Reparo Taquito – Off The Grid
Reparo Taquito
Airline at Golihar
Corpus Christi, TX
Does anyone here remember Robert Logan? I doubt it. I didn’t know his name as a child but I will remember forever hearing him cry out “We’re gettin’ out of here!” while stuck in traffic with his wife in The Wilderness Family, a bastardization of Swiss Family Robinson – which is itself a derivative of Robinson Crusoe. Both these movies were produced by Disney which continued to plumb the depths of family friendly isolationism with The Further Adventures of the Wilderness Family and Mountain Family Robinson which inexplicably also starred Robert Logan. He’s had a handful of parts in tv episodes and movies since then but for the most part he has disappeared from the world, just like the character he played. This scenario has continued to fuel my anti-social inclinations to this day. For 5 years I lived in a house on a mountain 7 miles from the closest gas station that was in a town of 600 that didn’t even have a stoplight… in the whole county. I’ve worked to deal with it. I get along with people and can keep up the small talk for the most part but it’s not easy, it doesn’t come naturally, and I still entertain fantasies of dropping out of civilization.
The proprietors of Reparo Taquito might feel the same way. While located on Airline and Golihar, an intersection that sees plenty of traffic, the building is free-standing and looks as if it’s ready to move at a moment’s notice. I tried to find an address on google maps and it just coughed and looked away. Who doesn’t love a mystery. This morning even my camera went on walkabout, and didn’t return until I’d come back to my shop. Kevy’s lovely wife Shelly contributed the use of her surprisingly excellent point and shoot, and the show went on.
The place is tiny, and has a drive through and a walk-up window. We got our food and headed back to the rendezvous point to evaluate the goods. They were pretty good. There were no homemade corn tortillas so there were effectively no corn tortillas, but the flour was good enough. The Carne Guisada was a deep red and tender. The salsa was disappointing, but the Chorizo & Egg was stellar. I don’t know if it was the drive home that allowed the ample sauce (grease) to saturate the tortilla, or just the quality of the chorizo but It was the best I’ve had in recent memory.
So I work and play downtown now for the most part, but when I run to the wilderness of the South Side I expect I’ll be paying visits to Reparo Taquito – if it hasn’t picked up and walked off.
From the Hat
Finally the weather is starting to like me. The sky is low and grey. A cool north breeze has finally survived the heat of Sur de Tejas enough to cross the Nueces and refresh the city. I like it. This time of year, I always think of the yearly bow hunting trips I used to make up into Central Texas. Staying up late, shooting under the lights and getting up early to climb a tree and sit quietly in the cold. Wondering who would come back from the blind with their shirt tail cut off after the call. We were disconnected from the world, no television, no phone service, all the cooking done on an open fire. Less was more and we couldn’t ask for less.
I guess it’s a matter of choice, though. Ike put my friend Billie in a dark, dank house for weeks. She too was disconnected from the world. Her comfort was candles and the sound of chainsaws – and her dog. It was weeks after the storm when we finally convinced her to come to Papalote while they restored power to her neighborhood. She told stories of her neighbors helping one another – clearing debris, making emergency repairs, sharing food, water, and information. Connecting in their disconnectedness. We had her for most of a week – birding, butterflying, walks in the woods with the dogs. Not roughing it nearly as much as the hunting days, but still away from the world, in the embrace of friends.
I’d started this missive hoping for clever, witty, or even snarky. I’ve ended with a nostalgic piece I’m sure will have people asking, “Where’s the beef?” Fortunately for me, this is a taco blog and that means I had tacos this morning and have something to say about them. Reparo was good. It had been recommended multiple times. I had a barbacoa and a lengua on flour. The technicians will appreciate the lengua. Roasted, moist and delicious, it was the better of the two tacos. The barbacoa was the barbacoa for you if you don’t like barbacoa. It was very lean. Savory and tasty, but missing the fatty part of the flavor profile. Starter barbacoa for novices. Both were served with onions and cilantro. The salsas made me embarrassed for Reparo. Both offerings were thin and watery, like the juice you pour off of canned tomatoes. Salsas aside, it’s worth a repeat visit for sure.
Salud.
So in the end we lived through it, and in spite of what you might think neither of us has sworn off the Spam. Sonny’s takes the prize, but none of the tacos we ate was too bad. Now I have to figure out why there’s a pressure in my chest and my arm hurts. I hope I’ll see you next week.
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.
