Chicago: Taco capital. Home to Rick Bayless, the chef who helped changed Americans’ minds about Mexican cuisine and turned south of the border foodways into a fine-dining force, and a sizable, diverse Mexican immigrant population, offers aficionados of Mexican food, plenty of options. Chicago is also home to Titus Ruscitti, author of the Chicago Taco Tour blog, the tacologist behind the @tweetsoftacos Twitter account, and contributor to Serious Eats, LTHforum.com, Thrillist and Travel Wisconsin. We at the Taco Trail are honored that Titus, or Taco T, as he’ll be known here, is also Taco Trail’s newest contributor.

Without further ado:

Today we head to a part of Chicago rarely seen to those not from here. Actually, the same goes for many who do reside in the city. The East Side of Chicago sits in it’s own little part of the cities landscape. Most people see it driving over 106th Street while taking the Chicago skyway in or out of the city. What you also see when taking that route is the last of the industrial areas which goes by “Da Region”  amongst locals. You can check out a taco report I did on the old-school Mexican-American restaurants of northwest Indiana. But today we’re going to stay on the Chicago side and check out the trail along 106th Street, which is basically the last line between the city and the state of Indiana.

Birrieria Ocotlan

We’ll start off by going west down 106th. The first stop is Birrieria Ocotlan on the 4000 block. This place specializes in you guessed: goat. We’re lucky to have as many places in the city serving birria as it makes for a really nice snack on a cold winter day. The menu here is pretty damn simple: tacos and soup. Unfortunately, they don’t make their own tortillas, which can result in the tacos falling apart as you near finish. But they make up for that with properly spiced shredded goat topped with homemade hot green salsa. A couple of these after a day of working outside at the refinery factories is a good way to get warm again.

Taqueria Don Robe

Continuing west on our stroll we’ll pass Taqueria Don Robe on the Northside of the street a few blocks down. This place opened within the last year and caught my eye with their handwritten signs advertising “Tacos Don Robe” for $1. So I stopped in one day and decided to try a couple of those as well as a fish taco. The friendly folks got to work on them and I was good to go. The fish taco was pretty good, nothing special but something I’d eat if it we’re my neighborhood taqueria. The “tacos don robe” we’re pretty damn tasty. Chunks of adobado are sauteed with grilled onions and topped with cabbage slaw and cilantro. The spicy pork was cooled down with the fresh topping options. I’d eat them often if were closer to me. No need for a McDouble and fries when you got these little guys.

Chapala Restaurant

Next up is a place that caught my eye with the hand written advertisement of regular or crispy tacos for $1.25 each. As mentioned we’re not far from northwest Indiana here which is where the deep fried taco continues to live on. Research and stories told tell me crispy fried tacos have been big around the Region for a while now, at least back to the early ’60s. It makes sense because what was said to be Chicago’s oldest Mexican restaurant (RIP) featured this style of taco and was located around this way. The meat goes into the tortilla, which is held together with toothpicks while they take a trip to the deep fryer. Toppings go on after. Usually you’ll see ground beef and maybe chicken on offer for this style but they’ll do whatever taco fillings they offer here. That said, steak gets too tough when fried so ground beef will always be the best way to go when it comes to making them this way. These pretty ladies were as good as they look, even with the bottled red Cholula sauce on top.

Tacos Nietos

Walking further west we’ll come across a newer spot housed in an old fast food joint. The name however is not new. Tacos Nietos has an original location attached to a gas station on 95th Street as well as this one that I had been meaning to stop in at. This report just gave me an excuse to do so sooner than later. The al pastor spit was in motion upon entry and we were greeted with freshly fried chips and a few salsa options with it after sitting down. I decided to try an al pastor as well as a lomo (rib-eye). There’s certain little things done by taqueria that can take their tacos from the middle of the pack to frontrunners and they like to do those things here. Tortillas were properly warmed and plates came with grilled onions and jalapeños too. The al pastor was tasty and above average on this visit but my go to taco from here from now on will be the lomo. The thinly pounded rib-eye steak was as tender of a piece as I’ve had from a taco shop, no resistance whatsoever. Topped with chopped potent cilantro as well as freshly diced onions this was a very satisfying lunch plate. In a city with as many taco options as Chicago it says a lot when you stop back at a place that has nothing to do with convenience and that’s what I plan to do.

El Taconcito Taqueria

Once you hit the end of 106th Street, if you take a right on Torrence, El Taconcito will shortly appear. I’ve passed it by many times and decided to stop in and make it the final stop on this tour after being turned off by another spot I was planning on featuring. I went in not expecting to find a trompo in motion but there it was so I had no choice but to try one. In Chicago many spots cut the cooked meat off the spit and finish crisping it on a flattop. Not something I’m a fan of but I don’t think doing so guarantees a bad taco. I’d use these here as an example of why. If you’re going to finish the meat this way you might as well throw some sliced onion in there with it which is what they do here. The cone is heavily spiced and the meat used definitely isn’t lean so eat these carefully. As long as you don’t ruin a newly bought shirt with red drippings you should enjoy them as much I did.

See you next time on the Chicago Taco Tour.

Wherever there are taquerias, there is art that distinguishes each shop from its competition, attracts clientele and marks the origins of business. This folk art takes the form of menus painted onto facades, anthropomorphic tacos and chiles, women hard at work at a metate, Monterrey landmark Cerro de la Silla, whatever the owners or workers can imagine. There need not be any association between what the taqueria serves and what adorns its edifice, as is the case of El Si Hay in Oak Cliff, a Dallas neighborhood famed for its tacos. The freestanding joint does not serve tacos al pastor from a trompo; yet, there on an exterior wall is a painting of a taquero at a trompo. Dallas Observer photographer Catherine Downes was kind enough to take shots of some of Oak Cliff’s remarkable taqueria art, including of El Si Hay. A collection of those wonderful photos, and the next installment in our Tacos Illustrated series is below.

Taco Rico is one of the few Dallas taqueria serving tacos al vapor (steamed tacos).

The local Fito’s chain specializes in northern Mexican tacos, like tacos de trompo, piratas and campechanas.

There is no mystery as to what is on Tortas El Jacalito’s menu.

Taqueria Habanero is one of the more brilliantly decorated restaurants.

The mural representing the cathedral in Saltillo, Coahuila, indicates the Taqueria Habanero owners’ hometown.

Taqueria Habanero is part art gallery. The artist responsible for the restaurant’s exterior murals has art for sale in the dining room.

All photos © Catherine Downes

I have a soft spot in my heart (and stomach) for food typical of Monterrey, the capital of border state Nuevo Leon. From the city—the tech center of Mexico and the country’s third largest city—come tacos de trompo and hamburguesas estilo monterrey, as well as cabrito and carne asada. Both of the former dishes are plentiful in the Oak Cliff section of Dallas thanks to a large Monterreyan population. Businesses specializing in them are distinguished by painted representations of trompos (the vertical spits on which pork for tacos de trompos are cooked) and of the Cerro de la Silla, the latter being Monterrey’s geographic landmark. The hamburger is the result of proximity to the United States, a class of cultures that heaps pork, avocado, and whatever else the cook desires, on top of a beef patty. The taco de trompo are related to Mexico City’s iconic antojito, the taco al pastor.

Whereas the pork for tacos al pastor is marinated with some combination of chiles, achiote and sour oranges, the meat for tacos de trompo is seasoned with paprika, giving the meat a smokier, spicier flavor. The tacos can also be greasier. After the taquero slices the meat from the trompo, he places it on corn tortillas that have been warming up on a well-oiled flattop griddle. He then flips the taco meat side down and lets the meat char and adhere to the tortilla before being served. They’re exquisite.

So when I was in Florida visiting family and learned of a Monterreyan restaurant on the I-4 between my parent’s house and Tampa, I made visiting the taqueria a priority. Taqueria Monterrey in Plant City was owned by Rene Valenzuela of Taco Bus fame until recently. With the change in ownership came the end of Taqueria Monterrey’s website and the end of tacos de trompo. The latter I learned only after sitting down at the restaurant (never mind that I could’ve been told that when I called the taqueria a week prior to trekking out there). It was a defeating moment. “I wish I had video of your reaction,” laughed my dining companion and brother-in-law. “You just slumped in your chair.”

“But it’s very much like tacos de trompo,” the waitress tried to assure me. It wasn’t. The tacos were a sad facsimile of the classic northern style, appearing as though they had been pounded thinly before marinating in cheap, stale paprika powder. The borrego we ordered to accompany the non-tacos de trompo were stringy with crispy ends and pinpricks of gaminess. Nothing was finished. We paid and left without more than “la cuenta, por favor.” “Check, please.”

At least I didn’t leave Florida thinking the taco and Mexican food options hadn’t improved since I had last visited. Acapulco Mexican Grocery & Taqueria made sure of that.

Tacos al pastor stand in Mexico City. Photo: Markus Pineyro.

If Mexico City, and by extension Mexico, were to have an iconic taco, it would be the taco al pastor. This bantam assembly of marinated pork shaved from a trompo (a vertical rotisserie) on a corn tortilla with pineapple, cilantro, onions and salsa is the object of lust for many taco enthusiasts. Spikes of heat, patches of char, citrus pep here and there: What’s not to like? It’s also considered the most authentic of tacos but it is not the first taco and was not adapted from some ancient Aztec recipe. Rather, the taco al pastor appeared in the capital in the mid-20^th century, a product of native and immigrant culinary mash-up. It’s also not the only style of taco with meat from a vertical spit. It’s not even the first such dish in Mexico—several of which, including tacos al pastor, are outlined below.

Tacos Árabes

Four hundred years after the Spanish came ashore on the Mexican mainland, initiating the birth of what would become Mexican food with pork, lard, beef and other comestibles, another group of non-indigenous peoples transformed Mexican food. This mass of people, immigrants from the Middle East, specifically Lebanon and Iran, into the city and state of Puebla, brought with them shawarma, lamb cooked on a vertical rotisserie, and their own flatbread, pita. The Mexican adaptation of shawarma popped up in the 1930s at Tacos Árabes Bagdad and Antigua Taqueria La Oriental, but took the form of pork (itself a Spanish import) served on a small pita-like tortilla called pan árabe.

As of yet, I have not been able to find traditional tacos árabes in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. However, they are served else in the United States. One such business is the Tacos Árabes truck in Los Angeles.

Similarly marinated meat served in a taco has also been called a taco árabe, according to Alejandro Escalante in La Tacopedia.

Tacos al Pastor

When tacos árabes made the jump to the capital in the 1950s they transformed again and took on the name tacos al pastor. They were first served at El Huequito and El Tizoncito, and have since become the taco most associated with Mexico City. The name tacos al pastor, meaning shepherd-style tacos, refers to the spit even though it is upright. The protein often used is adobo-seasoned pork (shoulder, butt), although beef can be interspersed between the layers of pork. As mentioned above, al pastor meat spinning on a trompo is popularly capped with pineapple and rests on an onion. The theory is the citrus juices run down the pork and the onion’s aroma wafts up. Onion perfume has a nice ring to it.

If the corn tortilla is replaced with a flour tortilla and cheese is added to the mix, what you’ve got is a gringa, or white woman’s taco. El Fogoncito in Mexico City claims to be the birthplace of the gringa taco. The story goes that in the 1970s two American women frequently asked El Fogoncito’s taqueros for tacos al pastor in that manner and eventually the kitchen the option on the official menu.

Marinated pork—or any protein—grilled or cooked on a flattop is not al pastor unless it is cooked on a spit. The spit need not be a vertical rotisserie, though. In northern Mexico and along the U.S.-Mexico border kid goat cooked on a horizontal spit over mesquite or mesquite coals is called cabrito al pastor. The McAllen, Texas, location of Mexico-based El Pastor Grill specializes in this style. And it’s a gamey delight.

Cabrito al pastor at El Pastor Grill in McAllen, Texas.

True tacos al pastor are a rarity in Dallas-Fort Worth. Taqueros are fond of noting that health regulations, least among them the requirement that the meat be finished off on a griddle, make use of a trompo nearly impossible. Restaurants attempting to pass off meat, shrimp, fish or any food as al pastor are stating that the food has been seasoned in a tacos al pastor-style marinade. If you see al pastor (or a gringa) on a menu, ask if the meat has been cooked on a trompo. The waitress or taquero won’t likely lie to you, but it wouldn’t hurt to try to get a peek into the kitchen. If a trompo hasn’t been utilized, for chrissakes don’t order the al pastor. North Texas recommendations include El Tizoncito (not related to the Mexico City original), Urban Taco, El Come Taco and Leo & Churro Taqueria.

Tacos de Adobada

This Tijuana specialty name translates to marinated tacos, and could, if you want to be literal and cheat refer to any filling seasoned with adobo. Unlike tacos de trompo, which we’ll get to below, “tacos de adobada” is more of a regional term than a different preparation using the same cooking implement. Stateside, tacos de adobada can be found at a few taquerias. Los Tacos No. 1 in New York City is one such joint.

Tacos de trompo from an Oak Cliff cenuderia.

Tacos de Trompo

Now we get to my personal favorite and the style taco enthusiasts are likely to encounter in DFW: tacos de trompo. Hailing from Monterrey, Nuevo León, in northern Mexico, a taco de trompo is pork seasoned with little more than smoked paprika served on corn tortillas. This particular marinade gives the meat a smokey, slightly spicier flavor.

Taquero preparing tacos de trompo to order.

However, unlike other trompo styles, tacos de trompo are finished on a griddle. The taquero slices the pork from the trompo onto a disc of corrugated cardboard and drops the meat onto corn tortillas already heating on the well-oiled griddle. After a minute or two, the open-faced taco is flipped pork-side down and crisped up with the meat adhering a bit to the tortilla before being served at places like Fito’s Tacos de Trompo #2 and Mi Tierrita.Some Dallas taquerias list trompo on their menus but are actually offering tacos al pastor. The reason, oddly enough, is that while the taqueros and their chile-based marinades hail from Mexico City, the population of immigrants from DF is miniscule compared to the Mexican population from Monterrey in Dallas. So, the businesses are pitching their fare toward the larger group, not the Anglos who swoop in like buzzards on any spot serving tacos al pastor. Case in point is Bachman Tacos & Grill, which claims to offer tacos de trompo for 99 cents but offers neither. Nearby Leo & Churro Taqueria also advertises 99-cent tacos de trompo. While the tacos are 99-cent, they are actually tacos al pastor ringed with char and measured in its chile and citrus components.

As for the history of when tacos de trompo were first served in Monterrey, it’s sketchy. The books and reference sources I have read tend to leave out the style. One exception is the Diccionario Enciclopedico de la Gastronomia Mexicana by Ricardo Muñoz Zurita. Even then, the author gives tacos de trompo one sentence lumped in with tacos al pastor. Taqueros I’ve interviewed regarding the style aren’t confident enough about tacos de trompos’ origins to give definitive answers. But keeping mind that they are descended from tacos al pastor, the northern preparation is doubtfully more than 50 years old. It is likely that tacos de trompo came to prominence in the 1980s and ’90s, when beef barbacoa moved beyond a Sunday ritual to a daily offering alongside taqueria culture’s popularity surge in Monterrey, as Domingo García Garza finds in his exploration of the taco’s transformation into a national dish. What’s more, taqueros interviewed by García explain that tacos de trompo came to Monterrey in the late 1960s and were called tacos griego (from gyro and Greek) and tacos Doneraki (from doner kebab and Doner Iraki), their Middle Eastern provenance front and center. Regardless of tacos de trompos’ backstory, what is true is the exquisiteness of a plate of shimmering tacos de trompo laced with cilantro and onion and finished off with rails of salsa de chile chipotle so hot even your ears sweat.

Filed under: DFW, History, Mexico City Tagged: gringas, tacos adobada, tacos al pastor, tacos arabes, tacos de trompo, trompo

TACO NIGHT!

After seven days of North Texas Beer Week, you’re gonna need some tacos. Your amigos at Four Corners Brewing Co. and the Taco Trail got you covered during everyone’s favorite night of the week, TACO NIGHT, Thursday, Nov. 6.

Dallas’ best taquerias will serve el verdadero sabor (the true taste) of Mexico with tacos de trompo. In their Dallas debut, Dos Primos Tacos will present their northern Mexico style of trompo; featuring pork seasoned with a paprika-based marinade. Mexico, DF-style tacos will be well represented with three top Dallas taquerias including El Tizoncito, El Come Taco and Urban Taco. We’re excited to bring them all together.

You need tacos and tacos need beer! Four Corners will have a plenty of variety on hand. Seasonals, special TACO NIGHT release and year-round offerings as well.

General admission, $25, gets you a taco from each vendor, sides and garnish and four 12-ounce pours to wash it all down. Tacos-only passes cost $15. Hot dog truck Eat Jo Dawgs will sell franks for the kiddies. Nos vemos pronto!

Photo: Markus Pineyro

Taco Flats’ modern and sleek exterior.

Taco Flats was the taqueria I most anticipated in 2014. Named, with permission, after a legendary Austin bar and rock club, the business from owner Simon Madera, a Rio Grande Valley native and restaurant industry veteran, opened in November. It has become something of a craft beer bar-modern taqueria along a stretch of Burnet Road that is becoming a taco hub. The taqueria is in the same strip center as the brick-and-mortar home of fancy lonchera Peached Tortilla and a short walk from Fork and Taco, which has an Uchi alumnus in its kitchen. Fork and Taco is an admirable restaurant that understands the importance of the handmade tortilla, but this is a review of Taco Flats, not Fork and Taco. That post is forthcoming.

As I mentioned, the wait for Taco Flats’ opening was worth it. From the moment you open the door, you know you’re in for something different.

The first thing to welcome you is a stuffed and mounted boar’s head on a wall of horizontal blue spectrum. But past the vestibule is a contemporary bar with plenty of dark varnished wood, a happy list of Texas craft beers, including Dallas’ own Deep Ellum Brewing Co., and a shuffleboard table in front of the kitchen pass.

A taco twofer at Taco Flats.

Sit at the bar end closest to the kitchen for a peek of Taco Flat’s prized treasure, a trompo bearing adobo-dressed pork destined for the best tacos al pastor I’ve had in Austin. To be clear, I mean legitimate tacos al pastor, the small parcels filled with crimson-colored pork marinated with a combination of chiles, achiote and citrus juice that is roasted on a vertical spit — not the red stuff that spent maybe a few hours in a hotel pan and then came to temperature on a griddle before drying out in a warming drawer. There is loads of that, most of it sad. It’s taken me five years of intense hunting to find something of Taco Flats’ caliber in Austin. The meat’s deep flavor spiked with heat from the salsa verde and a tart-sweetness from cubed pineapple. Spots of char break it up. At its base, a rough and bumpy handmade tortilla. These are the makings of greatness.

Unfortunately, the pirata, a northern Mexican taco of beef and cheese, isn’t as stellar as its cousin. At Taco Flats, the beef is three fat slices of fajita. The cheese used is Jack Cheese stained yellow from the meat’s juices and flattened to one side on a decent handmade flour tortilla. The taco is brick. The broken ring of onion and slice of chile did nothing to help. Neither would have the promised refried black beans missing in my order. I would have liked to have seen the beef and cheese fully integrated with one another. Skip the chile con queso too. It’s nothing special. Instead go straight for a pint of locally brewed beer and a couple of Austin’s best tacos al pastor. Have yourself a taco and beer party of joyful proportions.

Taco Flats
5520 Burnet Road, Ste. 101
Austin, TX 78756
512-619-9848

Get me talking about tacos and see me light up like a child who receives the exact gift he wished for Christmas morning. From their history and folklore to their variability, there is much joy in tacos. In no particular order, these are the tacos that brought me that joy in 2014.

A plate of tacos at Los Torres.

Taco de Barbacoa Roja Estilo Sinaloa at Los Torres Taqueria
Unlike the barbacoa commonly available in Texas, this specialty of Sinaloa (where the Torres family has roots) is a mix of beef and pork, dark red from chiles colorados and fragrant spices. It’s always included in my order at Los Torres, where homey braises and handmade tortillas band together to give Dallas it’s best taqueria. When you visit the little spot in Oak Cliff—and you will—resist the urge to order tortillas de maiz hechas a mano. Go for the thin, nearly translucent handmade flour tortillas characteristic of Sinaloa.

Taco de Barbacoa de Cabeza at Gerardo’s Drive-In
The table-hushing barbacoa at Gerardo’s on Houston’s east side is among the best I’ve had in Texas yet. It’s silky and full, though delicate, and pulled directly from the cows’ head. My visit to Gerardo’s included a kitchen tour from Owner José Luis Lopez—Gerardo is his son—who obviously has pride in his work. He propped the cow heads for photos taken by the crew I was running around Houston with that morning, amigos in food J.C. Reid and Michael Fulmer, cofounders of the Houston Barbecue Festival, and photographer Robert Strickland.

Taco al Pastor at Taco Flats
Austin isn’t a taco al pastor town. It’s strength resides in breakfast tacos and Tex-Mex. So this killer version of the undisputed king of tacos on a housemade tortilla from Taco Flats, a new Burnet Road bar with taco-focused pub grub came as a surprise. Sit at the far end of the bar for a view of the trompo.

Taco al pastor a la Tuma at Urban Taco.

Taco al Pastor a la Tuma at Urban Taco
Take the already excellent taco al pastor at this Uptown spot, place it atop cheese on a flattop griddle, fry that cheese to the point that it adheres to the tortilla, but don’t forget to tuck inside sneaky, spiky jalapeño, and finally relish this post-nightclub street taco—or three. Three is a respectable order.

The Jose and Fish Tacos (and the Escamoles) at El Come Taco
After time working at restaurants like Café San Miguel and Revolver Taco Lounge, Luis Villalva, with the help of his family and friends, opened El Come Taco in 2013. The menu was sparse at first, but Villalva soon expanded it to include two of Dallas’ best vegetarian tacos and the occasional exotic-for-most-Texans offerings. Sure, the taco al pastor at El Come is great, but I only order it if the trompo is fired up and spinning. But I always get the smooth black bean, queso fresco and avocado taco named after Luis’ father, José, and the squat fish taco. If available, the tacos de escamoles, filled with ant larvae cooked quickly in garlic and butter, is rich and gone in a flash as fast as the flick of a taquero’s wrist slicing from a trompo.

Tacos Rojos at Morales Restaurant
One of at least two Huastec restaurants in the Dallas area, Morales is hidden in plain sight in a Westmoreland Road shopping center between an old-fashioned barbershop and a Fito’s location. Here the specialty is the gargantuan banana leaf-wrapped tamal of the Huastec region, known as the zacahuil, along with a few other antojitos indicative of the area. Among them is a platter of tacos rojos, tiny parcels of tortillas red from the inclusion of chiles in the masa with your choice of filling that are buried under a pile of lettuce, queso fresco, tomatoes, and sliced, tender potatoes supported by piles of chorizo. Homey, messy and more than satisfying, these are a required order along side plates of zacahuil.

Tacos de trompo and a gringa at Dos Primos Tacos.

Tacos de Trompo at Dos Primos Tacos
These small bites ruined Monterrey-style trompo tacos for me. As a matter of fact, the greasy discs topped with paprika-forward-marinated pork sliced from Dos Primos‘ vertical spit, given a sprinkle of cilantro and chopped raw onion and then laced with throat-kicking chile de árbol salsa, pretty much typify the style.

Black Bean Breakfast Taco at Mi Madre’s Restaurant
A sloppy combination of black beans, egg and orange cheese, the black bean at Mi Madre’s is a hearty salty option that tops the classic migas breakfast taco. The beans themselves aren’t mushy at all. Rather, they are al dente and often slip through the net of cheese struggling to retain the contents in the tortilla.

Puffy Taco at Ray’s Drive Inn
My preferred first stop in San Antonio is the puffy taco institution of Ray’s, opened by Ray Lopez in the mid-1950s the dark, ramshackle joint is where younger brother Henry learned the puffy taco ways before opening his own, equally institutional restaurant. While there are several filling options, go traditional with ground beef and when the platter arrives at your table scarf the cumulus light treats as quickly as possible. Their lifespan is blink-short.

Sanchez’s barbacoa de borrego.

Barbacoa de Borrego Estilo Hidalgo Taco at Sanchez Panaderia y Taqueria
Mistakenly called Barbacoa Estilo Hidalgo, Sanchez Panaderia y Taqueria, a cinderblock building in the Lake June area of South Dallas, specializes in lamb barbacoa prepared in the style of Hidalgo state. Whether the lamb is pit-cooked in the traditional manner or the steam-pot modern way depends on who you talk to. Nevertheless, the herbaceous, tender meat has barely any gaminess. It’s a treat. Available Saturdays and Sundays, the only days Sanchez is opened, the dish is ordered by the pound and comes to the table in an ornate chafing dish. Handmade tortillas, garnishes and salsa accompany the meat. Adventurous eaters can also order pancita, essentially a Mexican haggis. Whatever you request, arrive early—Sanchez gets crowded as toward lunchtime—bring cash, start with a bowl of consommé and, if sensitive to sound, perhaps some earplugs. There will likely be a band performing in the tiny structure. Don’t let the prospect of not being able to hear your dining companions deter you from checking out Sanchez, though. It’s worth it.

Revolver Taco Lounge’s prawn head taco.

Prawn Head Taco at Revolver Taco Lounge
Not one to let a good thing go to waste, Gino Rojas, owner of Revolver Taco Lounge in Fort Worth took the prawn head used for presentation purposes on a crudo plate a friend and I devoured, saying only, “I’ll be right back. There is something I want to try.” In what seemed only a moment, Gino returned with a long platter bearing two tacos of the same chile-soaked prawn heads resting on a bramble of micro-greens atop tortillas so fresh touching them burned our fingers. At Revolver time is an essential ingredient. So is seafood. Michoacán, the name of the Mexican state, from where the Rojas clan hales, translates to “Place of Fishermen” in English. And this whim of a crustacean taco was another reminder of not only the gift this mod taco spot in Cowtown really is, but also why I time and again consider Revolver Taco Lounge the best taqueria I’ve been to yet in Texas.

What were your favorite tacos of 2014? Share them in the comments section and have a happy new year.

El Bolero’s tacos al pastor.

John Tesar is a no slouch. He is owner and executive chef at Knife. He has a cookbook in the works with Jordan Mackay, co-author with Aaron Franklin of Franklin Barbecue: A Meat-Smoking Manifesto. He is developing an Italian restaurant concept. And he is partner-operator at Apheleia Restaurant Group’s Oak. There he has tweaked and streamlined the kitchen and menu and business is improving. Now comes news that he is doing the same at El Bolero, Apheleia’s upscale Mexican spot, after ownership and El Bolero’s opening executive chef parted ways last month.

My only dining experience at El Bolero was the restaurant’s first night of service, when the menu was limited and the service extremely attentive. I had ample time to speak with co-owner John Paul Valverde (whose Coeval Studio also designed the gorgeous space) that night. We talked about the need for a variety of salsa options. I lobbied for a plethora of choices like those available in Mexico City: whole beans, French fries, salsas of every color and Scoville heat unit. I spoke with a manager about agave spirits, and he customized a mezcal flight for me. All of this from the best seat in the house—at the bar in front of the trompo, where I got to watch the taquero work his knife against the spinning top of marinated pork. The tacos al pastor on fresh corn tortillas were good but the execution needed flare. Part of eating these Mexico City favorites is the show taqueros put on for customers, flicking knives this way and that, attempting to catch pineapple slices behind their backs.

I don’t know if the spectacle has been upped since El Bolero opened, but I do know that the trompo isn’t going anywhere. As Valverde told me via Facebook, “[The] trompo is always going to be there.” While that is a relief, like many with deep love and respect for tacos and Mexican regional cuisines, I was leery of how an Anglo chef—no matter how talented and respectful—would treat the food. Anglo-driven “Modern Mexican” has show more disregard than understanding when it comes to the tradition and history of Mexican food.

During a phone conversation, Tesar went a long way to assure me of his seriousness.

Bolero’s incoming chef, Jacob Barrios, has the professional chops and is a native of Puebla, which, like Oaxaca, is considered part of the heart of authentic Mexican cooking. “Jake’s worked with me at Oceana, RM Seafood, both in New York and Las Vegas, and Tesar’s Modern Steak & Seafood. So, Jake is fine-dining trained, but he understands the flavors and tradition and the history of Mexican street food,” Tesar says. The chefs hope to add more ceviches and other antojitos. “You know I love a good taco just as much as anybody else,” Tesar jokes, explaining that before Barrios was brought on board, the chef held a tasting for El Bolero’s ownership. “And they loved it. John Paul especially was in love with the fact that we actually captured the flavors of Mexico.” Tesar doesn’t believe El Bolero will be all sarapes, palomas and rancheras and ay-ay-ay over night. “Jake is going to be my guide through real Mexico. And then the two of us will brainstorm and refine it all but not make it foofy,” he says. “We want people to come in, eat and say, ‘Wow! This is just like Mexico City.’ But it’s going to take some time and some learning. We’re going to have to earn it.”

What has me excited is the possibility of tacos arabes, which originate, like Barrios, in Puebla. The progenitor of tacos al pastor and the trompo taco styles, arabes are served on flour tortilla-like pan arabes. One or two places in DFW claim to offer tacos arabes but none do it from a spit. I’d like to see Tesar and Barrios take the time to serve it, at least as a special. Whether that happens, I’m looking forward to seeing and tasting what’s next at El Bolero.

Filed under: Dallas, Design District, DFW, News, Texas Tagged: Jacob Barrios, John Tesar, restaurants, street food, tacos al pastor

As far as taco capitals north of the border, it’s hard to beat Los Angeles. Often called the largest Mexican city outside of Mexico, the city is home to an intimidating array of tacos styles served in fast-casual spots, full-service restaurants, makeshift corner setups and food trucks.

Faced with compiling a survey of those options for a two-and-a-half day LA taco trip the first week of February proved difficult but fun. The list was revised from 25 stops to 40 and then down to approximately 20. It could have been 70! Four businesses that were on the itinerary from the start were Leo’s Taco Truck, Tacos La Guera, Los Originales Tacos Arabes de Puebla and Mariscos Jalisco.

Leo’s Taco Truck

A pass by the lot where Leo’s Taco Truck is stationed for service is all the proof you need to know why Los Angeles is a taco mecca. Industrial spotlights illuminate the crowd of taco hungry attracted by the giant trompo situated outside the lonchera, with another inside the rig. Customers line up to order their dollar tacos al pastor just fine, but they move like blobs inside a lava lamp while they wait for the names to be called to pick up their selections.

This first stop in LA has been lauded by just about everyone, and, for the most part, it lives up to the hype. The marinated pork sliced straight from the spit was crisped in spots by the vertical burners’ blasting flames, and it had smoky touches boosted by salsa de chile de arbol from the condiment bar near the front of the truck.

But there was one issue I had with them: the tortillas. The corn discs were commodity jobs straight from a market shelf. I wasn’t surprised, though. Surrounded by the  amorphous mass in the truck’s parking lot, it’s clear the bagged tortillas are necessary to keep up with the volume sold for the price point. Thankfully, the tacos as a whole don’t suffer for it.

1515 S. La Brea Ave.
Los Angeles, CA, 90019
323-346-2001
www.leostacostruck.com

Tacos La Guera

Commodity corn tortillas were also the foundation of choice at Tacos La Guera, a corner setup under collapsible canopies. At one end is the trompo, a young man quickly slicing the spinning meat into a tortilla. At the other end an older man accepts payment behind a table covered with vessels of garnishes and salsa. Between their posts, meat sizzles and braises and is chopped for serving in the decent tortillas to a clientele that waves and bends to accommodate new walk-ups.

The wait isn’t long before I received my order of tacos al pastor and tacos de cabeza that I topped with cilantro and onions and a singeing salsa. The pastor, which on the spit was whipped with flames, had a restrained seasoning and was overall mild. Meanwhile, the cabeza was a mix of fatty beef cheek and firmer meat that bore more salt than the pastor.

W. Pico Blvd. at S. Hobart Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA, 90006

Los Originales Tacos Arabes de Puebla

If tacos arabes are sold in Dallas, I have yet to find them after years of searching. In LA, they are most famously found at the Los Originales Tacos Arabes de Puebla truck stationed in an industrial sector of the city.

Arabes are the first of the trompo taco styles in Mexico, created by Lebanese immigrants in Puebla, Mexico, in approximately the 1930s, as an adaption of schwarma. Instead of lamb, tacos arabes are filled with pork, and a pita-like flour tortilla, not a corn tortilla, is the base. If the meat, juicy and warm and lightly seasoned, was taken off a trompo, the spit was hidden from plain sight.

At Los Originales Tacos Arabes—opened weekend nights—the signature item comes in two options: regular and especial. Both are huge. The former selection is served with meat topped with a thick chipotle barbecue desperate to be smoky and dominated with a vinegar-slamming sweetness. I recommend going for the especial, which adds queso blanco and sliced avocado to meat. It’s the better of the tacos, balancing the sharp sauce with creamy fat and saltiness.

3600 E. Olympic Blvd
Los Angeles, CA, 90023

Mariscos Jalisco

The award-winning seafood lonchera based out of Los Angeles’ Boyle Heights neighborhood was one of the three taco spots most recommended by friends when I told them I was planning a trip to LA. (The other two were Leo’s and Guerrilla Tacos. More on the latter in a future review.)

The signature taco, the taco dorado de camarones—shrimp cradled inside a deep-fried corn tortilla served with a gauzy tomato salsa, chopped onion and avocado slices—did not disappoint. Eating an order of these tacos is a messy endeavor but, in much the same way a child revels in his LEGO war zone of a room, it’s a joyful one. Add splashes of Tapatio salsa picante and the joy turns into ecstasy.

3040 E. Olympic Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA, 90023
323-528-6701
www.facebook.com/mariscosjalisco

Filed under: California, East LA, Los Angeles, Reviews Tagged: fish tacos, loncheras, seafood, taco trucks, tacos al pastor