Nick’s Way
The Taco Shop Opens in the Sunset

Fusion can be a tricky thing.

Sometimes you end up with a watered-down version of two greats. Think: hybrid bikes.

Other times it works beautifully. See: the bacon-and-egg Bloody Mary.

Or: the taco stand/sports bar.

Welcome to The Taco Shop, a new gourmet taqueria coming Thursday to Underdogs Sports Bar & Grill in the Sunset.

If this taqueria-inside-a-bar concept rings a bell, it's because you're thinking of Nick's Crispy Tacos in Harry Denton's Rouge, which Nick Fasanella started back in 2002. Nick left that taco stand in 2006, and this week he makes a comeback by bringing his taco expertise to the taco-less Sunset. (Think of him as the Johnny Appleseed of tacos. Johnny Tacoseed, if you will.)

You'll be happy to know that the menu sticks to the basics, like the Carne Asada Taco made Nick's Way—wrapped in jack cheese and an extra fried tortilla, then topped with guacamole. The ingredients are mostly organic, and the tortillas come fresh daily from La Palma. There's also going to be brunch on weekends, when you can wake up to the Niners on six 50-inch plasmas, buckets of Corona and a chorizo-and-bacon breakfast burrito.

Or what you like to call the breakfast of champions.