Juan in a Million is a landmark Austin eatery that offers its customers “legendary tacos” from its wide and varied TexMex menu. Perched along Cesar Chavez Avenue in East Austin, Juan in a Million is easy to find by its pink stucco exterior and queue out the front door. On any given day you will find the owner Juan Meza standing near the entryway greeting customers and offering everyone a hearty handshake. Juan’s restaurant has been the subject of local TexMex lore for many years and was recently featured on the Travel Channel. With such a warm welcome and a reputation for great tacos Chris and I were left wondering, could Juan in a Million be a five taco experience?
Juan in a Million is definitely a jeans and t-shirt restaurant with its casual atmosphere. The inexpensive menu and wide variety of tacos is the perfect draw for the nearby student population from the University of Texas and Austin’s young urban dwellers alike. Large portions of warm delicious food make Juan’s a popular choice for Mexican food in Austin.
The best known menu choice at Juan’s is the Don Juan taco – an overstuffed breakfast taco with egg, cheese, potato and bacon. This taco is monster sized busting out of its shell. Accompanied with an order of extra tortillas, you could easily make three or four servings out of a single Don Juan. The taco is a delicious blend of creamy potato, salty bacon, and smooth scrambled eggs. There are several great layers to the Don Juan but the taco lacks any complex flavors like smoky chipotle in adobo or ancho chilies. Our impression of the dish, especially given the close proximity to the University of Texas (a top 10 party school according to the Princeton Review), is the Don Juan is targeted as the perfect hangover food – warm, comforting, smooth delicious textures, and filling.
Our outing to Juan in a Million included a sampling of several other tacos. Here is our take on each of the tacos we sampled:
- Barbacoa – tender and well cooked beef, but the barbacoa taco is single dimensional in flavor.
- Machacan – Scrambled egg combined with dried beef, onion and tomato. This is like a western omelet in a tortilla. This taco has good contrast between the brightness of the tomato and the richness of the egg and the beef. The dried beef, however, is tough which interrupts the symphony of flavors as you chew your way through each mouthful.
- Carne Guisada – Tender beef tips served in a rich gravy and wrapped in a tortilla. The carne guisada has a hint of sweet bell pepper and onion, but like the barbacoa taco is pretty one dimensional in its flavors. More seasoning and depth in the flavors would have made this taco a stand out.
- Chicken – Served with lettuce, tomato, and shredded cheese the chicken taco maintained great balance between the grilled chicken and other ingredients. The chicken was well seasoned, the lettuce was crisp, and tomatoes offered bright freshness. This was a great taco.
- Chorizo and potato – Chorizo can be a great Mexican ingredient adding fantastic flavor from the pork and spices in the sausage. This taco, however, did not meet the mark as the chorizo was overcooked, lacked spiciness or seasoning. Combined with the starchy potato, the taco left us thinking of sand and gravel. This taco was our least favorite of all that we tried.
Overall Juan in a Million was a good stop for a hearty low cost TexMex lunch. We enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere, energetic staff and the owners welcome. On future trips to Austin, we will definitely think about returning to Juan in a Million for tacos, but we will continue looking for our perfect TexMex destination. Juan in a Million was pretty good, but not great. The Taco Travelers give Juan in a Million three tacos out of five.
