On the Yahara A-Z

I.

Isthmus taco joint. Tex Tubbs Taco Palace on Atwood Avenue is the kind of place you'd like to call your home taco spot. Part of the Food Fight Restaurant Group in Madison, Tex's, on famed Atwood St., is located right next door to the unique One Barrel Brewery just down the road from the original location of the first Food Fight establishment.  Each of the Food Fight Group locations that I have visited anyway have shown a similarly inviting stylish thematic: they all have an older, retro foundation but with a new facelift both structurally and to the menu.  Tex Tubbs could just as well be an old dive joint, but it is refurnished in appealing decor and topped by cool signage.

This seems to fit well the Madison food ethic where glossy or corporate is avoided for the sake of independence and quality; in the case of Food Fight, also an improved employee benefit program, including profit sharing.  Tex's is unlike most other taco shops, then, that serve a sort of standard and limited menu. Here there are upwards of 20 taco types, good homemade black beans, and a cabbage

radish slaw for starters.  I tried the Talapia Tacos topped by guacamole, chipotle sour cream, black bean puree and pickled red onions...

all the while sipping on the wonderful Little Sister Witbier, a Belgian style wheat with citrus and

spices from Door County Brewing which stood up perfectly well to the fish and starch of the soft shell tacos.  Tex's is easily bikable from Riverside Drive and conveniently next door to One Barrel...and not far from Next Door Brewery.