Howdy! It’s the Dining Divas and Dudes, back for another munch review!! “How ya bean?” “Let’s Taco bout it!” Hahaha!
If you spend any time in Chauncey Village, near Purdue’s campus, no doubt you have already figured out we had lunch at the Guac Box, 308 W State St. YUM!! And now with their new hours, you can get both lunch and dinner, Tuesday through Saturday.
We’ll get to the food in a sec, but first let’s dish some of the fun facts we learned about its recent move and the Tex-Mex menu that “makes this Guac’n world go round”.
308 W State (soon be known as “Taylor on State”) is a family venture of Jordon Taylor, wife Lindsey and in-laws Dave & Marie Rowe. Aside from great food available from the Guac Box, the venue has multiple bars and entertainment space on three different floors. Thursday nights Hunter Taylor entertains crowds playing piano. Weekends they boast a variety of live music that Guac Box co-owner Nick Maxson arranges, tapping into over a decade of experience booking bands.
Speaking of Nick, together he and partner Austin Hill are dishing out some of the best Tex-Mex around! What began as a food truck in 2018 moved into a location at Purdue West Shopping Center in 2020. Coming under their ownership in early 2021, Nick and Austin moved to the current site on State Street, which is where we caught up with them.
Wait! Nick just called Jo’s name. Lunch is served!!
Jo ordered two tacos with grilled zucchini on a bed of shredded lettuce instead of traditional taco shells, a request Nick was happy to fill. The resulting veggie tacos resembled a delicious Mexican salad, allowing Jo to savor the flavors of the guacamole and queso, minus chips. She appreciated their flexibility and enjoyed the customized taco salad.
Ken ordered one Adam taco and one Pat taco, both with steak (menu items named after family and friends). The Adam included pickled red onions with Quac sauce and the Pat sported fresh salsa, cotija cheese and chipotle crema. Both were delicious and filling, making Ken a happy camper.
Kay thought she could make her meal with the street corn, chips and guacamole appetizers ordered for the table, but wound up sneaking a piece of Linda’s quesadilla when she wasn’t looking. Made with chicken, shoestring potatoes, ranch and lots of cheese plus extra queso for dipping—Kay decided next time she would order it for herself because one bite was not enough! However the homemade tortilla chips with queso, guacamole, or Mexican sweet corn were sooooo good, with blackened corn off the cob, avocado sauce, cotija cheese, and cilantro, “It was delightful”. Ok, after that review, we predict she is going to become a regular.
Linda opted for the CBR quesadilla with chicken, bacon, and ranch dressing. Despite having to share a bite with Kay, she too found it to be both filling and delicious. Lots of meat and cheese with a side of queso that was perfect for dipping!
Iseral decided on two Matt tacos; one with beef and one with chicken. Another happy customer, all smiles with his order. The flavors were described as “phenomenal” and the sauces that came with them as “delish”.
Jerry came extra hungry having skipped breakfast, so he decided on a quesadilla AND a Matt steak burrito. To his surprise the quesadilla was so good and filling, he had to take the burrito to go. Good that they have carryout containers. Jerry reported back later that the burrito was outstanding, the steak especially was very flavorful combined with potatoes and zucchini. So good in fact it didn’t need any additional sauces or topping. “When I go back I will definitely order the steak burrito again!”
Whitney got the Walkin Takis (taco in a bag) with steak, in the style of Matt. With stars in her eyes, and in her own words “It was grilled steak, queso, street corn, and chipotle sauce over a bed of fuego takis. Easily one of my top ten faves of all time. I’m a huge fan of walking tacos to begin with, but to add takis to the mix? Genius. Also, idk who Matt is, but I’m on a search for him from this point forward. I need to street corn everything in my path, and I’m not mad about the queso and chipotle sauce either. Talk about a power group… Let the record show that I actually didn’t make any of these decisions for myself, as I am actually incapable of making a decision. So special thanks to the magic man behind the counter, who I suspect was taking the orders and cooking the food, and in this instance, deciding if I wanted steak or chicken, and telling me what I wanted it to wear. ❤️ bless you Guac box, bless your heart.”
Margy ordered two Matt tacos on corn tortillas with zucchini, pickled red onion and Guac sauce. The flavors were easy and mild, perfect for trying out several of the different sauce options. Though normally drawn to hot & spicy, her favorites were the less hot or spicy chimichurri and chipotle. “There is something for everyone here.”
Common comments over heard, “I ordered too much, can’t finish,” “I’ll give you my review later,” “There are so many sauces! Chipotle, Chimmichuri, Guac, Guac sauce, I can’t decide,” and “Next time I come …”
Clearly we all fell under the Guac Box spell and we will be back!
