“Never mind the dog, beware of owner.”
That’s one of the quippy signs doling out wisdom all over Antonio’s Nut House in Palo Alto. This wacky dive bar is most notable for how out of place if feels along California Avenue alongside salons and trendy restaurants. Here, you’ll find peanut shells littering the floor, a giant gorilla in a cage (also where you’ll find the bowl of free peanuts) and chalk graffiti covering the walls. Also inside the Nut House, you’ll find a small eatery called Taqueria Azteca.
The advantage of this setup is that you can have your Bud Light and chicken taco all in the same place. Sit down at one of the taqueria’s ripped, faux red leather booths, or take your food over to the foosball or pool table in the back of the bar. There, you’ll also find two arcade games and air hockey. Want to watch the game? There are TV screens tuned to ESPN all over, with four in the taqueria section alone.
The disadvantage of the arrangement is that Taqueria Azteca has two speeds: bad and not very good. Weekday lunch seems to be the better time to visit, when the food tastes most fresh. That’s when a steady stream of people who work nearby stop by for a burrito or grilled cheese. (Yes, this taqueria also serves American diner standards like burgers, hot dogs and sandwiches.)
A lunchtime super burrito ($8.50) with al pastor pork skimped on the “super” elements. There was barely a smear of sour cream, not many pinto beans, very little pico de gallo and slightly more guacamole. The guacamole was fine, though it’s hard to match the taste of guacamole that’s made-to-order. This one is chunky with onions, tomatoes and cilantro. The burrito consisted mainly of orangey rice and many small cubes of pork, which were described as being spicy but just tasted salty and chewy.
During a Sunday dinner visit, the rice that was soft during the day became dry. The same was true of the meat. The carnitas had edges so dry they had turned sharp. Fernando Miranda, whose parents Jose and Maria Miranda own Taqueria Azteca, explained that cooking the carnitas crunchy is his family’s style and diners need to specify if they want them soft. I don’t buy that. I’ve had carnitas elsewhere with delicious crisped edges that didn’t scratch my throat. These ones simply tasted overcooked.
Of all the meats, chicken is your best option. It’s moist and flavorful, at least when doused in salsa, as on the tacos ($2.75). The soft tacos come with a nice scattering of crunchy onions and cilantro as well as a wedge of lime.
On an uninteresting tostada ($9.25), diced chicken in a tomato-based sauce arrived under lots of romaine lettuce and salsa on top of a crispy shell. There was shredded Parmesan cheese on top, a choice more odd than bad. According to Miranda, it’s supposed to add some saltiness, but it didn’t end up contributing much of anything.
Out of everything we tried, the nachos ($8.50) were the table favorite. The chips are thick-cut, fresh and fried in-house. The typical toppings of melted cheese, refried beans, sour cream, guacamole and tomatoes are on the skimpy side but there’s a sizeable scattering of jalapeños.
Unfortunately, the steak on top was cooked to the point of shoe leather. Miranda insists everything is made to-order and meats aren’t cooked in advance, though he did say it’s possible that some cooks do a better job than others.
Complimentary chips come with all orders along with some watery house salsa. Ask for a side of the red or green tomatillo salsas. These zingy green and fiery red salsas would hold their own at any salsa bar and might just be the best items on the menu.
In the evening, it appears that most people go to Taqueria Azteca because they’re buzzed and need sustenance. If that’s the case, you can’t go wrong with a quesadilla ($4.95). It’s pretty hard to screw up melted cheese on a griddled tortilla. For $1 extra, get sour cream and guacamole on the side.
At night, the Nut House swells with Stanford University students and young professionals. They come for the beer and the atmosphere, but when it’s closing time, Taqueria Azteca does fulfill a need.
Taqueria Azteca
321 California Ave., Palo Alto
650-326-8924
Hours: Monday to Tuesday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Wednesday to Saturday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.; Sunday, noon to 8 p.m.
Credit cards: yes
Parking: street and nearby lots
Takeout: yes
Outdoor seating: yes
Wheelchair access: yes
Noise level: variable
Bathroom cleanliness: good
Thought it looked ok place to eat, but was I wrong.. Later that night really sick.. Food poisoning?
Take your chances I guess…
As it was told to me by someone who works at City Hall: Long ago, Palo Alto outlawed bars. However, before Mayfield was absorbed into Palo Alto, it was a separate village where Stanford students went to get drunk, do drugs, and cause general mayhem. The nickname for Mayfield WAS “Mayhem”!
After Mayfield became part of Palo Alto, and it’s bars shut down, Palo Alto enacted a law stated that no bars were allowed, UNLESS they served meals as well. Hence, places like NoLa–big bar, small restaurant, and Antonio’s–big bar, tiny restaurant.
Guess I have been lucky, I have eaten veggie burritos a few times over the years since Tacqueria Azteca opened. But living close to it, I love the ease of getting a negroni cocktail at Antonio’s on my way home from work.
I guess I have been lucky– I have eaten at Tacqueria Aztwca quite a few times over the years and never had a problem.
But I enjoy having a real bar with good cocktails that aren’t overpriced, like NoLa or Terun.
The story of bars in Pslo Alto was told to me by a man who worked at City Hall for a couple of decades. It goes something like this:
Even after Prohibition, bars were forbidden in Oalo Alto proper– and for many years, the Mayfield neighborhood was a separate entity with the nickname of Mayhem.
This came about because Mayfield had several dive bars, and became THE party spot for Stanford students who wanted to get drunk, do drugs, and other semi- and illegal things.
After Mayfield was absorbed into Palo Alto, some of the bars stubbornly remained,!and to cope with that, Palo Alto passed a law stating that bars would be allowed ONLY if the served meals.
That explains all the big bars with small restaurants, such as NoLa and Pampas, and of course Antonio’s with the little Tacqueria Azteca. It’s the necessary evil the bars need to keep serving hard alcohol.