Hilltop Tavern’s New Weekly Taco Special is Ten Bucks Well Spent

Yeah, you want these. Photo by Kevin Gibson

Before the Coronavirus came and ruined everything, one of my favorite meals in town was Hilltop Tavern’s chicken tacos. They went away. But Hilltop has launched a rotating weekly taco special, and the first round made for some mighty good eating on a recent weeknight.

The old-school Hilltop tacos came by way of the smoker out back, be it chicken, pork or brisket, they were topped with a house pico and a choice of two house sauces. I have to admit that when I learned they had not survived the covid shutdown, it hit me kind of hard. But I had to pick myself up and accept that those days are gone — and, happily, the new chicken tacos I tasted were a fine replacement.

First off, the weekly special comes with two tacos and a side of warm tortilla chips for an even $10, which isn’t bad for a taco meal. The chicken in the first phase of tacos is prepared much like tinga, with what seemed to be a tomato-based sauce, diced tomatoes, onions and spices, served in a pair of flour tortillas. The tacos are topped with sour cream (I got mine on the side) and the meal comes with a side of mild corn salsa.

I dove in for a bite, and after the first taste I knew Hilltop Tavern had not let me down. The chicken was spicier than I would have ever expected – that’s a good thing – but the light tomato sweetness balanced that out nicely. The tacos also had a healthy amount of chopped cilantro – also good – and chunks of avocado.

I couldn’t shovel them in fast enough. Of course, that meant that with about every other bite, some of the contents dropped out of the back end of the taco. Try as I might, that moist chicken just kept getting away from me. And it didn’t take long for me to realize that anything fillings that dropped into the cardboard basket could easily be scooped up with a toasty tortilla chip.

Those OG tacos were my go-to for years. But if this first iteration of the new Hilltop tacos are what we have to look forward to, I’m thinking they’ll be equal to the task, and at a good price. Thumbs all the way up.

And I can’t wait to see what tacos are up next.