Taco diehards: This week I spoke to taco scholar and food blogger Bill Esparza about… well you guessed it: tacos. We discussed what makes a good taco, and what to look for in a taqueria. Read on after the Q-and-A for this week’s batch of Long Beach taqueria reviews.
What is a taco?
A taco is a filling that is inside of a tortilla. That really includes burritos too. Burritos in Mexico are a regional type of taco. [A taco] is a dish where the filling is the most important thing.
In your opinion, what makes a good taco?
It has to come together as a dish. Often times people will just place something inside a tortilla and there’s no connection to the tortilla; it’s often dry. Just how you wouldn’t take ham and put it between two pieces of bread and call it a sandwich. There has to be some sort of moisture created so that when you bite into a taco it becomes like a stew inside of your mouth.
When you go to a taqueria, what are some of the things you look for?
I’d say for the layperson, they should look for freshness of ingredients as well as ties to a region; little Mexico is always better than big Mexico. That means a place that says, “We have Mexican tacos,” I don’t know what that means because there are 31 states and a federal district in Mexico—32 regions in total. There’s not really a taco place that can represent Mexico. There are typically more expectations if someone is calling out their state. People don’t represent their hometown in a half-assed way.
What are the signs of a competent taquero/a?
They should be skilled. If it looks like the weekend warriors put together your taco, that’s what it’s going taste like. They should have knife skills, always sharpening their knives like a chef in a restaurant. They should move quick and accurate whether they’re cutting steak or carving off the al pastor—you want to see the guy spinning the spit and quickly slicing down the meat and keeping the mound well manicured.
I’ve been to a few places that offer al pastor that don’t cut the meat from a spit. Is that acceptable?
No. These are Mexican-American places where you have 20 different meats and they’re all cooked on the same flattop. That’s not the way it’s done in Mexico. And while it’s not necessarily about being authentic or doing it just like it’s done in Mexico, those guys [in Mexico] have already figured out how to cook the [meat] in a way that’s suitable to the cuisine. If a place is doing al pastor on a flattop, adobo is going to get on the flattop and make everything else taste like al pastor. The other thing is that they’re cooking steak on there and calling it carne asada, which is not carne asada because it’s not cooked on mesquite; it has to be. I want different textures. What happens at the places that cook everything on the same flattop? It all tastes the same and has the same texture.
Is there a difference between how the taco is thought of in the U.S versus Mexico?
It’s part of Mexican and American culture. In Mexico it’s just part of snack time. It’s what you do after you get out of the movies. It’s what you do when you’re at the bars. It’s what you get after work before dinner. It’s a convenience thing. Tortillas are our lunchbox. In the U.S. there’s a sort of fetishizing of the taco as a product; people go crazy for them.
Is there a certain way to eat a taco?
With your hands. You can tell someone is experienced if they can hold it. It doesn’t matter the size of the taco or the condition of the tortilla is, you should be able to eat the whole thing, standing up, without it falling apart if you have the proper pinch technique.
Tacos El Jaliciense
Tacos El Jaliciense
5923 Atlantic Ave,
Tacos: $1.17
Through a screen door, you’ll find a man-and-woman duo running this North Long Beach taqueria. There’s a salsa bar with fresh cucumbers, radishes, and limes. The habanero salsa is as spicy as you’d expect while the taqueria-style salsa verde is vinegary but smooth.
The asada here is well charred and smoky. The cabeza is succulent and rich. The tortillas are handmade and melt in your mouth. Although the atmosphere is a bit lacking, these are some solid tacos.
Taqueria Cuernavacas Grill
823 South St.
Tacos: $1.50
It’s never a good thing when you leave an eatery asking, “What did I just eat?”
I ordered two asada tacos and got two tortillas full of chunky bistec. The handmade tortillas were a nice touch but the asada was further from anything I’d ever think to call asada.
Not recommended.