Tonny’s:

I was a few hundred yards from Tonny’s as I started to read about it on Chowhound. The pure Mexican food diet I have been on was starting to wear on Nat, but so was the lack of food in her stomach. She begrudgingly agreed to go to Tonny’s. From the looks of the place I was starting to question the choice myself. It’s one thing to be a grimy taco shack, but it’s another to be an empty, dirty restaurant.

As we sat down, I noticed the non dairy creamer on the table, which was a first for me in a Mexican restaurant. I was craving carnitas and Nat was craving hard shell tacos. Once I found out the hard shell taco came with cheese, sour cream, and guacamole, I started to crave one too. Cheese, guacamole, and sour cream are the holy trinity of Mexican toppings and make me weak in the knees.

The hard shell taco was made with a fresh corn tortilla and was the best hard shell taco I have ever had. My past experiences with hard shells are either store bought, Taco Bell, Jack in the Box, or tacos dorados where both filling and shell are deep fried together. None of these really sold me on the joys of the hard shell taco. But Tonny’s changed my outlook.  The shell was light and crispy and didn’t fall apart with each bite. My only complaint is the taco was overstuffed with fillings so you couldn’t get it all in your mouth at one time. Things could be a lot worse.

I accompanied my hard shell taco with a carne asada and carnitas soft taco. The tortillas were of the smaller variety akin to the ones I have been seeing on taco trucks. Again, amazing. The guacamole on top was almost flavorless but added a nice creaminess to each bite. The carne asada outshone the carnitas in both flavor and tenderness. I like my carnitas to be on the moist side and with bigger chunks of meat. I am not down with little deep fried bits of gristle.

As we were getting ready to pay the bill, two hispanic men sat down to eat. One had a tear drop tattooed below his left eye and was talking on a cell phone. His conversation was about the guy on the other line beating his federal prison sentence. This got me thinking what Tonny’s was like when it was open 24 hours, as opposed to now closing at 8pm.

If you are in Pasadena, go to Tonny’s for hard shell tacos.