I was a little afraid that moving to Alaska meant embracing majestic mountain views and waving a sad goodbye to good Mexican food. After living in Mexico as a teen and spending the last several years in a town where it is easier to find a good taco than a good burger, this was to be a sad farewell indeed. Of course every change in life involves sacrifice along with the blessings, but after eating at Señor Taco, I have one less sacrifice to go along with expensive milk and mammal sized mosquitoes. As the old saying goes, I can have my scenery and eat my taco too. Or what was that saying?

As you enter Señor Taco, you are greeted by a fairly typical fast food restaurant dressed up with south-of-the-border décor. The menu is divided into three primary sections: tacos, burritos and house specialties. The specialties include horchata, a must-try cinnamon rice drink, and pozolé, an authentic Mexican soup made with hominy, pork, and a variety of vegetable garnishes and dating back to before the first Spaniards graced Mexican soil. I decided to order the carne asada burrito. This is just one of several meat options including some more unusual ones such as tongue meat. Carne asada, literally “roasted meat”, is lightly seasoned grilled steak.

When my burrito arrived (in no more than five minutes) it filled my plate and was garnished with lettuce and pico de gallo. Then came the best part, just across from the counter, where you place your order, is the salsa bar, where I indulged in some traditional Cuban dancing. No, no, not that kind of salsa bar. At this salsa bar you will find half a dozen different salsas in varying levels of painfulness, and several other flavor options such as lime, cilantro and crema (Mexican sour cream). I loved all of the salsas, but my favorites were an avocado based green salsa and a cabbage pico do gallo. The burritos are simple, made with marinated meat in a flour tortilla, and topped with a red sauce, but the flavor is perfect, and with all of the different salsas, you can have a different experience at every meal (I have had three distinctively delicious experiences thus far). The horchata was delicious and the only drawback was that I had finished it off long before my burrito was gone. The burritos are priced at $7.95 and I left full and happy. The atmosphere is far from five star, but given the flavor and quantity of the food and the reasonable price, Señor Taco is a delicious option for your next lunch in the valley.

Well it’s named after a fish and it’s a bar and grill, and you can find it downtown next to city hall. Humpy’s has good burgers and good fries, so it’s worth the trip. Since it is a bar and grill, it looks and feels like a bar and grill, it’s very broken in, worn out, and dark. It’s a bit bigger than it looks like from the outside. Though it is worth a visit and the food is good, it can be a pretty busy place on weekend nights and they have a lot of nighttime events throughout the week, so if your not looking to do the bar thing, then maybe lunch is a better time to enjoy their food. If you are looking to do the “bar thing”, then evenings are the best time to be there.