Would Dwight Schrute love our BEET TACOS? Five things to know if you're a fan of The BEET TACO...

Earthy. Sweet. Salty. Straight-up delish. Our beet tacos have earned a cult-like following that would make Dwight Schrute proud. Here’s five tidbits you should know about our beloved vegetarian taco:

1. Unofficially it's the most talked about taco at Pica's. People looooooove to talk to us about the beets.

2. The beet taco was inspired by the BEET fries and kewpie mayo at Austin's East Side King.

3. The Queso a la Plancha taco from Pinche Tacos was the inspiration for the griddled cotija we start the beet taco with. Thanks Pinche - we love your food!  

4. When first introduced on our specials board, we had a lot of big dudes ordering the "BEEF Tacos." They were puzzled when the beef turned out to be purple and sweet.

5. We tried to take the beets off the menu and people got ANGRY!

6. Beets make your pee pink!!! Seriously, it’s a thing with a name: Beeturia. Go ahead and look it up on Wikipedia.

A CONSOLIDATED HISTORY OF THE PICA'S BEET TACO

Rewind a few years and we were looking to introduce more vegetarian options. This was coming off the beet/goat cheese/hazelnut salad craze, but we were still loving beets on everything.

During that time we ate at Paul Qui's East Side King in Austin and LOVED the Beet Fries, togarishi spice and kewpie mayo combo. Inspired,  we began experimenting with what would become the beet taco. We knew we wanted a salty cheese to pair with the sweet beets. And we wanted some kind of aioli to match that kewpie mayo we really liked.

After many variations, and honestly becoming pretty sick of beets at this point, we introduced the beet taco, expecting it to possibly have a short life on the specials board and be gone. But the beets persisted. We kept trying to strike them from the specials board only to face some serious beet backlash. So, finally, when it was time to revise our menu a couple of years back, we made way for the beets and never looked back.

If you have never tried them, there’s no time like now. My personal recommendation: one beet taco, one baja shrimp taco, and a small chopped salad. It’s the perfect meal. Give it a try and let us know what you think.

SECOND BEST & PROUD

Why would we promote having the SECOND BEST TACO in Boulder? 

Because we're proud!

We opened Pica's Boulder in 2010 with very little fanfare. We didn't have big budgets for advertising and branding. We didn't have the clout of a big name restaurant group behind us. We were tucked into the corner of what was then a shady shopping center. 

But we knew we had good food so we kept grinding away. And slowly, you, our people, our customers, found us. 

And somehow, without running a campaign, or spending any money on advertising or telling people to vote for us, we got voted as the SECOND BEST TACO in Boulder. 

We'll have much more to say about having the SECOND BEST TACO in Boulder in the days to come. For now, follow us on Instagram and Facebook for all the updates. 

Boulder Facebook, Boulder Instagram, Louisville Facebook, Louisville Instagram

Pica's Watermelon Juice

Every year we introduce our Watermelon Juice around Cinco de Mayo. But cruelly, we take it away at the end of summer. It's a fleeting, delicious item that you can only get at Pica's. 

In a few weeks it will be gone. As the long days of summer begin to truly wind down we want you to get the most out of our Watermelon Juice so we're sharing this recipe for a delicious Suerte Watermelon Margarita. 

SUERTE WATERMELON MARGARITA

1/2 oz agave syrup*

2 oz watermelon

2 oz Suerte Blanco

1 oz fresh lime juice

Combine all in shaker with ice. Shake shake shake. Strain over ice into highball glass rimmed with salt. 

Write to us and Thank Us. 

*To make agave syrup - one part agave to one part water (i.e. 1/2 cup agave: 1/2 cup water), heat to dissolve agave, cool

Presenting El Segundo

After being voted the "SECOND BEST TACO" in the Boulder Weekly Best Of Poll, we could have been angry, we could have tweeted in mock disdain of awards polls. 

But instead we decided to OWN IT.

If we are going to be SECOND, we're going to have some fun with it. 

So we created EL SEGUNDO. He is the ambassador of our SECOND place honor.

El Segundo is a hard-working luchador. He is strong, he is fit, he is persistent and gritty. But no matter how hard he tries he always comes out SECOND BEST. 

Sometimes it makes him sad, sometimes he's ambivalent about it, but for the most part he's okay with it. After all, of all the luchadors in the land, he is the SECOND BEST and while he will keep trying to be FIRST BEST, for now he is honored to be SECOND. 

Check out our Facebook (FB Louisville, FB Boulder) and Instagram pages for updates on EL SEGUNDO and the beauty of being Second. 

OZO Coffee + Pica's Horchata = match made in heaven

At both locations we are now serving OZO Coffee toddy with our Pica's Horchata. 

OZO Coffee + Pica's Horchata = #bestdanghorchatacoffeeinalltheland