The past few years have turned Louisville into a taco lover’s dream, as more and more restaurants serving tacos have opened. Over a dozen Louisville businesses have established themselves as taco titans, filling long stretches of Louisville roads with the delicious wafting scent of charred meat and freshly made tortillas.
I wouldn’t say that I’m a connoisseur or anything, but I’ve a deep love of food that has recently reached its apex, as I’ve come to appreciate the amazing fare that Louisville has to offer – it’s best and most widespread example, the taco.
In the coming weeks, we will embark on a great pilgrimage together, finding the best tacos across the city and stuffing our faces without guilt. Welcome to Taco Tuesdays.
The first stop on the Taco Tuesday trail is Coconut Beach Tacos and Cerveza (2787 S. Floyd St.), for their $2 carnitas taco. There are few phrases sweeter than “two dollar tacos.” Coconut Beach is another Martinez masterpiece (the team also responsible for the deliciousness that is Guaca Mole, El Taco Luchador, Cena and Mussel & Burger Bar). I do not exaggerate when I tell you that this restaurant altered the way I live my life on a base level. The good food, low prices and proximity to U of L have fundamentally changed me.
No more will I drive through the local Taco Bell on my way home to satisfy my hunger, only to regret it later. No more will I look into a sad fast food taco, wishing that I were staring into more than a slop of red-tinted grease and strings of lettuce. The $2 tacos at Coconut Beach have saved me from that life. From now on, I eat like the sophisticated, middle-class-reformed hipster that I aspire to be, without the consequences of a late night run through the drive-thru.
Coconut Beach’s carnitas taco is a vision of crispy pork, cilantro, crema, pickled onions and queso fresco on a fluffy tortilla. Eating one of these tacos makes me feel the same way I feel when I ace a test I didn’t study for; when I have enough cash to fill my gas tank to full; when I get all the groceries inside the house in one trip. It is a special kind of satisfying. It is glorious.
The glory of the carnitas taco shouldn’t detract from the rest of the food at Coconut Beach. There are plenty of taco options (all $2 each!), even for vegetarians. There is a dish called especialidades ($7-12) that is basically a quesadilla piled high with delicious meat and veggies. There are appetizers, salads, burritos, tortas and sides to keep you coming back to this place over and over until you fall into a blissful coma.
Come back next Taco Tuesday to read about my next pick, a spot you wouldn’t think of as a taco place. If you have a taco or taqueria suggestion, please leave it in the comments! Happy Taco Tuesday.
