I was beyond excited when I found out about the Hippo de Mayo Taco Challenge a couple of months ago. I love live for Mexican food, I love tacos, I love Cinco de Mayo, and to wrap it all up into a giant ball of taco crawl in downtown Manchester was unbelievable to me. You KNOW me and you know I wouldn’t have missed it for the world and you know I could not stand to be there without my camera. I even lugged around my enormous heaviest lens for the occasion. Because that’s what it needed. And I will do what needs to be done for the taco. Oh yes.
Below is the Black Brimmer. I forgot to get a shot of the outside. It was our first stop and I got a little carried away with the excitement. Yes, I’m a dork but few things light a fire in me quite like Mexican food. The place was wrapped up in Dos Equis flags like a ball of yarn. LOVED IT.
Here I am below, the hubby got a shot of me at one of my favorite places of the night. It was madness inside Consuelo’s, but the owner was standing there with such a big grin on his face. He looked overwhelmed and tired, but he smiled and said, “I’m so happy! I’m so busy!!” He was adorable.
Dave was excited about the fish taco at Ignite, so we ventured down that way.
Lala’s had a yummy dessert taco called a “Transylvanian taco.” LOL. We got one each of blueberry and cherry. It was the longest line I waited in all night as the crowds had pretty much reached a fever pitch by that time.
Below is Z Food and Drink’s taco. They had just run out of duck so it was filled with fried avocado. Woohoo! 🙂 I forgot to get a shot of the outside of the restaurant, so here is the little lonely taco pic.
Republic had an awesome taco, and they were really organized with their system. FALAFEL!
All in all, it was a fantastic evening. There were certainly many lessons to be learned for next year’s event, but for the first time out it was great and I was so pleased to see so many thousands of people come out in the spirit of the taco! I know I had a great time and I look forward to spending future years downtown for Cinco de Mayo!
Click to view the 2012 Taco Tour!