What is better than one lunch? How about TWO lunches?!?! That’s right – this piece is technically a sequel to the piece I wrote a couple of weeks ago about the creativity of the mad geniuses at Daddy’s Dogs. What can I say? It was a hell of a day. We had nowhere to be…nothing to do…it was blissful. So, yes. I sat at the Daddy’s Dogs bar at The Factory in Franklin, ate a hot dog that had peanut butter, maple syrup, and bacon on it. I drank a cold Yazoo Dos Perros with it. And then, we got up and decided to have more food when we stumbled upon Mojo’s Tacos (spoiler alert: we visited Five Daughters Bakery afterwards, but saved the donuts for the following morning).
The first thing I noticed about the menu was just how diverse it was. I mean…there’s some real artful combination of ingredients here. They had your standard fare as far as tacos go, of course. But, there were plenty of outside-the-box options. We were feeling particularly adventurous…or at the very least, we were in the mood to try something different. So, we landed on these four tacos (descriptions courtesy of the Mojo’s Tacos menu):
- The “puffy” – Barbacoa, queso, guacamole, cilantro, onion.
- Korean cauliflower – Gochujang sauce, ginger slaw, toasted sesame seeds, Mojo’s sauce.
- Hot chicken – Hand-breaded chicken tender, chipotle slaw, poblano sauce.
- Green chili cheeseburger – Smashed Bear Creek Farm beef patty, rajas, American cheese, Morita sauce.
Our plan was to just grab a few to sample. We’d take a nice quiet moment to sit and enjoy one another’s company and take in this plate of tacos. However, we were quite surprised when the food arrived. We vastly underrated the size of these things. I mean, usually when it comes to ‘bang for your buck,’ what you get when you pay the type of prices that Mojo’s Tacos sets is scant. They certainly provide value for your dollar, and our eyes widened when we saw just how stuffed these tacos were.
Normally, something like this means that my wife is going to do her best and then I’m going to have to end up eating five pounds of food so it doesn’t go to waste. But, I’ll say that in this instance, it was a level of pain I didn’t mind one bit.
These tacos were bursting with flavor. From the fresh beef on the Green chili cheeseburger taco to the saucy sweet and spicy combo of the Korean cauliflower taco, this plate absolutely delivered. The rich, deep flavor of the barbacoa balanced with with the puffy shell of “the puffy” made for the anchor of our meal. It was the bite I could take to cool off from the heat of the other tacos we got, and it made for quite a nice textural experience as well. I’m a huge hot chicken fan, and Mojo’s does it right with a searing heat complemented with savory flavor and a generous serving of slaw to help keep the fires tamed. I came away from that lunch appreciating the craft of combining those ingredients to make something special. It was the same feeling you get when you stroll through an art museum….when you turn on some classical music at the end of a long hard day…when you read something that deeply affects you. It was art….just stuffed inside a shell at a fun restaurant. It’s hard to imagine a better way to spend an afternoon.
For more on Mojo’s Tacos, check out their website here.
Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network, second on Football & Other F Words, analyst for Stacking The Inbox, and a Dogs Playing Poker on velvet connoisseur. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD, #BeBetter, and ‘Minds right, asses tight.’ “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, the NFL Draft, Nashville, Yankee Candle, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley.
Elsewhere on the SoBros Network: Check out Stacking The Inbox for premium coverage of the Tennessee Titans and NFL Draft. Subscribe to Nashville Movie Dispatch for all of our movie content. We get weird on Phone It In, the history podcast that explores legendary tales, important historical figures, and events.
