Tacos Part 2

Breaking News (Dec 23, 2010)

Peter Chinn's at this location will close

for good at this location today.

Go to Peter Chinn's and

TIP THE STAFF BIG because they

are now without jobs 2 days before XMas.

Please go and TIP BIG!

The word is, Peter Chinn's Korean Tacos and Burgers owners are looking for a new location, but they don't quite know where and when.

Peter Chinn's Korean BBQ Tacos
400 21st Ave South
Nashville, TN
615-327-0220

spicy pork tacos

As everyone should know by now Peter Chinn's Korean BBQ taco has moved to 21st Ave South, in the Vanderbilt area with the same old hours 11am-8 pm M-Sat. Peter Chinn's took over the old Cheeseburger Charley's location, expanded the Peter Chinn's menu, and kept the Cheeseburger Charley's Menu. On the menu are spicy pork, fish, kogi, bulgogi kim chi tacos, burritos and quesadillas which are all Korean taco inspired dishes. On the cheeseburger side, there are burgers, turkey, veggie, milkshakes, fries and onion rings.

My standard meal is 1 spicy pork taco $2, 1 kogi taco $2, and 1 small onion ring to share $2, and a cup of water $0.25 for the cup. This is plenty of food for a lunch for me. The tacos are all made to order. When I ordered a fish and bulgogi taco, the fish and bulgogi was cooked while I waited. The tacos are topped with lettuce and house made Korean style pickled cucumber which provides a nice Korean flavor to the taco. The tacos are served with a little container of house made hot sauce. The hot sauce can vary in spicy hotness from batch to batch, and from ladle to ladle One hot sauce I got wasn't that hot, it was a pale orange color, and I dumped it all onto my taco. This pale orange color sauce was perfect for the taco, and added a little flavorful heat. The next time, my hot sauce container was more orangey-red in color, and I dumped it all onto my taco. It was so much hotter, and I temporarily lost my hearing because my head was sweating, and my inner ear was sweating and swelling from the spicy hotness. My suggestion is, use the hot sauce sparingly until you can gage the heat level in the hot sauce.

The fun part about going to Peter Chinn's now is that there is the American Cheeseburger menu along with the Korean BBQ Taco menu. There is something for everyone! Peter Chinn's kept the burger topping bar, so you can make the burger how you want it. There is lettuce, tomato, 2 types of mushrooms, 2 types of pickles, onions, jalapenos, olives, and other stuff that can't remember right now. Also, scoring big points from me, the fries and onion rings are fresh hand cut, and fried to order, and the milkshakes are actually made with ice cream and milk. If you order onion rings, you can watch the onion ring guy take fresh onions and hand dip them in the batter and put them into the fryer. These are the best onion rings in town for sure. The milk shakes are also made to order. The gal making the milk shakes scoops the ice cream adds the milk and whirls up the milkshake in an old fashioned stainless steel milkshake maker. The fries, onion rings and milkshakes will take some time to make because they are actually making them to your order, they are not pre-packed by a food distributor.

kogi burrito

At this location, Peter Chinn's expanded the Korean BBQ taco menu to include burritos and quesadillas. I did try the kogi burrito. It included kogi beef, rice, a small smear of black beans, lettuce and house made pickled cucumber. It was good, but it was way too much food for me, so I will continue to just get 2 tacos instead of the burrito. For those who have bigger appetites than me, this is a fine option for lunch.

There is something for everyone on this menu. There is the veggie burger for those who are veggies, there are the Korean BBQ tacos and burritos for those who want some Korean spice in their lives, there are the fresh cut and fried to order fries and onion rings for those who like the all American deep fried treats, there are regular burgers if you really want to go all American, and there are the delicious made to order milkshakes that are thick and yummy.

spicy pork taco takeout

Positives about this location are the parking lot, eat in option and take out option. Since Peter Chinn's opened a few weeks ago in this location, we have eaten in every single time. I also think that this location is relatively safe for patrons to come and go. I say that because at the former location, I was robbed at about 7:30 pm after dark, while waiting for my tacos to be made. The reason why I got robbed is because I have gotten soft while living in Nashville. I have lived through some interesting places as a kid, and young adult, and I realized while living in Nashville, I have lost my "don't F with me attitude". When I was in a kid in Boston, I walked through the Combat Zone nearly everyday after school to get from my part-time job to Chinatown. The Combat Zone was the red light district of Boston, with girlie shows, prostitution, pimps and drugs. Never did I have a problem traversing this area. Now, in 2010, the Combat Zone is no longer due to mail order adult videos, the expansion of Chinatown, the expansion of the theater district, and expansion of offices squeezing out the antiquated business of the girlie shows. When I lived in Phila, it was the heyday for the Italian mafia in South Phila, and it was the onslaught of the underground war between the Chinese gangs in Phila Chinatown fighting the new comer Vietnamese gangs trying to take over territory. At the time, if you were of East Asian decent or looked East Asian, it was advisable to stay away from Chinatown at night because you didn't want to be mistaken for an opposite gang member. Now, in 2010, the Phila Chinatown is an easy mix of Chinese and Vietnamese that is inviting for all to come see shops and dine at delicious restaurants in the spirit of both nationalities. Also, there was and still is a hardness to Phila in general where you have to exude an air of protecting your own space or you are going to get ripped off. It is that simple, just offer a little confidence that you can handle yourself, and no one would mess with you. So, the robber at the old Peter Chinn's location, saw that I was an easy mark because I have become soft. Not until I got mad like a Phila trained M-F, did he realize who he was talking to, and he completely backed off. Yeah, that's right - don't F with me, my Phila M-F attitude has been awakened after a long sleep.