road food: houston tacos
A slight drip of juice ran down my chin as I took my first bite. Held in my hands was a duo of corn tortillas cradling the juicy, shredded pork leg, grilled white onions, queso fresco, avocado, cilantro and the piquant tomatillo sauce and lime juice that I’d drizzled across the top. Pierna. Pork leg. This was the taco I’d been hoping to eat on our recent Austin foodie taco tour of Houston, and I wasn’t disappointed.
Taqueria El Ultimo Taco sits unassumingly in the parking lot of an old coin-operated, bright yellow car wash on Houston’s Long Point Road, and according to Shilcutt, one of the most popular on this long stretch of taco trucks and car washes.
As our caravan of cars rolled into the car wash parking lot, and we spilled out into the hot Texas heat like the cast from Reservoir Dogs, toting cameras and ravenous looks of hunger, we must have been quite a sight to Guillermo and his taco crew. The ear to ear smile on his face as we approached his artfully adorned taco truck said it all and became one of the many highlights of the day.
The tour began at 10:30am at Jarro Cafe. Boasting of having “the best tacos in town“, it had once started out as a simple black-painted taco cart but has since expanded into a full-blown restaurant. We started our day inside noshing on breakfast tacos (tocino, papas, huevos y queso, among others), making our introductions to each other as we rolled into town, or out of bed, and made our game plan for the rest of the day.
Having taken on the role of tour guide, Jay next led us to Taqueria Cuernavaca, for an order of Al Pastor (pork) and Suadero (beef) tacos. This taco truck, located on the edge of a dusty gravel parking lot, offers five taco truck staples for .99/ea and does carhop service so you can enjoy your cheap eats in the comfort of AC rather than stand out in the sweltering TX heat like we did.
While snacking, the subject of fried chicken came up (hey, we are foodies after all!) and Jay suggested we make a detour to a Guatemalan fried chicken joint. Of course, our stomachs jumped at the sound of this and we all agreed, with visions of a ramshackle, metal-roofed dive serving up fried plaintains and crazy good, seasoned fried chicken. Imagine our surprise as we pulled into a strip mall and caught site of Pollo Campero – what might as well be the Latin American version of KFC.
Our illustrious guide could sense our apprehension and assured us that when the place first opened, homesick Latinos’ cars would line up down the street to get a taste of home. I could relate to this. Ever the American on vacation, I recalled feeling this same way once in the Hong Kong airport waiting on a flight back to the States, when I caught sight of Burger King in the food court and rushed over to devour a Double Whopper with Cheese (mustard, pickles only) in seconds flat while my wife just stared at me in disgust (and then asked for a bite).
Aside from it’s flourescent-lit fast foodness, the chicken wasn’t half-bad. A crispy, sweet skin that led way to a very moist, if not overly-salted, meat inside. But tacos were what we came for and this diversion just didn’t live up to what we were there to devour. Out we rolled on to Long Point Road.
Long Point Road might very well be the taco truck/trailer capital of the world. With directions upon leaving Pollo Campero to head down the street a few blocks, pass the car wash and we’d see it on the right. Easing out of the parking lot, we stopped at a traffic signal and on the right, not one, but three mobile tacos – a blue bus, and two trailers. Down the street a bit – a car wash and a taco truck. Then another. And another. By the time we’d reached the aforementioned Taqueria El Ultimo Taco, we’d passed so many that I was wondering out loud why we didn’t just put a car at both ends of Long Point Road and walk the length of it, stopping at each of them along the way? (Hmm…maybe a good idea for an Autumn Taco Tour?)
Our third taco stop found us being joined by new Houston foodies and saying farewell to others. We stood in the shade of a car wash stall, sipping ice cold Tecate, devouring our tacos, and soaking up the heat of this hot Texas day while taking pictures and revelling in the joy of how good food and cold beer can bring people together. Fat and happy we could have called it a day but there was at least one more stop along the way. Our man Jay had one more place we needed to try – Home of the Best Cabrito in Houston. Off we went.
We found El Hidalquense at the end of a washed-out cinder block strip mall that included among other things a Thai market and a Vietnamese restaurant. Huge banners boasted of being Houston Press’ Home of the Best Cabrito lined the concrete walls outside. Son Jarocho-style music spilled out onto the sidewalk as we opened the door, and we found three musicos on a makeshift stage at the front of the restaurant in mid-song. A woman was tending to a tortilleria while a couple handfuls of tables filled with locals, ate, drank and sang along. This place had ambiance in spades.
Taking a table off to the side of the room, trays of free tequila shots, plates of taquitos and bowls of smokey chipotle salsa were quickly bestowed upon us. This place just kept getting better. Toasts to our taco-ness and new friendships abound, we were swaying to the groove, ready to dig in. The menu, arriving in a three-ring binder wasn’t the easiest thing to navigate and we became confused as to what tacos we could order, so we decided to wing it, and ordered one lamb, one cabrito taco. No go. As it turns out, El Hidalquense, only serves goat in whole fashion, family-style and there was none to be had on this day. So it was lamb tacos for us.
I love lamb. Next to pork it’s my favorite meat. I was so excited for these tacos. Arriving on a flour tortilla bed, topped with onion, cilantro and lime, my first bite of the juicy, shredded meat fell flat on my palate. I added a little of the smokey salsa, a dash of lime juice, a hint of salt. Better but not best. The lamb felt slightly mushy with no real lamb taste. I so loved this place that I wanted this taco to seal the deal – make me want to pack up the family, find a little place nearby and spend our Sunday afternoons languishing in the AC, singing and dancing along with the musicos, leaving greasy-faced and full. Luckily, for my wife we’re safe in Austin for now, but a return trip for the cabrito, the smokey salsa and the atmosphere is needed. Not a bad place to spend a couple hours on a hot, summer afternoon.
Somehow we drummed up the stamina to tackle one more destination. There were taco trucks out back of Canino’s Produce Market that we needed to try. With stomach’s full we arrived at this indoor/outdoor farmer’s market late in the day, and I quickly forgot about eating. It was time do some shopping!
When you walk through the front doors you’ll find a pretty straight-forward produce market with beautiful fruit and veggies at rock-bottom prices. This isn’t Central Market or Whole Foods, so not much in the way of organic, or even local, to be found, but head to the back of the market and you’ll transported to another place. Small vendors selling dried peppers, spices, powders, flowers, peppers, fruit – you name it. A whole post should be devoted to this market and it’s more than enough reason for any serious food person to make a trip to Houston.
The market would be our final stop. Full from a day of taco trucking, sun-soaked from concrete parking lots and the hot Texas sun, well-rested from our respite in the cool confines of El Hidalquense, and excited about the new friends and finds we’d made, we still had that drive back to Austin to make.
–
Our rag tag band of traveling taco hounds consisted of a mix of Austin (Mando Rayo, Nelson Flores, Jam Sanichat, Ian Marshall Knox) and Houston (Jay P. Francis, Juan Carlos and Geraldina Reina) foodies, journalists (Addie Broyles, Alison Cook, Robb Walsh and Katharine Shilcutt) and photographers (Penny De Los Santos).
–
Don’t forget to check out mi compadres taco tour write-ups:
Mando, Taco Journalism
Addie, Relish Austin
Nelson, Show Me Your Taco
Handy glossary of taco truck terms for your next taco safari.
Leave a Reply
