This is about a man on a mission to accomplish something great. This is about a journey that would take him to places he had not been before. This is about eating at each and every Mighty Taco location before I graduated from UB.
It all started when my former roommate Jayce went around with a group of his friends to all 15 Mighty Taco locations in the same day. I talked with him and found out that at some of the locations, he had eaten as little as a cookie to avoid becoming sick. They had eaten something at all of them nonetheless.
I was disappointed that I was unaware of the journey before Jayce had gone as I would have liked to accompany him. If I had been included, I would have made sure to eat at least a taco at each one if I could.
I love Mighty Taco. Since I eat a daily second dinner around 10 or 11 at night, many outings with friends had involved going to a Mighty Taco. They are open until one in the morning or later, so they were the perfect solution to my late night hunger.
Back in Syracuse, I only have Taco Bell. Their dining area closes at 10 (at least at the one closest to my house) and their tacos don't have the same sauce. I'm going to miss Mighty when I finished school. Then I thought, "Maybe I should do my own Mighty Taco run..."
As I neared the end of my time at UB, I thought about the amount of Mighty Taco locations I had visited. Since getting a severe case of diarrhea would probably not help me attract any new friends, I thought about just going to the remaining Mighty Tacos before I graduated, while eating a minimum of two beef and cheese tacos at each.
I had been to five different locations before the summer started. But, due to an internship in Niagara County, I was able to visit three more, bringing my total to eight. After a concert earlier this year, my friend Dave and I stopped at the Mighty Taco in Orchard Park, also known as no. 9.
At this point, I began to seriously consider going through with my plan. After all, there were only six left and I had just over a month to do it. After meeting my friend Tom at the Delaware Ave. location and reaching double digits, I decided to make it official. I got two tacos there so that I could pace myself and hit up no. 11 on the way back. I passed the location at the intersection of Delaware and Sheridan for two more tacos before the night was over.
I just needed some confirmation that what I was doing wasn't disgusting. While talking to my friend Amy, I told her what I was doing. Even though she goes to Niagara University so she wasn't as fortunate to have Mighty Taco sponsor her school's sporting events, she still supported the cause.
"It's not disgusting. You're pacing yourself. What Jayce did was disgusting," Amy said.
There was the confirmation I needed. I expected a guy to feel that way, but even a girl didn't think it was disgusting. Or she was being nice. Either way, I could do it and would even be public about it. At this point I was going to do it anyway, but I may have kept it more to myself without this conversation.
After going to the Williamsville location on Sheridan and cutting the remaining stops down to three, Dave agreed to go to both the West Seneca and Hamburg locations with me, which I planned on knocking out before Thanksgiving Break. He was on a diet, so he was just tagging along. However, he had a plan as well.
"You have inspired me to do the same thing when I get off this diet," Dave said. "I will have a day in which I can eat whatever I want, and I will go to a different one each week."
Feeling honored that I was being admired for my craving for cheap tacos, Dave and I got those two locations out of the way. There was one left. It was in East Amherst. Jayce, my inspiration for all of this, said he hadn't eaten at Mighty Taco since that day where he ate until he felt sick. We made plans to meet at no.15 together this past Sunday.
Along with my friends Stephen and Alex, we headed to 9360 Transit Road to meet Jayce. He was there, camera in hand. We told the cashier of what I was going to accomplish after I ate the tacos. Then I ordered.
"I'll have four beef and cheese tacos, soft, hot," I said.
I waited for everyone to get their orders before digging in. After that first amazing bite, I brought out my list of all the locations and crossed off the final one. I had done it.
I polished off those four tacos while Jayce took photos and made fun of Alex because he got the mild sauce. After I was done, I felt that since this was the last stop, I had to make the meal bigger.
I ordered and ate another taco and a cookie before I left. I filled out the comment card as well. Under location, I wrote "All of them," and filled out the card appropriately. I added that they should build one in Syracuse for me.
As I posed for a photograph outside, we saw the cashier showing the comments I had written to his co-workers. Jayce headed home and I went back to campus with Stephen and Alex.
There it was. It was complete. I may be graduating and unsure of what I am going to do with my life, but I can be sure that I accomplished something.
