Taco Bamba’s menu honors traditional flavors and cooking methods with a selection of classics like chicken tinga, al pastor, carne asada, and barbacoa, but its most famous dishes diverge from taco tradition. While that includes originals that are available at every location, like the signature Taco Bamba (skirt steak, chorizo, grilled guacamole, chicharrones) and the Spicy Shroom (chipotle portobellos, grilled corn, pepitas), the headliners are always tacos unique to the specific location. In Raleigh, that means the Wolfpack Poutine, with sweet potato fries, white BBQ, pimento cheese, jalapeño onion salad, and spiced pecans. Taserface tops Bamba brisket suadero with salsa macha, and sweet and spicy pickled chiles. Cheerwine BBQ bacon carnitas is the star of the Sweet Baby Jesus, which also features chipotle mustard, jalapeño slaw, and tomatillo chow chow in a flour tortilla.
The menu in Raleigh will include Taco Bamba’s new clean-style tacos, a carb-free option allowing guests to skip the tortilla in favor of a crisp cabbage cup. Clean-style tacos are a response to the restaurant’s much-loved dirty-style option, in which any traditional taco filling can be served on a flour tortilla griddled with cheese and topped with a signature sweet chili sauce. Among the non-taco options can be found Bamba ceviche and a potato salad with sweet corn esquites, along with classics like Mexican street corn, and posole rojo.
Taco Bamba’s tortas and quesadillas have almost as many fans as their tacos. The super-sized Torta Bamba is a big-as-your-head sandwich available at all locations that barely contains carne asada, chorizo, al pastor, ham, hot dog, beef and chicken milanesa, black beans, Chihuahua cheese, pineapple, avocado, and pickled jalapeño (yeah, it’s a lot). Selections that are both unique to Raleigh and far more reasonable for a single diner to take on include the Sir Walter Raleigh, with Carolina-style beef Frank, spiced ground beef, chili sauce, queso, and chipotle mustard. Garlic herb cream cheese spread, cucumber, roasted bell peppers, and avocado are the star of the vegetarian Feet Fleet. Vegetarians will also be thrilled by the Big Fat Mexican, a quesadilla packed with a roasted walnut mushroom “chorizo” and grilled corn.
