El Taco Loco Mexican Taqueria (Sturgis)
105 S. Maple SteetOne of the weird things I miss about the pandemic is driving to job assignments by myself. I would usually take advantage of being alone and stop to grab food at out of the ordinary restaurants, gas stations, convenience stores, etc. I still usually stop for a Pepsi when I have a colleague with me but I don’t always feel like justifying why I want this crappy pizza or just ok chicken for lunch.
I had to make a trip to Sturgis by myself a couple of weeks ago. I love going to Sturgis because there are so many delicious taco places in Sturgis. I probably would have stopped even if I had someone with me, but being able to go in, ask for 5 tacos without looking at a menu, and getting back on the road is the way I like to do lunch.
As I said, there are so many taco places in Sturgis to choose from. I was kind of scrolling through Google looking for one with counter service. A restaurant popped up that I had never seen before even though it looked like was just off of US-12 near downtown. I couldn’t tell if it was counter service or not from the pictures but I decided to press my luck anyway.
El Taco Loco Mexican Taqueria is on South Maple just south of East Chicago Road/US-12 in downtown Sturgis. The building was not a restaurant in it’s former life. It was very clearly a law office. The name of the office, Robertson Law Office is still on the front of the building.
I guess I wasn’t paying attention at first because I went to go in the “front door.” I could see there were cars in the parking lot so I assumed they were still open but there’s a one of those coded padlocks on the front door and it didn’t look like there was anything inside the room. I was bummed but I figured there were other taco places in town.
As I was leaving the parking lot, I realized the stupid mistake I had made. The entrance is actually at the back of the building. There’s very clearly a patio and signage indicating that. I had blinders on or something and didn’t see that when I first got out of the car.
When I got inside, the restaurant looked like more of a sit down restaurant. There is a big open dining room with tables and chairs packed in pretty tightly. The decor doesn’t go overly traditional Mexican restaurant but they used some of the pastels on the window treatments and there’s a bright yellow focal point wall in the back of the dining room with a painting in the menu. .
There is a counter right inside the door but I couldn’t tell if it was an order counter or just where you pay the bill. A woman came out of the kitchen and asked if I had a to-go order. I said no, but I’d like to put one in. She asked if I needed a menu but I said no. I just wanted tacos. She wrote down the order for five steak tacos and rung me. The total was right around $15 before tip.
It only took about five minutes before the same woman came out of the kitchen with a small foil packet in a to-go. I ended up eating in my car because it would have been stupid to drive all the way back to Kalamazoo and let these get cold.
I ordered five steak tacos. They come double wrapped in warm corn tortillas and topped with cilantro and onion. There was also a couple cups of a red hot sauce in the back that I immediately put on the tacos without trying it. Turns out, it was pretty hot but it was also really delicious. The steak was super tender and had a good, spicy flavor on it’s own. It only took me a few minutes to down the five tacos. Sometimes, I really think there isn’t a more perfect food that a well cooked steak taco. These were so good.
I always get the same thing at Mexican restaurants so I’m really never a good judge of “The Best” when it comes to Mexican food. I love the simple things. Steak, tortillas, cilantro, hot sauce. That’s all I need and El Taco Loco Mexican Taqueria delivers. I always like going to Sturgis for this reason. There are so many great taco shops that it’s hard to choose which one I’m going to order from.
SW Michigan Dining 