Northern Connecticut has been busting open with taco restaurants these past few months.
Many of them were former taco trucks making the move to brick and mortar.
Fogata is one of the newer taco places in Hartford.
Thankfully, the tacos can be purchased one at a time.
Meaning, we could basically try them all.
Pollo
Off to the worst of starts, something is wrong with this chicken taco.
There is an extremely off-putting taste here.
Kind of like dirt, or worms.
Maybe it was an off day?
Other than that, the tacos are all double shelled and the shells are very thick for their size.
Also impossible to pull apart meaning what you taste most is shell.
Unless the meat is real powerful.
The Rating: Pollo taco
4/10
Carne asada
No powerful meat here.
The beef is dry and way overcooked.
Everything is lite on flavor, meaning you are most tasting the double-thick shell.
The Rating: Carne Asada taco
5.5/10
Bistec taco
Hopefully we start seeing some stronger flavors.
Here, the beef is nice but there is so little of it.
There is also grilled onions which start to overpower everything else.
Everything but these two, thick, cemented-together, shells.
The Rating: Bistec taco
6/10
Pastor taco
Here we start to see some movement on the tacos.
Remember, tacos are basically a meat delivery vehicle.
So much of the dominant flavor should be meat.
With the pastor we start to see that.
The pork has a decent flavor to it (if the meat is a little tough).
There is also a heavy pineapple and raw onion.
Good overall.
The Rating: Pastor taco
6.5/10
Carnitas
Carnitas is pulled pork with (ideally) charred edges.
Here we have the beast taco at Fogata.
The pulled pork is really allowed to shine as the dominant flavor.
It is a bit gamey, so be aware if you are sensitive to that flavor.
But good overall.
The Rating: Carnitas taco
6.5/10
Address: 580 Farmington Ave, Hartford, CT 06106
Hours: Open everyday 11am to 8pm