BBQ is Dead. Long Live the Taco.

Brothers & sisters! Brothers & sisters! We come here today not to mourn the death of a BBQ joint. Oh no no no. Mourning is for ANOTHER morning. When death comes, we recite, we reflect, we remember & ultimately, we rejoice. We do not retire. Oh no no no.

Instead, we come here today to embrace the impending birth of a taco joint. Death brings life hallelujah lord give us a winter baby jesus amen!

Fort Reno is dead after a quick twenty-five months on the Slope's grey streets. Fort Reno was plucky. Fort Reno had heart. As a BBQ joint on Union St. named for a park in DC that's played host to Fugazi shows...much respect there. I attended an early preview of Fort Reno & from that point on, I found myself stopping by rather regularly, usually for a beer or two at the bar & a hot mess to go.

Since Fort Reno's opening, shit done changed. They added brunch. They added a taco/beer combo happy hour. The Hot Mess became their signature item. They added tacos to the menu. In the meantime, Fletcher's & Dinosaur & Morgan's opened their doors. BBQ became a little bit more real in Park Slope.

Still, I found myself drawn to Fort Reno, with its prime just-off-the-train locale & its slightly cheap BBQ & its good beer selection. Since I rarely ate fast food, Fort Reno sort of became my fast food.

And now Fort Reno is dead. The holidays came & I never really got to say goodbye. I sensed that something was eventually going to happen. Yeah there were changes but for months there was less staff working. Then they did an extended close for the holidays & now, as Here's Park Slope reported, Fort Reno is no more.

In its place...a rebrand, a taco joint run by Fort Reno/Palo Santo owner Jacques Gautier that should open up in February. As the above photo shows, they're apparently working that shit out RIGHT NOW. Either that or there's some totally sweet Breaking Bad/Gwynnett St. mashup going on behind those windows.

I get it, man...appraise & adjust. Can I get an "amen?" Fort Reno was tiny & offered BBQ that was good but would never please BBQ purists. In these post-Bloomberg times, Park Slope residents now have a wealth of BBQ options.

So...why not move on to tacos? People LOVE tacos, like almost on a fetishistic level. I'm one of those people. Can I get an "amen?"

You deflect my "amen" & say, "Hey, fuckface. Park Slope, which was once both taco & BBQ deficient is now ripe with both. As far as tacos go, there's the Oaxaca on 4th Ave. There's the Tacos Morelos truck parked on Union. There's even Fat Daddy Taco down on 9th St. Why in God's name would that Palo Santo dude even try to get into the taco game now?"

Since you invoked God's name, he spoke to me over a pitcher of sangria & half-duz of lengua tacos at this place in Red Hook that y'all bitches haven't even thought of Yelping about yet & here's how we saw it playing out:

Oaxaca's tacos are creative & flavorful but ultimately pretty mediocre on the overall NYC Taco Scale.™ God knows better...he spends a lot of time in Sunset Park.

The Tacos Morelos truck is there a LOT of the time & when they are, their tacos are simple & delicious in a way that lets the meat stand out. Shit's good...damn good, but there was this one time when the only guy in the truck ignored me for a good ten minutes & kept talking on his cell. That was lame.

Fat Daddy Taco? God thought that "Fat Daddy" was a funny nickname, but other than that...c'mon now.

As for whatever this Fort Reno taco replacement will be, it'll be convenient. It'll be tacos. It'll likely be food with the same culinary style as at Gautier's other endeavors, a style that definitely sees its fair share of experimentation. God is still skeptical...but God can't help it...he was born that way.

In short, you'll have another option for tacos. I feel like we can have enough BBQ places. We can never have enough taco places. Welcome to capitalism, bitches.

As for me, I'm looking forward to it, but still...RIP Fort Reno. I'll pour out some meat bitters on the curb for you. Can I get an "amen?"

Read way more from Shawn at eatdrinksnack.com & eatdrinktaco.com.