Excited by Chef Rene Valenzuela's expansion of his empire, and because I 've been a taco zealot since CL's Tournament of Tacos in March, I ran right to Taqueria Monterrey on the first day open.

Taqueria Monterrey Day 1: An artist is still painting signs on the walls. He asks me to verify his spelling of the word 'Also' and says the design is inspired by old world Spain.

In keeping with CL's Beef Week, I ordered

This article appears in Jul 22-28, 2009.