There used to be some local Mexican restaurant housed in what I think was an old Shari's at 7800 South and Redwood Road in West Jordan that featured “deep fried Twinkies” on the marquee. The building was demolished and replaced with a new strip mall building. One of the tenants is Utah’s first Taco Del Mar. I know this is Utah’s first Taco Del Mar because it says so on the surf board hanging on the wall inside. 

James Schmidt debuted Taco Del Mar (the name was borrowed from California's famous Del Mar racetrack) with his brother John on Seattle's Pier 57 in 1992, featuring a simple menu of tacos and what they used to call "Mission-style burritos" (named for San Francisco's Mission district) but what they now call "Mondo burritos". I call them "$5 Burritos". It took a relocation to get the business going, but once it did, things went well. Four locations were open in 1994. Taco Del Mar tried a jump-start expansion on the other coast with units in Boston, but ended up closing them and becoming a Northwest chain again for several years. Expansion has since been done in a more migratory fashion eastward using "Master Franchise" agreements where somebody agrees to develop a territory, then sells franchise agreements for a share of the royalties. Most of the master franchisees are veteran Subway operators attracted by the new concept and relatively low startup costs. Taco Del Mar has also tested co-branding with Skipper's. 

The decor is Surf/Baja. There's a table just off the counter with a straw umbrella hanging overhead. There's a bar-style table made in the shape of a surf board. The paint is blue and yellow with some wood and other colors (including a mural of sorts) mixed in. There's a faux corrugated metal roof/awning hanging over the order area. Taco Del Mar allows a bit of leeway in franchisee interpretation of what a "Baja" decor looks like, so your mileage may vary. 

The layout is formula $5 Burrito joint. Order your item, dictate what's in it, pay, put a tip in the jar (which at this location is labeled "Official Taco Del Mar 401K Employee Plan" or something along that line) and chow down. 

Smiling Counter Girl asks what I would like, and I say “I have no idea.” Smiling Counter Girl immediately becomes “She Who Talks Far Too Fast” as she goes over the whole drill. I’m familiar enough to know the drill so her rapid-fire presentation becomes background fodder while I investigate the menu and the bins full of stuff. The stuff includes real taco meat and refried beans. I also spy hard corn taco shells. This could be Qdoba good!  

In the dizziness that goes with reading any new menu, I see a big red “Our Specialty” sign standing out on the menu board. It’s a Super Fish Burrito, made from breaded Alaskan cod. I order it. I have to pick between, oh, like, five different tortillas. I remember flour, wheat, and spinach. I choose flour. “Fish items take five minutes. Is this okay?” says other Smiling Counter Girl.  

Of course it is. But as a matter of personal policy, I also must order a hard shell beef taco, and I do, for the ridiculous price of $1.89. One of the girls says “I can make that a combo for you for 30 cents more, and substitute the taco for the chips.” This also apparently gets me a medium drink. Upon inspection of the receipt later, I actually ended up paying less for the whole meal than the advertised menu price of the burrito. Go figure.  

So I have my taco immediately. It is no bigger than any other fast food taco, but it is full-service restaurant quality and quite tasty. Not $1.89 tasty, but I didn’t pay that much anyway. The taco had the beef (a bit smoky but much juicier than Qdoba’s), lettuce, cheese, and my choice of a mild, medium, or hot salsa. I chose medium. And medium was about as perfect as it could have been on the spice level. It was spicy, but not too spicy. I was impressed.  

But nothing impressed me like the Super Fish Burrito, which arrived about the time I was finishing the taco. WOW. This was awesome, even with refried beans stuffed in. The taste of the fish was obvious and flavorful, then there was this sauce that…well…oh JUST GO HAVE ONE. OR THREE. mmmmmm. three.

If you don't want fish, you can have your burrito or taco made with ground beef, pork, or chicken. There's black beans, pinto beans, or refried beans. There's a choice of salsas. I already said that. Like the other Fresh-Mex suspects, they offer nachos, quesadillas, a taco salad, and a burrito in a bowl. Mexican food has a very "parts bin" mentality to it. 

Taco Del Mar wraps their burritos in aluminum foil and has instructions on the wall to “peel” the foil as you eat it (the burrito, not the foil moron) otherwise it will end up in your lap. Wife #1 thinks they should issue the same warning at all $5 burrito joints.

One of the problems with these master franchise deals and radical growth (the chain increased its size by 2/3 in 2005) is that quality and service can stray a bit. And I've experienced that first-hand. It can make success harder to come by too. "Utah's first Taco Del Mar" was closed a year after I first entered the door. 

I wonder who got that surf board.

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