Author Archives: Taco Trail Jose

by | August 28, 2013 · 7:14 am

El Taquito

ElTaquito

It wasn’t planned. Our Austin taco stop on the return trip from a Brownsville taco tour weekend was supposed to be El Taco Rico. Unfortunately, it was closed. El Taquito, a fast-casual chain outpost on Riverside Drive, was a backup-backup choice. We were there for pork, specifically al pastor from a trompo, after consuming almost nothing but beef in the Rio Grande Valley. A couple tacos al pastor from some joint off the highway would be all that was needed to hold us over until we got home.

As it turned it out, I had been to El Taquito before. On my first visit, midway through an East Austin taco crawl, Roberto Espinosa tried to warn me about the fried tripe before I bit down on a substance that was more PVC tubing than edible offal.

But it wasn’t time for tripe. It was time to leave behind cow country and the border for a pork preparation. Except it wasn’t. El Taquito was founded in Tamaulipas, a border state where Matamoros and Reynosa are located. The original of the three Central Texas outposts, the official company line claims, was the first to introduce avocado and queso fresco, common taco garnishes on both sides of the Rio Grande, as topping options to Austin.

I had just come a trip where I ate such tacos almost exclusively. It was time for pork. Continue reading →

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by | August 26, 2013 · 7:50 am

Salsa Limón

SalsaLimonRig

Salsa Limón’s rig.

With locations at La Gran Plaza mall and on Berry Street (across from the original Fuzzy’s Taco Shop, for which they get major props), a roving truck and a new restaurant (AKA Salsa Limón Museo), across from the Modern Art Museum, Salsa Limón has built itself a mini empire in Fort Worth. Dallas is next.

During a Salsa Limón stop in the Harwood District for last Saturday, Ramiro Ramirez, co-owner along with sister, Rosalia, confirmed to Taco Trail that Salsa Limón will have a presence at Jason Boso’s Truck Yard on Lower Greenville, a something Teresa Gubbins vaguely mentioned in a Culture Map story. “We’ll be there as often as possible,” he said of the food truck park whose concept includes rotating vendors. Ramirez also mentioned a desire to have a rig station at Southern Methodist University, his alma mater.

How would Salsa Limón’s offerings—tacos, tortas, quesadillas—especially the signature El Capitan, hold up against Torchy’s Tacos’ edible melees and Rusty Taco’s reliable fare? Continue reading →

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by | August 20, 2013 · 6:24 am

An Interview With Jeffrey M. Pilcher, Taco Historian

Pilcher Photo 1

Jeffrey Pilcher has a thing for tacos and Mexican food. So much so that he has dedicated much of his research to tacos and Mexican food on both sides of the border. He came to popular attention with his 2012 book, Planet Taco: A Global History of Mexican Food, a sequel of sorts to ¡Que vivan los tamales!: Food and the Making of Mexican Identity, a tracing of the development of Mexican nationalism through a history of its food from the domestication of corn to the 20th century.

Pilcher, a professor of history at the University of Minnesota, took the time to answer a lengthy set of interview questions from Taco Trail HQ, providing answers both light-hearted and rigorous. We cover taquerias outside of North America, favorite salsas, the future of tacos, the need for a beer after eating more than one’s fill in tacos and loads more.

Taco Trail: If pre-Hispanic peoples have been filling tortillas for more than a millennium, why is it important to distinguish that food from the taco?

Jeffrey Pilcher: Food is not just nutrition. It is also culture. Just think about what maize means to Mexicans and compare that with most folks in the United States. We know that ancient Mexican civilizations worshiped maize and ate tamales as a form of communion. They believed that if they did not make sacrifices to their gods, the maize fields would not grow and people would starve. These are deep and important meanings, but they are very different from the taco shops that first appeared in Mexico City about 1900. Historical context is essential for understanding what was important in people’s lives, and I think the taco tells us a lot about working-class people in modern Mexico.

TT: What’s the inspiration for your study of the taco?

JP: Precisely that it gives us such a good opportunity to study the lives of ordinary people.

TT: What are the marks of a great taqueria and a great taco?

JP: Freshness. Fresh tortillas. Meat just off the grill. A really good salsa (that smooth guacamole is my favorite). A squeeze of lime. A Mexican beer. It’s all about freshness. And having a lively scene, with people waiting in line for tacos, is how the taco vendors can serve fresh food and still make a profit. Continue reading →

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by | August 9, 2013 · 7:00 am

Taco Internet: London, Conquest and a Taco Named María

TacoTicker

We’re all over the map this week. Nick filed a two-in-one review of Las Casitas and Ome Calli. He declares the former establishment one of the best taquerias in Oregon and exclaims the deliciousness of corn-flavored dessert (C’mon, America, get with the program!) at Ome Calli. I spent a Sunday lunch at a meat market and found what I expected, damn good meats. You see, carnicerias (meat markets/butcher shops) tend to have better-than-average taco fillings because they’re the source used by surrounding taquerias. Get the barbacoa. Then, get more barbacoa to go.

Elsewhere, the Simpsons go into the lonchera business and OC Weekly is jazzed about an impending taqueria opening.

The Jolly Oyster Kitchen Has A Fried Oyster Taco That Will Haunt Your Dreams (In the Good Way) 〜 Ventura State Beach — L.A. Taco

Restaurant review: Taqueria, London W11 — The Telegraph

Duffy Brewery, Lard Lad, Bumblebee Man Taco Truck NOW OPEN in the Simpsons Theme Park — Eater

2 Weeks Until Taco María Opens — Stick a Fork in It

And don’t forget TacoCon (Cerveza) at Four Corners Brewing Co. This week, the NTTF released its latest in its festival-related loteria card series. Collect them all.

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by | August 7, 2013 · 6:21 am

La Guadalupana Meat Market

La Guadalupana's parking lot on a busy Sunday.

La Guadalupana’s parking lot on a busy Sunday.

Some are here fresh out of church, fashion cowboy boots reflecting the overhead lights. Some just rolled in for lunch. They’re wearing pressed embellished western shirts, what could pass as First Holy Communion gowns, work clothes, mechanics coveralls, whatever was clean and didn’t require ironing. I’m one of the latter. All of them, including myself, are crowded near a clear patch of counter between the cash register where customers place orders and the steam trays, separated from the full luncheonette counter by glass.

The trays hold guisos, carnitas and barbacoa (both only on weekend), menudo, and several grilled meats in their own juices. These are squeezed into gorditas, get piled on bread for tortas, bought by the pound, poured into small cauldrons and made into tacos.

All of these dishes pack the every table—especially the vermillion menudo—in the dining space of La Guadalupana, a meat market and grocery store in Oak Cliff. Continue reading →

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by | August 2, 2013 · 8:58 am

Taco Internet: The Bus, Guisados and Failing

TacoTicker

After months of positive experiences at taquerias in Dallas-Fort Worth, Austin and San Antonio, I came across a stinker of a joint. Maybe it’s because I’ve been concentrating on an article about a little considered taco (not the breakfast kind) and have stuck to the familiar or sure things. Maybe it’s because there’s so much great stuff out there. Whatever the reason, El Ranchito #3 remains a dud.

Beyond DFW, there is the wonderful (a new Taco Bus!) and the unfortunate (Huffington Post fails at taco fails!). Oh, and Johnathan Gold goes wishy-washy in his review of Petty Cash Taqueria. Without further ado, this week’s Taco Internet roundup:

Vitamina T: Tacos de Guisado at Ricardo Diaz’s New Colonia Taco Lounge — Los Angeles magazine

Taco Bus opens Brandon location on Falkenburg Road — The Tampa Tribune

Taco Fails: When Bad Things Happen To Good Tacos — Huffington Post

El Centro to Host El Grito de Independencia & Taco Cook-Off — Holtville Tribune

Taco Bell Announces Next Dorito Locos Taco — Ad Age

Fusion Taco Forces Me to Admit I Was Wrong — Houstonia

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by | July 31, 2013 · 7:51 am

El Ranchito #3

El Ranchio #3's exterior

From the start, things were off. The waitress mumbled to herself as she led us to our table at El Ranchito #3. She whispered answers to our questions in Spanish and neglected to mention the restaurant was out of the drinks we ordered, part of the three-taco special platter with either a coca mexicana special, a Fanta or an agua fresca de tamarindo. The waitress acknowledged the order and it arrived quickly, but our drinks didn’t. When I asked for our drinks again, I was told the restaurant didn’t have any Coke or agua fresca. Only Fanta was available in the beverage case. She pointed to it. It was 11 a.m. The chance that there was a rush on the specials that had depleted the stock was, by then, zero.
Continue reading →

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by | July 26, 2013 · 8:14 am

Taco Internet: Kosher Tacos, Austin and Portland

TacoTicker

Welcome back to the weekly roundup on The Taco Trail. This week, José visited Joe’s Bakery & Coffee Shop, serving the best breakfast tacos in Austin. Nick spent some time at Los Alambres in Portland and shared the good news coming out of the lonchera: tacos de canasta on Fridays, beginning today.

Back in Texas, CultureMap Dallas shares news about the Taco Dog, a crispy taco inside a hotdog bun available now at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. The North Texas Taco Festival folks continue to release their loteria card series in the run up to TacoCon (Cerveza) at Four Corners Brewing Co., Friday, Sept. 6. And then there are the taco-related headlines from across the country, including a kosher taco truck along the border.

Ricardo Diaz and Fam Launch Colonia Taco Lounge Aug 1 — Eater LA

First Look: Agave Taco Bar opens in Washington Park — Cafe Society

Taco Bell dropping kids meals, toys — USA Today

MXDC, vaguely Mexican and utterly forgettable — Washington Post

Kosher taco truck highlights little-known Jewish roots of Spanish (Video of Conversos y Tacos Kosher Gourmet Truck from Your Jewish News/ABC 7) — The Jerusalem Connection Report

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by | July 22, 2013 · 6:24 am

Joe’s Bakery & Coffee Shop

JoesBakeryTacos

A group of wait staff broke out into a ranchera when they learned it was a customer’s birthday. There was clapping. The clapping spread. As did the singing. To my left was a photo of Vicente Fernandez, the king of ranchera music. In front of me, at Joe’s Bakery & Coffee Shop in East Austin, was a platter of incredible breakfast tacos, flawless homemade flour tortillas—thick without being dense, fluffy without being mistaken for an old pillow—and all. Within one envelope was snappy dredged in flour bacon, firm eggs that bore a sheen, the heavy-handed spread of captivating refried beans. The pictured round breakfast sausage patties are one of only a couple of items not made in-house, but they have to be on the menu. Reportedly, sausage patties are among the first ingredients placed in a tortilla in Texas to create a breakfast taco.

There are myriad theories on the origins and appropriate composition of breakfast tacos. Some believe that Austin can rightfully claim Texas’ favorite day starter. This declaration is justified, they insist, because Austin is where the breakfast taco was perfected and popularized. Support is found in food writers in cities like New York who slap the qualifier “Austin-style” before mentioning our homegrown staple, tourists who return to their hometowns oohing and ahhing about them, and Joe’s Bakery & Coffee Shop. Continue reading →

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by | July 16, 2013 · 6:22 am

Announcing the TacoCon (Cerveza) Loteria Cards

TacoCon (Cerveza) Loteria Card #1 El TacoAs recognizable as the calaveras of Dia de los Muertos, loteria cards bearing archetypal figures drawn by Don Clemente Gallo in a Tarot-esque fashion are fixtures of Mexican popular culture. The cards, employed in a bingo-like game of chance, have inspired countless designers and artists. La Luna (the moon) adorns a switchplate. The wall concealing the bathrooms in Fito’s Tacos de Trompo #2 on West Davis Street is painted with a loteria card mural. Four Corners Brewing Company in West Dallas models its beer labels after the cards. And since we’re partnering with them to present TacoCon (Cerveza), we’d thought we have a little fun with them too.

In the run up to the festival, we’re releasing our own loteria cards, created by Alexander Flores. Print them. Collect them. Bring them to TacoCon (Cerveza) and use them to vote for your favorite taco truck. The first one, El Taco, is being released here. The rest will be available only on the North Texas Taco Festival Facebook page. ¡Buena suerte!

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