Corpus Donuts

There was a good amount of space in the place, but only a few tables – and the lighting was very low, like a brownout, but the lighting didn’t hide the dirt that well.  The hat said it looked like a bar. There were two big stacks of professional PA speakers (Peavey 2x15s on top of big Cerwin vegas).  When I asked, I was told that they rent the place out for dances – explaining a lot.  I knew we were doubling up today but I still had to try both of my standard tacos for the sake of science so I got a Carne Guisada and a Chorizo & Egg.  Everything was fair, nothing outstanding.  If you’re looking for a place to impress people from out of town how good food can come out of bad places this might be a contender.  If they’re not from Corpus they won’t know that these tacos aren’t top notch, because in comparison to what most cities have they are.  On the way out, the Hat bought us all a round of Donuts, and they were top notch, very fresh, and glazed with just the slightest hint of lemon.

Tacos from Corpus Donuts

Next we headed to the Donut Hole, a place we’ve tried at least three times to sample and were deflected on each attempt.  The Hole is legendary in local taco circles, and was one of the first recommendations we received.  I mentioned it to my wife, not knowing any better, and commented that it was a strange sounding place to have tacos.  My wife informed me that it was a little dive, it’d been there forever, that she had been going there since she was a teenager, and that the tacos were great.

Well, she wasn’t kidding.  The place is a little dive. Looking at the building it’s unclear if it’s open for business or if it’s a derelict superfund site.  It’s situated across from Wynn Seale Middle School, right down the road from the abandoned Butter Krust bakery.  We both pulled our trucks into the lot and finding nowhere to park, and barely enough space to drive around it, we pulled up next door and walked over.  A guy speaking jibberish (or aramaic, my aramaic is a little rusty) walked up asked me for the time, and asked the hat for a quarter before wandering off to alert the illuminati that we were falling right into their trap.  A dim, yellow light was leaking out the back of the building, and looking through the doorway I could barely make out the interior – which looked like a country blacksmith’s shop.  We knocked and were told to come back in 20 minutes (this was at 7:20 meaning they open at 7:40).

I was ready to give it up, and to try it on a day where the gloom wasn’t so oppressive.  I wasn’t sure if it felt more like a scene from ‘Conspiracy Theory’ or ‘From Beyond’ but I didn’t have a good feeling about it either way. The scene it reminded me of most was in Cronenberg’s ‘Naked Lunch’ when Bill Lee breaks the typewriter, brings it to the blacksmith shop and they melt it down and make it into a new one.  It wouldn’t surprise me if they were sprinkling the tacos with the powder from the Aquatic Brazilian Centipede. This was a dangerous place, as ‘King Crimson’ says, and I had the kid to worry about so I whisked him away and deposited him at his school, where he would be protected by the holiness of the Catholic Church.  Then, as I was pulling away I received a text from Kevin who had the same idea as me.  Give it one more try.  Acting against my better judgement I headed back, and picked up a brown bag from the second window.  The holy grail of tacos, I had it right in my hands.  I raced over to the Hat’s house to we could examine the goods in safety (who am I kidding, if the Illuminati wanted to know what tacos we were eating, they would already be in the house – which meant they probably were in the house, as they know all.)

Well, it was all worth it.  The tacos were every bit as good as they had been described.  The carne g, their signature item, was rich and the beef dense.  The chorizo & egg amazing, with a strong and salty flavor you can only get from a grimy kitchen.  The tacos were the size of, well, a giant taco, and the tortillas achieved a perfect balance of tenderness vs tensile strength.

As we talked ourselves down, and tried to rid ourselves of the feeling we were being watched, we made plans for next weeks trip – to another hole in the wall with ample history.  Tune in!

From the Hat

Before I get to taco news today, I’d like to give a shout out to South Texas Public Radio for hosting a night of fine food and wine.  Shell and I are regulars at their yearly Classic Brew event, a food and beer gig with live music but had never been to their Food and Wine Classic.  The dress was everything from black tie to CC formal (jeans and sandals) – definitely a good place to break out the Black Leather SRV hat.  There was plenty of gourmet fare for all.  My favorite was a lobster taco with pico de gallo and avocado ice cream on a handmade corn minitort.  Delicious and beautiful to look at.  Close runners-up were a ginger-soy beef (or was it lamb) in a fried filo dough cone, and a sweet frau gras mousse also in filo.  I’m sure there were plenty of good and great wines, but after half a dozen samples of different Carmeneres, my taste buds might have been compromised.  We had a good time and will be back.  It might not make my bucket list, but definitely one of my 40 things to do in Corpus.

It’s a great thing when dozens of fine restaurants are gathered together, dishing out their wares to the grazing multitudes, but sometimes one has to work a bit harder to quell that hankerin’.  In fact, sometimes it seems that there might be someone working against you in your quest.  Today started innocently enough.  Last night’s Wine Classic had decided not to drive and ended up crashing on my heartburn.  It was still there when I woke up so asked it if it wanted a taco.  It did and before long my heartburn and I were on the way to Corpus Donuts, formerly Recios.  I had it from fellow taco fan and go-to expert in local taquerias, Johnny H. that if it was still the same people, this place had a good brisket taco.  I could tell my heartburn was looking forward to it too.  I think because it was a donut shop, that Ian decided it would be a good opportunity to make a theme of it and hit the infamous Donut Hole as an added bonus feature.  So I only ordered the brisket figuring I’d save myself for a good showing at The Hole.  In all honesty, I was not really impressed when the plate was plopped down in front of me.  After the display of beautiful food last night, the lonely grey slice of fatty brisket in a flour tortilla was not impressive.  But upon removal of some of the fat and proper application of barbecue sauce and salsa, it ended up being good.  The brisket had a good mesquite smoke flavor with a soft texture that comes from many after-pit hours in the oven.  The tortilla was good, toothy, and held up to the barbecue’s frontal assault.  The coffee was okay, but not the usual café fresh I expect.  The hot, fresh glazed donuts were very good.

Tacos from the Donut Hole

Here’s where it gets tricky.  Last time, The Hole was rained out and we went elsewhere.  Just what The Hole wanted, too I’m sure.  Today, when The Hole discovered we were back, we were put off with a shout from inside the closed building, “Thirty more minutes.”  Tacotopia runs a tight ship and we couldn’t wait so I resigned myself to my one brisket taco and vowed to return to The Hole in victory.  But all the way home I had a gnawing feeling that we were being duped; that there was a conspiracy to keep the Hole’s secrets from the likes of us.  Or maybe that The Hole would only accept our calling on its terms…I decided to go back…as it turned out, so had Ian.  He was ahead of me so he volunteered to brave The Hole alone and bring tacos to the house.  I left it to his judgment as to which taco I wanted.  Turns out that he made the right choice – the lengua.  The taco was astounding!  At first I didn’t know what to think of it.  It didn’t really look like any lengua taco I’d had.  Tender roast beef with that unmistakable taste of cabesa.  Stringy almost like the best pot roast you ever had.  Half way through it I remember Matt, a Surf Club acquaintance had told me that the Hole had the best Lengua he’d ever eaten.  I can say now that it’s the best I’ve ever eaten too.  Wow!  The torts were good too and a splash of the atomic-hot green sauce made it a great taco experience.  Too bad no coffee.

Salud

Restaurants are no different.  Some of them are great and die early, some of exist forever with a steady, plodding mediocrity, but a few continue to improve with each passing year.  Eddie’s is one of those places.  Recommended time and again, most recently by Solomon Ortiz, Jr. (who is in no way affiliated with this blog and likely has never read it), we threaded our way through the cluster of taquerias that is Kostoryz Road and met up at this venerable institution. Neither Kevin nor I had eaten here before and didn’t quite know what to expect.  Google maps choked on the directions, possibly thinking there couldn’t possibly be so many taco place in such a small space.  Then we saw the big red neon sign and there could be no mistaking it.

The place was big, fairly clean but crammed full of ‘flair.’  Halloween decorations were already up.  Eddie’s has been around since 1975, and it doesn’t look a day over 25.  A ‘distinguished’ and attractive waitress expeditiously took our order with wit and precision and before long we were feasting our eyes and soon our appetites on some of the best breakfast tacos Kostoryz has to offer.  The coffee was good, and served in a mug that could barely fit through the Panama Canal.  The tacos as well were abundant, but the quantity did not come at the expense of the quality.  The chorizo & egg was good, the hand-made flour tortillas were good as well.  The salsa is from pickled jalepeños and is very good.  The best thing I had was the Carne Guisada, which had a sharp flavor but a gravy that was more brown than red with a healthy dose of black pepper.  It was tender but substantial.  My coffee cup was kept full as was my sonic-ice filled water.

Any two of these things would make Eddie’s a good taco shop, but if you put it all together you have something really special, something more than the sum of its parts, a timeless beauty.  I only hope I can age as well as this place has.

From the Hat

It’s not telegraphed, but usually there’s an underlying theme to the weekly taco tome.  One or two words to inspire.  The goal is to ramble around for a couple of hundred words on something to do with the theme then talk about tacos.  Sounds simple.  Not always.  Today’s theme, “Better with age,” is perfect for a whimsical, rambling, nostalgic thought tour.  Plenty of opportunity to harken back to the old times or to make hackneyed references to wine, favorite boots, or an old chair.

I’m having none of it.  You have to really think about it to find examples of things that get better with age.  Tell it to my eyes, or my truck.  Tell it to the plumbing at my house.  Sure I understand the device.  A mental trick we play on ourselves to help us rationalize our own mortality; to avoid thinking of the unavoidable.

But then I think of my grandmother Caroline.   I’m sure she’d tell you of the wear of age.  But when I see her, I see youth and beauty.  She’s full of wonder for the world and new places.  Full of joy when around her (now-extensive) family.  Still learning – combating technology as a new user to FaceBook.  I hope to learn to live with her joy for life long before I’m her age.

Of course, I’d like to reach her age.  Not likely with a continued menu like this morning’s.  A once-a-week limit on taco-tourism is a good thing.  And so were the tacos…good things.

If Corpus Christi is the land of tacos, Kostoryz street could be its epicenter.  The street offered up another outstanding taqueria, Eddie’s.  Recommended by many, including one of our state reps, the place was really good.

For the SMEs out there, I had one each chicharron and molleja.   I had the mollejas fried crispy.  They were perfect – crispy on the outside, creamy on the inside.  Those who like mollejas will really like these.  The chicharrones were also very good.  Meaty, soft, covered with a chili powder-based sauce.  They were served in very good flour tortillas.  Serious fatties too.  I could not eat both of them.  The salsa was also good.  We will definitely return to this place.  I think I need to try the mollejas with some frijoles.

Salud

Enrique’s Restaurant

5230 Kostoryz Rd # 1

Corpus Christi, TX 78415

361-851-2864

Chorizo & Egg – $1.39

Carne Guisada – $1.88

Over the past few weeks my life has become confusing and I’ve had this feeling that it’s missing something.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m a happy man.  I love my wife and kid.  I’m professionally satisfied.  But at a certain point a lot of guys start to realize their youth is rushing away from them like a falling tide and it’s not coming back.  Some guys do the unspeakable and transgress the covenant of marriage.  Some buy a Harley and hang out on weekends with other white collar types in a similar place – dressed up for show to disguise the creeping malaise of eminent mortality.  Kevin & Shelly could be spotted cruising the strip in a Dodge Prowler this week, and when the thrill was exhausted from that as it inevitably is with cheap thrills they re-upped and bought a new Lexus.  I have simpler tastes – I pawned my Canon 40D DSLR and headed down the squalid sidewalks of taco row: Kostoryz.

I’d heard tell of this one little number – Enrique’s. “The bean tacos are the best you’ll ever have,” they said.  I had to find out myself if 25 years of satisfied customers could be wrong.  As we shuffled up to the front door of Enrique’s Restaurant past the tawdry ‘Romance Room’ bar we weren’t sure of what we could expect.  Once inside we were seated at a big table and looked at the expensively trimmed wood paneling and highbrow fixtures that belied the fact that this place sits in a run-down shopping center.  The waitresses brought the food to the table and we noticed they must have all left their cotton uniforms in the dryer too long this morning.  The service was good.  The coffee was good.  They offered a broad range of tacos – catering to any taste.  There was even a spam & egg taco on the menu – for those with the most depraved appetites.  The tortillas were homemade thick – both flour and corn.  The chorizo and egg was decent, and the carne guisada was better than average.  Something about the tacos when all put together was at once greater than the sum of its parts and less than hoped for.  The star of the show was the beans.  Sultry and greasy they defy description, sitting in pool of what I think was bacon drippings.  They were so good, but it felt so wrong eating them.  By the time we were leaving I felt strangely unsatisfied, despondent and more confused than when I’d come in.  ‘I’m so sorry’ ran through my head as I rehearsed it.  I hope my regular taqueria will take me back.

From the Hat

I write this epistle today with thoughts about life’s high noon.  I’ve started seeing the telltale signs of age.  Today its ears, but eyes, knees, and who knows what else will plague me in the coming years.  I guess it happens to everything.  Time and Gravity don’t play favorites.   But without that long passage of time, we’d not have long-time friends.  Today, and for the weekend, my long-time best friend Jim R. is in town running from the World Championship Bar-b-que Goat Cook-off in Brady, Texas.  He’s here in Sur de Tejas with a truck full of drum kit.  We’re hoping to drag Ian into a couple of jam sessions this weekend in Papalote.

The mob tacoed at Enrique’s this morning.  The tacos were good, not great, but well worth the trip.  For you gearheads, I had something called Carne Fritas.  Thin-sliced little disks of fried beef in a savory sauce with tomatoes and lettuce on a homemade corn tortilla.  The corn tarp was good.  Could  be me, but it could have used salt.  I like them a bit thinner, but for you thick corn tortilla fans, it was a good one.   I also had a picadillo taco.  Basically ground hamburger taco meat with potatoes added.  It was tasty – served on a good homemade flour tortilla.

The Star of the show today was the salsa – a very fresh-tasting squirt bottle of red delicious with plenty of heat.  I considered asking to take some to go.  The coffee was good too.  It was the standard café coffee that you find everywhere.  Good honest coffee with no pretentious names and sizing conventions.  The place was clean.  The woodwork on the uncluttered walls is really well done and meant to be there in a couple of decades.

As we left, I noticed the shopping center was showing  signs of middle age too.  But with just a little imagination, I could see gentrification happening in the next several years.  My guess is that Enrique’s will still be around for that future facelift.  I’ll be there too, having a taco.

Salud