Pa’Los Tacos
(located on Ave 65 and Calle 2 Norte)
It was on our first trip to the island two years ago that we tasted our first tacos al pastor, freshly shaved from the stacks of meat being torched to goodness by the flames of the vertical rotisserie. We had gone to El Morro for dinner with our friends Andy and Wendi. Like moths drawn to a flame, the guys spot this little taco joint on a street corner on our way back. There it was… the flames of the al pastor rotisserie beckoning us to stop and have a taste.
Al pastor rotiserried right in front, enticing passersby
The guys decided we had to pull over and have some tacos al pastor. It was, afterall, our last night on the island. They had been hunting around for tacos al pastor the last several days and this was the first place we had seen it.
They order up a few tacos. Wendi and I decline because we were really stuffed from all the food and drinks we just had.
We watched them for a while, both of them making running commentaries on how good the tacos were. After a few minutes I decided I might as well take a bite just to give it a try. I took one bite … and mMmMmm … tacos al pastor my friend!
Hook and I have since been hunting for the same taste of tacos al pastor back home. We have gone to many Mexican restaurants, even sought out lunch trucks that have become quite the fad in the Metro Wash DC area, but it was just not the same.
So Thursday rolls around and the stars are aligning. We have a car when it is actually not raining! Hooray! We had a car for 2 days earlier in the week and all it did was sit in the hotel parking lot due to the torrential rains. Plus, we had gotten our bearings around the immediate roads earlier that day and were now confident in venturing out driving at night.
Time to find that inviting flame of the taqueria where we first savored tacos al pastor!
Al pastor meat
This place is a definite local joint, family run, with the restaurant being in the front patio of a home. There is a menu sign, but no description or translation of what the item is. We try to ask our server what some of the items are… pointing at the menu… pointing at body parts. The only answer we could get was it is meat. Okie dokie then. We better stick with what we know for now.
We order up a bistek (beef), a couple of lengua (tongue), and a couple of al pastor to round it out. They serve us a sopa de res on the house. It is a tasty soup with garbanzo beans. Really quite flavorful.
Sopa de res
Tacos bistek
Tacos lengua
Tacos al pastor
The lengua we did not think was that flavorful. The bistek was ok, nothing that special.
The al pastor meat was quite fatty, much better than when the meat is too lean and you don’t get that fatty burnt goodness. Hook thought the al pastor lived up to expectations. I seemed to recall it being better. But hey, what do I know, I only had one bite last time. Certainly better than any of the al pastor we have tasted back here at home. Still glad we came as it brought back fun memories from our first trip to Cozumel. 🙂
Total bill for the 5 tacos and 2 sodas including gratuity was Mex$120 (US$10). What a bargain!
Let the flame mesmerize you!
