The great taco hunt - Brief Article

Sunset, March, 2000

Somebody had to do it--find the best tacos in the West. Vounteered. Months of research, thousands of tacos, a list of winners.

The taco is a simple concept with a big reach. Though basically a street snack, it represents an entire culture--that little corn tortilla alone holds centuries of symbol and sustenance for the peoples of Mexico (try reading that much significance into a hamburger bun). * And unlike our large impostor taco chains, which impose one mediocre style nationwide, "real" (that is, authentic Mexican) taquerias are spreading variety and quality throughout the land. The taco may be fast food in the end, but in the beginning, someone took a lot of time to grind the masa, braise the meat, and stem innumerable chilies. * A fresh, sweet, earthy corn tortilla--usually two, in fact--is the earmark of a good soft taco. Wonderful traditional regional Mexican dishes are its heart and soul: simple came asada (grilled meat), spicy pork a/pastor (barbecued country-style), deep red chile colorado (beef or pork in red chili sauce). * Such tacos are capable of mobilizing more than a dozen Sunset scouts on a search for the finest in t he West. We got directions first--from you. Last April we asked our readers to tell us about the best places in the West to buy tacos. We got nearly 800 nominations, creating an astonishingly wide taco trail from Missoula, Montana, to Las Cruces, New Mexico; from Tuba City, Arizona, to Lahaina, Hawaii. Did I mention California? * We were critical, looking for authentic Mexican traditions or truly creative variations. The tortillas could be made of corn (yellow is the most common, but we found white and blue too) or wheat flour (introduced by the Spanish conquerors, it settled in as the tortilla material of choice near the northern Mexican border), but they had to be fresh. If a taco was fried, its crunch had to be honestly come by through a recent encounter with sizzling fat. We checked out full-service restaurants with strong taco contingents on their menus, order-atthe-register taquerias, and even a few taco trucks (not nearly enough-there's a world to explorel). After logging many miles and uncinching our belts a few notches, we made a list of favorites (it starts at right; recipes start on page 112). Clearly, the taco deserves respect as a food: It loses no integrity just because it's fast. -- Sara Schneider.

Top of the tacos

Lone Star Taqueria, Salt Lake City UT

So, what's with the beat-up, graffiti-painted station wagon permanently crashed into the rail fence around the colorful patio? And what about the decidedly Texan implications in the name of this taqueria, opened six years ago by Susan Harries? Ask Lone Star chef Manuel Valdez and he'll just smile and shrug. He's from Zacatecas, Mexico, and his only concern is that the tacos streaming out of his cramped Salt Lake City kitchen taste positively south of the border--if not out of this world.

The specialty of the house is a fish taco with ingredients so simple and fresh it needs nothing but dollops of Valdez's special cilantro-jalaperio mayonnaise and pico de gallo to bring the flavors together. (Fish taco recipe is on page 115; for sauces, see page 116.) Step up to the salsa bar if you need extra heat. Sixteen other tacos on the menu make this a place you can't sample in one sitting--but don't miss the carne adobada.

2265 E. Fort Union Blvd., Salt Lake City; (801) 944-2300. --Jeff Phillips

Chope's Bar and Cafe, La Mesa, NM

Twelve miles south of Mesilla, New Mexico, inside the plain, half-century-old Chope's Bar and Cafe, families of three and four generations share what many believe is the best regional food in the state.

The tacos are everything classic tacos should be--aromatic ground beef, cooked to crumbly firmness (recipe is on page 115), in a crisp, fried tortilla shell that tastes of roasted corn, served with a truly addictive fresh green chili salsa.

16145 S. State 28, La Mesa; (505) 233-3420.

Sharon Niederman

Cafe Azul, Portland, OR

"Tacos are very exotic for something so familiar," says Claire Archibald, chef and co-owner of the elegant Cafe Azul. Although a plate of tacos at Cafe Azul is a remark ably different experience than one in the local barrio, it's not to be missed. A sampling from the appe tizer selection might include handmade tortillas wrapped around achiote-marinated pork roasted in banana leaves with sour orange juice--a complex bite of sweet, spicy, earthy, and faintly bitter notes. (The recipe for Cafe Azul's rajas con queso is on page 114; for tomatillo-avo-cado salsa, see page 116.)

Cafe Azul is in the front ranks of new Western restaurants going beyond well-known Tex-Mex food to authentic and sophisticated regional Mexican flavors--in this case, of Oaxaca.

112 N.W. Ninth Ave., Portland; (503) 525-4422.

Stacey Philipps

La Taqueria, San Francisco, CA

In the early 1970s, fueled by memories of eating tacos as a boy in Tijuana, Miguel Jara spent a year--and much of his life savings--shaping a San Francisco storefront into a stand to serve fresh Mexican-style tacos. He built the furniture, uncovered the skylights--and learned to cook. In the town of Tepatitlan in Jalisco, Mexico, he discovered the secret to delicious carnitas (recipe is on page 115).