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tesg's guide to big chain road food consumption
CHAIN -- Taco
Cabana So Felix Stehling needs parking at his highly popular Crystal Pistol bar/restaurant (I'm not sure which it was), and there's an abandoned Dairy Queen across the street. So he buys it. Then he decides to run a taco stand on the property as well. But the patio furniture is stolen the first night of business. So he keeps the place open 24 hours to keep the patio furniture from being stolen again. And a chain is born. Taco Cabana took off, went public, went private again, and is today a "slightly-above-fast-food" fast-food Tex-Mex chain owned by Carrol's Corporation, once a thriving burger chain that ultimately gave up on the Carrol's brand and converted them all into Burger King franchises. We can only hope the same fate won't come to Taco Cabana...that one day we'll drive by and find a "Taco Bell" sign or something on the building. The brand has experimented with locations outside its core market territory, but all but a single Atlanta store have closed. Of the 146 stores open at the end of 2006, 137 were in Texas. Still, Carrol's continues to explore the idea of expanding Taco Cabana outside of Texas. Taco Cabana hypes their patio extensively. Older locations featured a rounded wall in the dining area that had garage doors that doubled as windows. Open them up and you have an open air patio. Newer locations have gone more traditional, though, adding covered patio seating outside of the dining area instead. Most locations have a 24-hour drive-thru. Taco Cabana features an extensive menu of typical Mexican fare...tacos, burritos, enchiladas, quesadillas, fajitas, and nachos. There's also rotisserie chicken. Sauces, shells and tortillas are made on site...some locations have a tortilla oven visible to patrons where you can watch dough become fresh warm flour tortillas. The salsa bar has a nice selection of salsas, pico, lemons, limes...yes, it's lovely. It reminds you more of full-service Mexican quality than you would think. That's only augmented by the availability of beer and margaritas. But even diehard fans admit quality vaires by location, and that's hurt the chain, especially outside of Texas. Taco Cabana's restauarant locater on their website is completely worthless. Taco Cabana is a great concept. Those with one near, enjoy it. The rest will have to come to you.
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