Posted Tuesday, December 5, 2017 by RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog
Josh McDermitt, who plays Eugene on "The Walking Dead," had the temerity Sunday night during 'Talking Dead" to say to the world that Georgia lacks good Mexican food.
I'm no expert so I asked one of our food writers Wyatt Williams for his thoughts about Atlanta's Mexican food options. His assessment is mixed. Williams, who used to live in San Francisco, said actors who live in Los Angeles have far more options for great Mexican on the West Coast.
"There is not a lot of good Mexican food in Atlanta," he said. "There is a fair amount of mediocre Mexican food in Atlanta."
His top suggestion for McDermott to try: Taqueria El Rey Del Taco in Doraville on Buford Highway.
"It's classic with the best taco options," Williams said. "The standard carnitas taco is great. The goat stomach tacos are honestly incredible. And the cool thing is they are open late. It seems like they never close."
The restaurant hours are 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 4:30 a.m. on Friday and Saturday. Foursquare reviewers give the place an 8.7 out of 10. Yelp reviewers average 4 out of 5 stars.
Our food editor Ligaya Figueras has only been here two years and admits she had not had time to explore the Mexican options with any level of thoroughness.
"I smell authenticity on Buford Highway," she said. "There are multiple places there."
AJC readers chose Nuevo Laredo Cantina on the Westside as the best Mexican place.
Figueras also directed me to a story noting that Taqueria del Sol owners were semifinalists this year as Outstanding Restaurateurs in the James Beard competition. She said they got this mention more for running a great restaurant, not necessarily for superior food.
McDermitt mentioned Atlanta's Mexican food options as an intro into an anecdote that didn't exactly match up to his comment. He said on set, they ended up with super great guacamole, some of which he said ended up on fellow actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan's hand. The guacamole was so good, he was willing to lick Morgan's hand to get some more. (Ick!)
The scene from this past Sunday's episode involved McDemitt's Eugene character seeing Negan offer him a hand to shake. But Eugene gets confused and starts to kiss it.
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