With fifteen tacos in the running, there’s something here for everyone, including familiar twists and adventurous ones. We’ve got fish tacos, pork tacos, beef tacos … even bison. Even tofu, and carnitas, and surf’n’turf combos.

Canada’s in a craze right now for these edible explosions of flavour, and with our council taxing our restaurants into the poor house, now is the time to use tacos to lure you from your homes into local restaurants during the slow winter months.

If you wanna support your local restaurants, while supporting your own right to delight in fabulous food, you know what to do. Peruse the menu below, pick some you’d like to try, and try them. All but one of these tacos have been created just for this challenge: Adelaide have entered their legendary fish taco.

WIN A WACK OF GIFT CARDS

Every participating restaurant is giving us a $25 giftcard. We’re putting them all in one basket, for one lucky winner who will get fifteen $25 gift cards from these fine food havens. That’s fifteen nights of dealing with your don’t-wanna-feed-myself lazy winter blues.

To enter to win, simply take a pic of your taco (or you and your taco preferably), and post it to Twitter and/or Instagram with the hashtag #TownieTacos. The more tacos you try, the more hashtagged snapshots you rack up, so, the more chances you have to win. If you try them all, that’s 15 cracks at the cards. So, let loose, go loco for local tacos this month.Untitled-2

SHARE YOUR REVIEWS OR FAVOURITES ON OUR WEB POLL

As you complete your taco tour this month, we’d love to hear, and share your thoughts on them all. Click the taco challenge poll in our sidebar, or, use the url: theovercast.ca/townietacopoll. What was your favourite? Why?

HERE ARE THE FIFTEEN TACOS TAKING PART

ADELAIDE OYSTER BAR
Fish Taco
NL cod, IPA beer batter, avocado, slaw, smoky adobo, and chipotle mayo.

BERNARD STANLEY
3 Chorizo Corn Tacos
3 chorizo soft corn tacos, topped with
avocado and lime sour sream, cilantro slaw, pico de gallo, Five Brothers’ White Fleet Queso Fresco cheese, and lime juice, finished with a Sriracha Sour Cream. Served with basmati rice and vegetarian chili.

BLUE ON WATER
Grilled Fish Taco
A grilled fish taco with salsa fresca, fried avocado, habanero buttermilk, and red cabbage slaw.

CELTIC HEARTH / BRIDIE MOLLOY’S
2 Fish Tacos
Blackened cod, corn salsa, cilantro, sour cream
Beer-battered cod, spicy coleslaw, sweet chili sour cream, and grilled pineapple

CHINCHED BISTRO
Pork Carnita
Pork carnita, crispy corn tortilla, pickled carrot, pico de gallo, and queso fresco.

FIXED
Mall Chicken (or Tofu) Taco
Sweet and sour fried chicken (or tofu), avocado, gochugaru-lime aioli, shredded lettuce, assorted pickles, scallion, and cilantro. This will be at Fixed Coffee Bar on Harvey Road only.

HUNGRY HEART CAFE
Carnita
Carnitas (spiced pork confit) taco, queso fresco, pickled red onions, and cilantro on housemade flour tortilla. Served with rice and beans, salsa.

MAGNUM & STEINS
Coffee and Chipotle Taco
Coffee and chipotle marinated pulled pork, refried black beans, pineapple salsa, pickled red onion, and cilantro.

MALLARD COTTAGE
Smoked Pork Shoulder Taco
Smoked Point Leamington pork shoulder with Mallard taco spice, in a roasted beet tortilla, with pickled slaw, fresh cheese, and house lime yogurt.

MERCHANT TAVERN
Adobada Pork Taco
Adobada marinated pork, from the southern shore, with a sagamite and maize tortilla, and salsa roja. Available lunchtime only.

RELISH BURGERS
Bacon Cheeseburger Taco
Spiced ground beef, cheddar, bacon, lettuce, tomato, sour cream, and guacamole.

TAVOLA
Tavola Taco
Smoked beef short rib, corn and black bean salsa, pickled shallots, avocado, and cilantro sour cream.

THE SOCIAL HO- USE
Chili Bison Taco
Poblano chilli bison, chive sour cream, con queso sauce, and Five Brothers cheese blend.

ST. JOHN’S FISH EXCHANGE
Jiggs Dinner Tacos
“Jiggs dinner, just like madre used to make.” Fresh cod, topped with a pickled carrot, turnip and cabbage slaw; pease pudding purée, and shredded salt beef, all wrapped up in a warm flour tortilla.

YELLOWBELLY
Soft Surf and Turf Taco Combo
SURF TACO: tiger shrimp tempura, chiffando lettuce, avocado pico de Gallo, shredded cheese, wasbi-soyginger aoli, and fresh cilantro. TURF TACO: Yellowbelly short rib, braised cabbage, bluebry cheese, crispy
onion, and fresh scallions.

Photos by Joel Upshall for The Overcast