My friends I took a trip out to Daytona Beach some time ago to relax and get away from the day to day. When we arrived in town after a 2 1/2 hour trip we were all hungry and I was a little disappointed when I saw nothing but chains and fast food on International Speedway Boulevard (the main road leading to the beach). I took out my phone and used Yelp to find Tia Cori’s Tacos. Yelp reviewers described Tia’s as “affordable”, “authentic”, and ” the best tacos on the East coast”. Being the Mexican food connoisseur that I am, I had to investigate.
Once we parked we found ourselves on a strip of restaurants and shops. The palm trees, blue skies, and ocean breeze certainly created that beach town vibe. We were surprised to find that Tia Cori’s was actually aesthetically pleasing with outdoor seating to the street and plenty of tables and booths inside. The cashier greeted us upon our entry and happily answered any questions we had about the menu. I decided to order their burrito ($7.00) and also a taco made both Mexican and American style ($2.00). I accompanied my order with an horchata ($2.00) with unlimited free refills!
The chips tasted great. They were warm and toasty. The texture can be seen in the photography above. The chips were different from your typical tortilla chips and I actually felt a connection to the chips of Mema’s Alaskan Tacos here. The horchata I had tasted great and wasn’t too milky. The consistency of horchata is important. If the drink is too milky or watery, then it makes your throat close up, but this horchata was made just right.
The burrito was quite large as you can see. I probably would have been satisfied with just the burrito if I wasn’t trying to fully explore the menu during my visit. Well-made, the burrito maintained its structure during my meal.
The burrito was slightly more expensive than the burritos you can buy in Tampa, but to include all the ingredients inside this burrito you would normally pay far more for this kind of burrito. This carne asada burrito included beans and rice, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream and avocado as default ingredients. I did not have to pay 50 cents or $3.00 more to try and add ingredients that should be the standard in a burrito, which is one of my biggest complaints about Mexican food in Tampa Bay. Indeed, if you are given the opportunity to eat burritos in California, many of these ingredients are the standard and I applaud Tia Cori’s Tacos on their inclusion of them.
My taco was great and although some people might mention that I mixed American and Mexican ingredients together, it still created a delicious carne asada taco. The lime added some moisture to the meat and the flavor of the carne asada really came through with the hard shell taco. The flavor of the meat was a little masked in the burrito with all the other ingredients and the taco allowed me to enjoy the meat thoroughly. Everything tasted fresh.
My friend ordered their tamale, which looked very appetizing. I would like to try it on a future visit. My friend was very satisfied with it.
The Mexican style taco includes onions, cilantro & lime and is 50 cents cheaper than the American style which includes lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, and sour cream.
Their tostada ($3.50) includes a choice of meat and beans, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream and avocado. Again the inclusion of avocado is something I was quite pleased to see during my visit to Tia Cori’s.
Overall, I was really impressed with Tia Cori’s Tacos and began to wish this place was closer to home. They are open until 10PM on weekdays and 3AM on Friday and Saturday nights and I don’t think any future visit to Daytona Beach would be complete with stopping by here and trying something on the menu. Tia Cori’s Tacos was oddly enough one of the most memorable parts of my trip to Daytona Beach.
Restaurant: Tia Cori’s Tacos
Cuisine: Mexican
Address: 214 North Beach Street Daytona Beach, FL 32114
Phone Number: (386) 947-4333
Website: http://www.tiacoristacos.com/
Carlos Eats 