Running Tab: New on the menu – a pastrami taco, aka a tacastrami?

I have always been an avid fan of inventive fusion cuisine, when two dissimilar items or categories of food are joined in harmony. Think Japanese and Italian, eggs and/or peanut butter on cheeseburgers and kimchi with fried rice.

Now add pastrami and tacos to that list – a tacastrami taco, to be exact.

Adam Hegsted’s Eat Good Group this month took over the menu at Sky Ribbon Café, the food option where patrons board the gondolas in Riverfront Park, and there are items from three Eat Good Group restaurants: Incrediburger & Eggs, Doughlicious Bakery (pizzas, sweets and Adam’s Granola) and the new Taco Suave with the Tacastrami.

“Taco Suave offers our take on modern American tacos,” said Aaron Fish, Eat Good Group’s corporate chef, when I met with him at Sky Ribbon Café on an especially hot Aug. 17. “It is meant to be approachable and fun.”

“My favorite tacos are the Tacastrami and the Mushroom al Pastor. The Tacastrami is fun because it’s basically a Reuben sandwich in a taco. As for the pastor, I love the flavors and technique we use for the taco itself.”

Coincidentally, I ordered the Tacastrami, Pork Carnitas and Mushroom al Pastor tacos at Taco Suave while chatting with Fish, and all three are excellent. The Tacastrami is indeed a Reuben in the form of a taco, and cabbage slaw substitutes for sauerkraut. I have consumed quite a few delicious mushroom dishes this summer, and this vegetarian Mushroom al Pastor taco is up there.

The six tacos offered on the Taco Suave menu – the three previously mentioned, plus the Roasted Chicken Asada, Fried Chicken Taco and BBQ Beef Brisket – are $2.99 each, except for the Fried Chicken Taco, which is $3.29.

Eat Good Group, whose restaurants also include the Wandering Table and Yards Bruncheon in Kendall Yards, Gilded Unicorn and Ella’s Supper Club downtown and Honey Eatery and Social Club in downtown Coeur d’Alene, has kept busy during the pandemic.

Along with Sky Ribbon Café, Hegsted and Eat Good Group have recently reimagined the menu at Chinook Steak, Pasta and Spirits at the Coeur d’Alene Casino, where Hegsted previously worked.

Eat Good Group’s contract at Sky Ribbon Café is through February. And now back to the Tacastrami at the full-service Sky Ribbon Café, whose menu also includes sandwiches, nachos, hot dogs and fries.

“People should try Taco Suave because it’s delicious,” Fish said. “Plus, they get to grab tacos and enjoy beautiful Riverfront Park.”