Christina Papastavros began by baking two potatoes for an hour. She then got to work making it “crazy.”
She took the baked spuds and sliced them half lengthwise. Then she scored the flesh crosswise and placed them in the base of the container, along with a thick layer of butter applied with a rigid spatula resembling a putty knife.
Papastavros was in the process of whipping up a “Taco Loco,” one of the signature “crazy”-themed potato dishes she has served since opening her cramped “Papa’s Loca” storefront restaurant at 370 Whalley Ave, at the site of the former Lea’s Falafelhaus.
Papastavros said everyone calls her “Christina Papa.” And she wants to make “crazy potatoes.” So she named the restaurant Papa’s Loca. “I am also a bit loca myself,” she joked. “The apostrophe-S is really owning the crazy.”
The Taco Loco has all of the toppings of a normal taco, except it is served on a baked potato instead of a taco shell. “People like the idea of taco and potato, and when you put them together, it is like something exciting for their taste buds,” Papastavros said.
Taking a step deeper into the restaurant, she added two and a half scoopfuls of a mix of halal beef and kidney beans to the emerging Taco Loco. She chose kidney beans because they’re heartier and “tastier” than other beans, she said.
She added a heaping pile of a mixture of Monterey Jack, cheddar, and American cheese to top the beef. She said she tried each of the cheeses individually when she was developing the menu. “Then I said, ‘You know what? Let’s mix them all together and it will be way better.”
Next Papastavros put the piled-up potato in the microwave for two minutes. “I know people don’t like the microwave,” she said. “But it is the best way to make sure the cheese is melty.” She also mentioned how the microwave is small and efficient for space.
Papastavros said she used to work as the supervisor of shipping and receiving in Wilton at ASML, a Dutch company that makes machines that manufacture microchips. She said she got tired of “having men with college degrees come in and having to train them to do my job,” so she “took the biggest risk of my life and cashed out my 401(k).” It took from November to May to get all the paperwork done and ready the space to open Papa’s Loca.
After the potatoes came out of the microwave, Papastavros added sour cream and avocado. “Some people come in and they’re like, ‘Oh, I only get five toppings.’ But we don’t count sour cream as a topping. It is not a topping; it is a necessity.”
She added pico de gallo on top of the mounds of sour cream and avocado. The potato now resembled a volcano.
Papastavros striped the surface with a bright green cilantro and lime sauce in a practiced flick of her wrist. She said this is her favorite part of the menu; the sauce cuts through the fatty and rich elements beneath it. “It has mayo, sour cream, lime, cilantro …” she said. And? “The rest is a secret.”
The final touch: tortilla strips, which added a textural contrast, color, and “bite.” With so many toppings, you could scarcely see the potatoes underneath. Papastavros said that the dish usually lasts people about three meals. “I just have a big hand; however big my hand is, is where we go with it,” she said. “We eye everything. I want people to feel like they’re getting their money out.”
