  Admission was $6.00 at the door for adults. The weather was great - partly cloudy and mild.  I was surprised that there wasn't a lot of strawberry related items, but there was lots of other food.  There were some rides for your kids, too.

Now we're waiting for the next set to start.

Yes, Another Cool South Sac Bike Commute Video

Is it still Bike Month?

Here's a cool video from YouTube (taken with permission) showing a morning bike commute in the wee early hours.  Up Power Inn Road if I am not mistaken.

Keep them coming!