Tacos, Tacos, and More Tacos

Tacos, Tacos, and More Tacos

Over the years, we have been to many cities in Mexico. We have traveled to Cancun, Cozumel, Puerto Vallarta, Cabo San Lucas, several border towns and twice to Mexico City. It’s hard to choose our favorite food city in Mexico because, in a country with such a rich food culture, there’s a lot of good food to be had. Although Guadalajara is not a foodie destination like Mexico City or Lima, Peru, the food here is some of the best we have tasted. This city has delicious, authentic and traditional Mexican cuisine.

For the last two weeks that has meant tacos. Tacos asada, al pastor, carnitas, lengua, buche, chorizo, cabeza, cazuela, dorados, and pescado. The taco is the most representative food of Mexico and it is the perfect food. Fast, flavorful and cheap.

Every single day for the past two weeks we have eaten tacos. Sometimes for breakfast, but usually for lunch or dinner. And so far, we are not tired of eating them. We have found our favorite restaurants and taquerias depending on the type of taco we are hungry for. We have learned that there are countless types of tacos, each flavorful and just as tasty as the others.

Authentic Mexican tacos are not made with hard, Dorito-like shells and are rarely topped with shredded lettuce. And chips are hard to find in restaurants. But soft corn tortillas are everywhere.

I must admit we had some help in seeking out different types of tacos after watching the Netflix series, “Taco Chronicles.” I highly recommend the series, but beware, you will come away hungry.

Our Favorites

It’s hard to compare tacos between taquerias because each has its own unique recipe or variation of, for instance, a barbacoa, seafood, or carne asada tacos. But what really takes a taco over the top are the fixings you put on it.

One of our favorite taco restaurants is just down the street from our apartment. The limited menu is posted on the wall. Each taco costs about 75 cents. Our first trip, we asked for one of each type of taco they offered. We had the most popular and probably the most familiar taco called taco al pastor. The al pastor should look a little something like this: pork, pineapple, and perfectly marinated bliss. This type of taco can be found almost at every Mexican restaurant and is sold in markets and by street vendors.

But we didn’t stop there. We had tacos made from pigs’ ears (oreja tacos), pigs’ snouts (trompa tacos), and cows’ tongue (lengua tacos). They were all perfectly prepared and delicious. We added onions, cilantro, jalapeno pepper, salsa, guacamole, and spicy picante sauce. Then we topped them off with fresh lime juice.

Most taquerias serve two freshly made salsas, a red and green. The green is made with tomatillos and the red salsa is a simple puree of tomatoes onions and hot peppers.

Another one of our favorite discoveries was a fish taco restaurant. Each taco was filled with big chunks of white fish or shrimp. There were so many fixings to choose from and hot sauces that we were too afraid to try.

In addition to restaurants, tacos can be eaten at street-corner stands or in local markets. We always see people standing around, ordering and eating tacos. We recently stopped at a little stand and had huevos y frijole tacos. Adding spicy fixings to our egg and refried bean taco was a great way to start our day.

Carne en su jugo is one dish from Guadalajara that can sound questionable in translation. ‘Meat in its juice’ doesn’t give off a particularly appetizing vibe, after all. However, this typical dish is essentially a beef, bean, and bacon-filled broth, served with—as is common across the board of Mexican cuisine—onion, cilantro, and fresh lime.

With the stack of tortillas that accompany the dish, we assembled our own tacos. The meat was tender and flavorful, and we added the whole, roasted onions that were served alongside. We were in meat heaven.

It goes without saying that ice-cold beer in a frosty mug is a fine chaser with tacos. We prefer the national Mexican beers of Corona Extra, Modelo Especial, Sol, Dos Equis, or Tecate but a lot of restaurants also offer artisanal beer.

So far, we have not tired of eating tacos. There are so many varieties and it’s so easy to walk up to a restaurant or street vendor, order a taco and chow down. We eat one or two, then we order the third taco because we haven’t tried that type yet, and finally we order a fourth to finish off our beer. Like in the old beer commercial, “It doesn’t get any better than this”.

4 thoughts on “Tacos, Tacos, and More Tacos

  1. Hola Marc!
    Estoy muy emocionada de leer sobre tu experiencia con la gastronomía mexicana!!
    También estoy feliz porque pronto los voy a ver!!!
    Con mucho cariño.
    Zuri

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