Tacos y burritos

 Also, can I get some love for tamales?

Just like everything else, hipsters fucking ruined burritos. No, I don't want the citrus-braised pork, cilantro-lime rice, watery black beans and pineapple-mango-habanero salsa. I want chile colorado, orange Mexican rice, salsa taquera, refried beans made with lard, all wrapped up in a 2-foot diameter tortilla, also made with lard.

And stay away from my tacos. Meat, onions, cilantro, lime juice and salsa on two corn tortillas. Nothing more, nothing less. Don't mess with perfection.

Random taco and burrito thoughts:
- Breakfast tacos and burritos are the world's most perfect food. Scrambled eggs, cheese, your choice of meat, maybe some potatoes (but not always), maybe some peppers (but not always). Just heaven. (Naturally, pairesta beat me to this one.)

- I dig the traditional corn tortilla, meat, onion, cilantro thing when done well, really I do, but if liking fancy gringo tacos makes me a hipster, then bring it on. More can be less, but more can also be more. Torchy's Tacos out of Austin has a taco called the Dirty Sanchez with scrambled eggs, deep-fried poblano pepper, guacamole, escabeche carrots and shredded cheese, and this taco shames any traditional taco you will ever have.

- The one thing my boondock town of Wylie has over much of the rest of Dallas is a Chiloso, which is a burrito joint like Chipotle only WAY GOOD. Mainly because they have barbacoa, and most chain burrito places don't.

- Speaking of, besides eggs, barbacoa is the king of taco meats. Followe closely by chincharron, but quality there is less reliable I find.

- Chipotle is hot garbage. Its cultural ubiquity irrationally angers me.

- I like both flour and corn tortillas depending on the filling or just my mood. The Kroger near my house actually makes really good flour tortillas in-house, more like you'd find at a good restaurant and not at all like typical store-bought stuff. Since I have a gas stove top, I'll usually toast them up a little bit right over the flame. Yes, I set them on fire all the time.

- Tacos were one of like five things my parents cooked. Taco night at the Snapes consisted of ground beef cooked in the microwave in a colander over paper towels to drain and catch grease. The beef was then tossed with potatoes which had been cubed and boiled. Seasoned with salt. Then toppings: lettuce, diced tomato, guacamole if the avocados were in season, shredded colby jack cheese. The one great thing about taco night was the tortillas: corn tortillas fried in a cast iron skillet until puffy and just crunchy, but still a little greasy in a satisfying way. I have a lingering affection for this meal, so I still make it sometimes, but I amp it up in almost every way. I brown the beef with onions and garlic, then flavor it with my house chile powder, onion powder and whatever else feels right at the time, plus a little beef stock to make it saucier. I sautee the potatoes to get them a little crusty, too. We skip the lettuce and tomato, but I'll do a little red onion, plus some sliced avocado if in season. Then, cotija or queso fresco. If I'm feeling indulgent, though, I'll still go for those fried tortillas. That's a part my dad got absolutely right.

Random taco story:
One day at work we were trenched in a 4+ hour meeting which threatened to run over lunch time. Rather than break, Boss called her daughter and asked her to pick up some tacos from this good place nearby. She called in the order. Thirty minutes and five phone calls later between Boss and daughter later, we still have no tacos and are growing imminently concerned. Finally Boss hops on the phone with the cashier while her daughter is at the restaurant, as it seems our order has gone missing. But no, in fact. They don't have our order, because she is not at the right restaurant. We're ordering from the other taqueria in that same strip center. Apparently she came to the corner and just walked into the first taqueria she saw.

When she arrived with our tacos finally, she said, "How was I supposed to know there'd be two taco places on the same corner?"

My response: "In East Plano?"

Allow me to stick up for the Salvadorean pupusa, which is stuffed and made on the griddle. They're great and cost about a buck each. Put shredded cabbage and salsa on top.

I don't even know where to get good tacos this side of the Mississippi. I expect you westerners would say I can't. It's hard to get a good burrito, too. I would probably pick one up from a Salvadorean or Peruvian place, which are much more common here than real Mexican joints.

Burritos were a staple in grad school. So easy to throw stuff in the pan. I've made tortillas before as well, but it's not worth the effort vs. the price.

We have one good Mexican place quite near us, but it's a nice sit-down place.  Even crappy chain-type Mexican places are relatively few in number.  While there is a good-sized Latino population around here, much (most?) are not Mexican.  I don't know of a local taqueria that isn't also a pupuseria.

It's OK though, because Peruvian rotisserie is the highest plane of chicken existence, and the Latin bakery near us makes awesome pastries for $1.19 each.