tacotopia

I know – last week with the tinfoil hat paranoia and this week with the paranormal.  I can assure you I’m not crazy (of course that’s what any crazy person says). I do, however, appreciate some good juxtaposition and weirdness.  Like the other day when I was driving by the Municipal Court and a guy was sitting on the bench with a full blown campfire next to him – on the bench!  Taqueria Alteño had it’s own strangeness going on – and I liked it.  There were elephants all along one wall, and roosters on the other.  The elephants faced the door, the roosters faced the elephants.  I looked it up and their trunks were pointing up which is an American superstition, perhaps related to the Irish idea of the horseshoe needing to point up to keep the luck from running out.  And then I notice – the Del Mar East campus is shaped like a horseshoe, right over where my mother lived.  Once we all arrived we noticed the tejano music turn to middle eastern.  I suspect the strangeness is only beginning and that by the time we get back from the renfest we’ll be able to give the LHC a run for it’s money in tearing apart the fabric of reality.

What about the tacos, you ask?  They were good.  The chorizo & egg was excellent, I don’t know how to explain it but the filling was a firm mix of deep reddish brown and egg, and there was more flavor than it would seem could fit in a taco that size.  The Carne Guisada was so well prepared it was falling apart before I even touched it.  The tortillas were tough and dry, but the salsa more than made up for them. What made it all really good though was the presence of the whole crew: Kevin, Shelly, Matthew, and Monica.  Happy birthday sugar.

From the Hat

Tacotopia celebrates one of its own today and the anniversary of his birth.  That’s right; Master Tacoteur Ian completed another trip around the sun.  While I’m shouting out birthdays, my newest nephew celebrates his 3rd full day on the planet.  I’d like to mention that Ian’s lovely bride has a birthday this week, my mother’s birthday was last week and my father’s was yesterday.  To business.

It was a large gathering for today’s taco adventure.  We mobbed-up at Taqueria El Alteno on Ayers.  I was the first of our group to arrive and I knew all would be well.  Here, at 6:30 in the morning, at a random taqueria, was my friend Juan.  Usually, I see Juan in the context of work around the house and in the yard.  It was incongruous to see him here.  Not the last thing out of place at this place.  The juke box alternated Mariachi and Middle Eastern music.  We were watched over by wooden statuettes on the walls – Chickens juxtaposed with Elephants.

I think this weekend is shaping up to be a weekend of the out-of-place-and-time.  We’re gathering with friends for our yearly pilgrimage to the Texas Renaissance Festival.  I love the RenFest and start to see the place in my mind’s eye days before we get there.  Visions, generated from imagination and memory, out of place in my day-to-day life.  Sure, there’s jousting, minstrels, bawdy shows and pubs.  These things would be out of place in the Wal Mart parking lot, but they fit perfectly in the woods outside Plantersville.  People there are in a safe environment, free from the “normal”, expressing themselves via characters from places far away in space and time… and reality.  You have to cheer the guy, when surrounded by medieval dress, gets his Sith on; Vader or Maul.  It takes all kinds.  That’s what makes life interesting.   That, and tacos.

I had the huevos con chicharron a la Mexicana and a lengua con cilantro y cebolla – both on flour tortillas (no hand-made corn tarps).  The tortillas weren’t great, but they wrapped up a plentiful bunch of goodies.  The lengua was roasted, sliced, heated on the griddle and served with no sauce.  It was a solid offering.  The chicharrones were also good.  They were the heart-attack-causing cracklins found in the back of the store ’cause they’ll intimidate the whole chips aisle.  They were done well in the eggs, with just the right amount of bite.  Star of the show today was the salsa.  It was excellent.  Orange, served in a squirt bottle, I wanted to take some home.  The coffee never quit and was served by a very attentive attendant.  Well worth the trip.

Salud

Chacho’s Tacos #2

1321 Ayers Street

Corpus Christi, TX 78404

361-888-7378

Chorizo & Egg – $1.75

Carne Guisada – $1.95

Large Coffee – $1.35

As we stepped in from the rain, we shook off and stepped up to the counter and reading the menu board found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow: the elusive spam taco! The 5th in town! Next week we’ll be reviewing all five, stay tuned.  For today, however, I stick with my regular.  The place was nice, painted white, bare walls, humble and clean.  The servers were friendly and the patrons were diverse. We got our chow to go and headed back to Kevin’s to do some analytics.

The tortillas were soft and flour coated – an object of contention.  I like, Kevin doesn’t.  The Chorizo and egg was delicious, and tasted as if it was cooked in butter as well as chorizo grease.  The Carne Guisada was also quite good, very tender, and savory with more than a hint of tomato. The coffee was not great, and the creamer was in a packet.

We sat and ate the breakfast in the warm security of the house, a whole world of deep blue shadow, and quietly reflected on the day ahead in a fleeting period of calm before the storm of work. I swear I saw a ghost at the taqueria. Then – out into the rain again.