HOW TACO VOTING WENT DOWN ON TUESDAY, MARCH 30 >>>

Yesterday's vote tally was double the previous highest total in the Weekly Volcano's Tournament of Tacos. According to the stats, it's obvious one local Mexican restaurant chain had something to do with that fact.

Here were yesterday's match-ups:

Los Reyes Del Taco vs. Vuelve a la Vida

Masa vs. El Toro

Taqueria La Fondita vs. Los Tres Hermanos

Top of Tacoma Bar & Cafe vs. Hell's Kitchen

No contest here, either in flavor or popularity: Vuelve A La Vida takes the voting handily with 60 percent of the votes over Los Reyes Del Taco and moves on to the Elote Eight.

Holy crap! Turnout for this contest was like the turnout at a dunk-the-banker booth at the Taste of Tacoma! Both Masa and El Toro did their darndest to mobilize their base, and though Masa ran out to an early lead, El Toro fans had an amazing, jaw-dropping late afternoon push that had the stamina to carry through the evening and snatch victory from the fancy Sixth Avenue joint with nearly 200 more votes. Unbelievable.

Huddled in the parking lots around paper plates in the rain, voters agreed that Taqueria La Fondita's fresh tortillas are exceptional. And the meat is pretty damn fine, too. Yes, while battle for "King of the Taco Trucks" seesawed all day, in final couple hours last night Taqueria La Fondita on 38^th Street pulled ahead of Los Tres Hermanos winning by eight votes.

From the very beginning, Top of Tacoma Bar & Cafe has been the powerhouse of the gritty bar competitors. Although they don't make their tortillas in-house, their meat is tasty and the price is right, especially on 253 Taco Thursday when they're 75 cents a pop. They blitzed through the first couple rounds as if unopposed, then soundly defeated tough competitor Hell's Kitchen last night with 54.3 percent of the vote.

There you go. Half of the Elote Eight seeds have been set. Vuelve a la Vida, El Toro, Taqueria La Fondita and Top of Tacoma Bar & Café will sit back with a smile and watch the remaining eight tacos battle it out today for the final four slots.

Confused? Read our Tournament of Tacos introduction here.

Today's games are on. Vote here.