Offal or awesome? Tucson's 9 craziest tacos
- Updated
Take yourself to the limit with these extreme cuts of meat: from the 100 Days of Tacos series. See the whole list at tucson.com/tacos
- Andi Berlin Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Before Rosa Rojas came to operate the little Taqueria La Guera food stand behind the Circle K on Valencia Road, she spent 22 years cooking it up in the suburbs of L.A. Now she's making some of the softest, most wonderful chicharron tacos in human comprehension.
To obtain a silky, melt-on-your-tongue texture that's the polar opposite of your regular crunchy pork skin, she simmers it in a pot with homemade chile de arbol salsa. It comes out fatty and gelatinous and beautiful, the perfect foil for the raw crunchy cabbage and onions on top. It's a little out there and I'm not sure I'm doing it justice with my description, so let me say this: I was worried when I saw it, but it really was the best taco I had all week.
Weird fact: I had a bit of a zen moment, eating this phenomenal taco in the blowing wind and staring at the gorgeous hill across the street. The closest I come to actually enjoying nature ... Also, props to the very cool old Winnebago parked next to the stand.
Location: Turn at the $1 tacos sign on West Valencia Road and South Camino de Oeste.
Phone: 520-272-6575
Hours: 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays
Payment: cash only
- Andi Berlin Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
It was 2 p.m. and the vendors at the Tohono O'Odham swapmeet were all packed up, so we followed our noses to a little white building covered in yellow signs. You can smell the smoke pouring off the grill at Los Mezquites from a block away, an exquisite foreshadowing of the crispy charred meat that's about to enter your life.
But what I got, I honestly hadn't expected: long tubes of bouncy tripa, not to be confused with the spongy white honeycomb tripe you might find in a bowl of Vietnamese pho. These are actual intestines from a cow, which get thrown over an open flame and then chopped up right in front of you on a plank of mesquite wood. They come to the table naked in all their gristly gooey glory, topped with nothing but the crisp, desert air.
Weird fact: The inside of this place is seriously cute, especially for a building that lacks a floor. If they put it up for sale, I would pay good money for that large '80s Southwestern landscape painting of the glistening river stream ...
Location: 5721 S. Westover Ave.
Phone: 520-272-4179
Hours: 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays; closed Tuesdays; 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.
Payment: cash only
- Andi Berlin Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
The guy at the meat shop tipped me off. So I walked down 22nd Street past the Chase bank and the flower store with the cartoon leprechaun until I came to a little truck parked in a huge dirt lot. Taqueria y Raspados Jason looks to be the local spot for Sinaloa-style macedonia ice cream treats, burros and corn masa sopes.
But I am writing about the lengua today, because it's outstanding. Big chunks of beef tongue that get soft-boiled for three hours with garlic, onion and Anaheim chiles. Then they get chopped up into big, springy chunks that plop around on your tongue. Pick one up in your hand, and it easily shreds into strings of juicy meat. Weird, huh?
Insider's tip: It's freaking hot out there! So duck into Evergreen Flowers next door and chill out for a minute in their walk-in cooler ...
Location: I caught up with the truck at 6041 E. 22nd St. But the folks behind Taqueria Jason also have two Jason's Mexican Food restaurants at 2400 N. Pantano Road and 4230 N. Oracle Road, Suite 100.
Phone: 520-971-0873
Hours: 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays, 9 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.
Payment: cash only
- Andi Berlin Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
We came for the music. But we left with bellies full of beef cabeza and crispy chunks of steak charred on a mesquite grill.
In between? Well, that was interesting ...
The little rock-and-roll-themed restaurant Tacos Apson has been going strong for 14 years on South Twelfth Avenue, turning out freshly grilled meats and a few under-the-radar Sonoran specialties. One of them is the costilla de res, an enormous beef rib that gets slapped on a little corn tortilla.
As far as I know, it's also the only restaurant in town that serves huevo becerro criadillas. This is the kinda thing you might see on a cattle ranch in northern Mexico: squishy little testicles from a calf that get chopped up and thrown on the flattop. They come out kinda crispy on the outside, with the springy texture like a hot dog and a flavor that reminds me of chopped liver.
They were more palatable than I thought, but I admit, I had to steal half my lunchmate's cheesy carne asada caramelo. Which wasn't actually a big deal, because it was enormous. Overall, a five-star experience!
Weird fact: The restaurant is named after Los Apson Boys, a Mexican band that covered oldies tunes like "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" by The Rolling Stones and "Under the Boardwalk" by The Drifters.
Location: 3501 S. 12th Ave.
Phone: 520-670-1248
Hours: 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, 10 a.m. to midnight Fridays and Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sundays
Payment: accepts debit and credit
- Andi Berlin Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
So this happened. A mound of gelatinous pig skin piled onto a tortilla, spewing out so much soup that you have to spear it with a fork then slurp up the strips like noodles. I was sitting next to a pile of winter squash, underneath some wooden beams that were supposed to make the place look like a Mexican ranch.
But it was really a supermarket, a Food City in fact ... And wow, how cool is that?! The sizable sit-down deli Dos Ranchitos whips up a whole menu in addition to their fried chicken and prepared supermarket salads. They do four different types of pig skin, including the chicharron guisado rojo stew that I had the pleasure of consuming. But next time, I'm skipping this taco business and going straight for the menudo!
Insider's tip: Avocados are five for a dollar right now! I made some wicked guacamole when I got home ...
Location: In the Tucson Spectrum, 1221 W. Irvington Road
Phone: 520-434-6920
Hours: 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day
Payment: accepts debit and credit
- Andi Berlin Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
2015 is the year of the goat. But even though el chivo is one of the most widely-consumed animals in the world, I could only find it at one place in Tucson: an Irvington taco truck pulled by a refurbished ambulance.
El Chivo de Oro, or Golden Goat in Spanish, serves goat birria: a spicy rich stew that originated in Jalisco, Mexico. (They're also big on the beef cabeza, as well as Sonoran hot dogs.) The truck serves the stew in big bowls spiked with cilantro, but they also do it taco-style with spongy corn tortillas that reminded me of injera bread.
The meat itself isn't gamey in the slightest; it's actually very mellow shredded in its sauce with just a touch of sweet. The fun is adding all the toppings that come along with the plastic-bag wrapped plate: the onions, the cabbage, the herbaceous chile de arbol salsa laden with seeds. No big deal here, just a snack!
Insider's tip: They stay open late on Thursdays because they do $1 hot dogs.
Location: Just off South 12th Avenue at 463 W. Irvington Road
Phone: 520-909-9123
Hours: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fridays through Wednesdays, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursdays
Payment: cash only
- Andi Berlin Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
I was expecting the manta ray. I wasn't expecting what came on top: Black shards of blubbery flesh that shined like wet clam shells.
The sea is full of wonderful and frightening surprises, and this is definitely one of them. Aleta de atun ("tuna fin") is a specialty of Ciudad Obregon, Sonora, where food truck owner Braulio Lopez found it. He says the meat comes from a specific fin on the bottom of the fish.
At his truck Baja Mar - Mariscos y Cahuamanta, they slow boil the fin along with a slab of sting ray meat for several hours. The two go onto shop's Taco Super Baja Mar along with whole shrimp and squishy little octopus disks and tentacles.
The creation is kind of a Tour de Gulf of California: a mountain of sea life on double-stacked corn tortillas with cabbage, onions and tomatoes. The manta ray on the bottom was soft and shredded in red sauce, almost like a heavier tuna fish without any gaminess. It was the base for the spunkier ingredients like the octopus. (Sadly, I think they forgot to put on the shrimp that day.)
The tuna fin? Well I guess I'll be honest. It was really sticky and gummy and smelled like something you'd find in a tidepool. Even the the guy working the line said it wasn't his favorite. But apparently, "A lot of people like it!"
Weird fact: The Sonoran specialty cahuamanta — which usually contains a mixture of manta ray, shrimp and sometimes tuna fin — used to be prepared with turtle meat until our favorite reptilian friend was put on the endangered species list.
Locations: I caught up with Baja Mar on the northeast corner of Oracle Road and Miracle Mile. But there's a second truck on northeast corner of East Drexel Road and South Nogales Highway. NEWS! Lopez says that in a couple of weeks they plan to open a third Baja Mar on 22nd Street and Wilmot outside the La Mexicana Mercado y Carniceria.
Phone: 520-940-7784
Hours: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays
Payment: cash only
- Andi Berlin Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Tacos de Cabeza on Grant Road is exactly what it sounds like: a truck dedicated to the many subtle wonders of the cow's head regions. Aka, the kinda place to get your tongue on some lengua, or compare the texture of cachete cheek meat with paladar "roof of mouth."
But cabeza, or the meat of the face, is pretty standard around here. This place goes deeper. As far as I've seen, Tacos de Cabeza is the only business in town with sesos on the menu. That's brains, folks: glorious gray globules of custardy meat funk cooked overnight in big pots and then steamed into a livery pate.
Rosalinda Arzate, who runs the business' two trucks with her husband Carlos Salas Olaiz, says they go through about 30 cow heads a day. They get them from a USDA-certified supplier out of Phoenix, and are very specific about making sure the product is always 100 percent clean. (They have very favorable ratings from the health department, she adds.)
Sesos are a breakfast food in Ciudad Obregon, Sonora, where Arzate's husband is from. They're a delicacy, Arzate said, and some people believe eating them makes you smarter. I was smart enough to realize that they taste infinitely better with a squirt of spicy orange habanero salsa. But I wasn't smart enough to realize that putting them down for a minute won't fix anything. At the end of the meal, you're just gonna have a plate of cold brains ...
Weird fact: The truck also sells eyes and lips, but the couple can't bring in any from their supplier right now.
Locations: I checked out the truck at 250 E. Grant Road, on the south side of Grant just east of Stone. They also have a truck on the northeast corner of South 12th Avenue and Nebraska Street.
Phone: 520-312-9328
Hours: 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. seven days a week. (Closed Christmas Day and New Year's Day.)
Payment: cash only
- Andi Berlin Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Strict locavores, look away for a minute! The campus area restaurant Boca Tacos y Tequila ventures into new taco territory with its off-the-wall salsas and globetrotting Mexican fusion. Every Wednesday, it holds an "exotic taco" night with a different obscure meat/veggie from around the world. This time, it was python.
Chef Maria Mazon worked with Dickman's deli in Tucson to bring in the snake meat from a farm in Vietnam, said butcher Dan Dickman. "They give to you deboned," Maria said. "You end up with a shrunk piece of white stuff. You're like what is this? Until you start chopping and dicing."
Maria boiled down the meat and then simmered it in a stew of sweet chipotle tamarind sauce, which paired beautifully with my black hoisin salsa. Piled atop a corn tortilla with cabbage and cilantro, the springy shards of snake tasted like a muscular pork chop. It reminded me of an extra-dimensional Vietnamese stir fry dish, but my boyfriend was thinking more like Mongolian beef.
This is the third time Maria's done snake in her restaurant. The first time she fried it, and the second time she grilled it. This preparation technique seems to highlight the best of the meat, and soften it up a little. In the words of my server: "Python is usually more muscular. But this one isn't." Let's just say, it was so good it took hold of me, and it never let go ...
Weird fact: Exotic Taco Wednesdays of recent past include jackfruit taco, ostrich meatloaf wonton taco, spiced latte taco and coconut curry rabbit.
Location: 828 E. Speedway
Phone: 520-777-8134
Hours: 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays, 12 p.m. to 10 p.m. Sundays.
Payment: accepts debit and credit cards
Before Rosa Rojas came to operate the little Taqueria La Guera food stand behind the Circle K on Valencia Road, she spent 22 years cooking it up in the suburbs of L.A. Now she's making some of the softest, most wonderful chicharron tacos in human comprehension.
To obtain a silky, melt-on-your-tongue texture that's the polar opposite of your regular crunchy pork skin, she simmers it in a pot with homemade chile de arbol salsa. It comes out fatty and gelatinous and beautiful, the perfect foil for the raw crunchy cabbage and onions on top. It's a little out there and I'm not sure I'm doing it justice with my description, so let me say this: I was worried when I saw it, but it really was the best taco I had all week.
Weird fact: I had a bit of a zen moment, eating this phenomenal taco in the blowing wind and staring at the gorgeous hill across the street. The closest I come to actually enjoying nature ... Also, props to the very cool old Winnebago parked next to the stand.
Location: Turn at the $1 tacos sign on West Valencia Road and South Camino de Oeste.
Phone: 520-272-6575
Hours: 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays
Payment: cash only
It was 2 p.m. and the vendors at the Tohono O'Odham swapmeet were all packed up, so we followed our noses to a little white building covered in yellow signs. You can smell the smoke pouring off the grill at Los Mezquites from a block away, an exquisite foreshadowing of the crispy charred meat that's about to enter your life.
But what I got, I honestly hadn't expected: long tubes of bouncy tripa, not to be confused with the spongy white honeycomb tripe you might find in a bowl of Vietnamese pho. These are actual intestines from a cow, which get thrown over an open flame and then chopped up right in front of you on a plank of mesquite wood. They come to the table naked in all their gristly gooey glory, topped with nothing but the crisp, desert air.
Weird fact: The inside of this place is seriously cute, especially for a building that lacks a floor. If they put it up for sale, I would pay good money for that large '80s Southwestern landscape painting of the glistening river stream ...
Location: 5721 S. Westover Ave.
Phone: 520-272-4179
Hours: 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays; closed Tuesdays; 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.
Payment: cash only
The guy at the meat shop tipped me off. So I walked down 22nd Street past the Chase bank and the flower store with the cartoon leprechaun until I came to a little truck parked in a huge dirt lot. Taqueria y Raspados Jason looks to be the local spot for Sinaloa-style macedonia ice cream treats, burros and corn masa sopes.
But I am writing about the lengua today, because it's outstanding. Big chunks of beef tongue that get soft-boiled for three hours with garlic, onion and Anaheim chiles. Then they get chopped up into big, springy chunks that plop around on your tongue. Pick one up in your hand, and it easily shreds into strings of juicy meat. Weird, huh?
Insider's tip: It's freaking hot out there! So duck into Evergreen Flowers next door and chill out for a minute in their walk-in cooler ...
Location: I caught up with the truck at 6041 E. 22nd St. But the folks behind Taqueria Jason also have two Jason's Mexican Food restaurants at 2400 N. Pantano Road and 4230 N. Oracle Road, Suite 100.
Phone: 520-971-0873
Hours: 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays, 9 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.
Payment: cash only
We came for the music. But we left with bellies full of beef cabeza and crispy chunks of steak charred on a mesquite grill.
In between? Well, that was interesting ...
The little rock-and-roll-themed restaurant Tacos Apson has been going strong for 14 years on South Twelfth Avenue, turning out freshly grilled meats and a few under-the-radar Sonoran specialties. One of them is the costilla de res, an enormous beef rib that gets slapped on a little corn tortilla.
As far as I know, it's also the only restaurant in town that serves huevo becerro criadillas. This is the kinda thing you might see on a cattle ranch in northern Mexico: squishy little testicles from a calf that get chopped up and thrown on the flattop. They come out kinda crispy on the outside, with the springy texture like a hot dog and a flavor that reminds me of chopped liver.
They were more palatable than I thought, but I admit, I had to steal half my lunchmate's cheesy carne asada caramelo. Which wasn't actually a big deal, because it was enormous. Overall, a five-star experience!
Weird fact: The restaurant is named after Los Apson Boys, a Mexican band that covered oldies tunes like "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" by The Rolling Stones and "Under the Boardwalk" by The Drifters.
Location: 3501 S. 12th Ave.
Phone: 520-670-1248
Hours: 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, 10 a.m. to midnight Fridays and Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sundays
Payment: accepts debit and credit
So this happened. A mound of gelatinous pig skin piled onto a tortilla, spewing out so much soup that you have to spear it with a fork then slurp up the strips like noodles. I was sitting next to a pile of winter squash, underneath some wooden beams that were supposed to make the place look like a Mexican ranch.
But it was really a supermarket, a Food City in fact ... And wow, how cool is that?! The sizable sit-down deli Dos Ranchitos whips up a whole menu in addition to their fried chicken and prepared supermarket salads. They do four different types of pig skin, including the chicharron guisado rojo stew that I had the pleasure of consuming. But next time, I'm skipping this taco business and going straight for the menudo!
Insider's tip: Avocados are five for a dollar right now! I made some wicked guacamole when I got home ...
Location: In the Tucson Spectrum, 1221 W. Irvington Road
Phone: 520-434-6920
Hours: 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day
Payment: accepts debit and credit
2015 is the year of the goat. But even though el chivo is one of the most widely-consumed animals in the world, I could only find it at one place in Tucson: an Irvington taco truck pulled by a refurbished ambulance.
El Chivo de Oro, or Golden Goat in Spanish, serves goat birria: a spicy rich stew that originated in Jalisco, Mexico. (They're also big on the beef cabeza, as well as Sonoran hot dogs.) The truck serves the stew in big bowls spiked with cilantro, but they also do it taco-style with spongy corn tortillas that reminded me of injera bread.
The meat itself isn't gamey in the slightest; it's actually very mellow shredded in its sauce with just a touch of sweet. The fun is adding all the toppings that come along with the plastic-bag wrapped plate: the onions, the cabbage, the herbaceous chile de arbol salsa laden with seeds. No big deal here, just a snack!
Insider's tip: They stay open late on Thursdays because they do $1 hot dogs.
Location: Just off South 12th Avenue at 463 W. Irvington Road
Phone: 520-909-9123
Hours: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fridays through Wednesdays, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursdays
Payment: cash only
I was expecting the manta ray. I wasn't expecting what came on top: Black shards of blubbery flesh that shined like wet clam shells.
The sea is full of wonderful and frightening surprises, and this is definitely one of them. Aleta de atun ("tuna fin") is a specialty of Ciudad Obregon, Sonora, where food truck owner Braulio Lopez found it. He says the meat comes from a specific fin on the bottom of the fish.
At his truck Baja Mar - Mariscos y Cahuamanta, they slow boil the fin along with a slab of sting ray meat for several hours. The two go onto shop's Taco Super Baja Mar along with whole shrimp and squishy little octopus disks and tentacles.
The creation is kind of a Tour de Gulf of California: a mountain of sea life on double-stacked corn tortillas with cabbage, onions and tomatoes. The manta ray on the bottom was soft and shredded in red sauce, almost like a heavier tuna fish without any gaminess. It was the base for the spunkier ingredients like the octopus. (Sadly, I think they forgot to put on the shrimp that day.)
The tuna fin? Well I guess I'll be honest. It was really sticky and gummy and smelled like something you'd find in a tidepool. Even the the guy working the line said it wasn't his favorite. But apparently, "A lot of people like it!"
Weird fact: The Sonoran specialty cahuamanta — which usually contains a mixture of manta ray, shrimp and sometimes tuna fin — used to be prepared with turtle meat until our favorite reptilian friend was put on the endangered species list.
Locations: I caught up with Baja Mar on the northeast corner of Oracle Road and Miracle Mile. But there's a second truck on northeast corner of East Drexel Road and South Nogales Highway. NEWS! Lopez says that in a couple of weeks they plan to open a third Baja Mar on 22nd Street and Wilmot outside the La Mexicana Mercado y Carniceria.
Phone: 520-940-7784
Hours: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays
Payment: cash only
Tacos de Cabeza on Grant Road is exactly what it sounds like: a truck dedicated to the many subtle wonders of the cow's head regions. Aka, the kinda place to get your tongue on some lengua, or compare the texture of cachete cheek meat with paladar "roof of mouth."
But cabeza, or the meat of the face, is pretty standard around here. This place goes deeper. As far as I've seen, Tacos de Cabeza is the only business in town with sesos on the menu. That's brains, folks: glorious gray globules of custardy meat funk cooked overnight in big pots and then steamed into a livery pate.
Rosalinda Arzate, who runs the business' two trucks with her husband Carlos Salas Olaiz, says they go through about 30 cow heads a day. They get them from a USDA-certified supplier out of Phoenix, and are very specific about making sure the product is always 100 percent clean. (They have very favorable ratings from the health department, she adds.)
Sesos are a breakfast food in Ciudad Obregon, Sonora, where Arzate's husband is from. They're a delicacy, Arzate said, and some people believe eating them makes you smarter. I was smart enough to realize that they taste infinitely better with a squirt of spicy orange habanero salsa. But I wasn't smart enough to realize that putting them down for a minute won't fix anything. At the end of the meal, you're just gonna have a plate of cold brains ...
Weird fact: The truck also sells eyes and lips, but the couple can't bring in any from their supplier right now.
Locations: I checked out the truck at 250 E. Grant Road, on the south side of Grant just east of Stone. They also have a truck on the northeast corner of South 12th Avenue and Nebraska Street.
Phone: 520-312-9328
Hours: 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. seven days a week. (Closed Christmas Day and New Year's Day.)
Payment: cash only
Strict locavores, look away for a minute! The campus area restaurant Boca Tacos y Tequila ventures into new taco territory with its off-the-wall salsas and globetrotting Mexican fusion. Every Wednesday, it holds an "exotic taco" night with a different obscure meat/veggie from around the world. This time, it was python.
Chef Maria Mazon worked with Dickman's deli in Tucson to bring in the snake meat from a farm in Vietnam, said butcher Dan Dickman. "They give to you deboned," Maria said. "You end up with a shrunk piece of white stuff. You're like what is this? Until you start chopping and dicing."
Maria boiled down the meat and then simmered it in a stew of sweet chipotle tamarind sauce, which paired beautifully with my black hoisin salsa. Piled atop a corn tortilla with cabbage and cilantro, the springy shards of snake tasted like a muscular pork chop. It reminded me of an extra-dimensional Vietnamese stir fry dish, but my boyfriend was thinking more like Mongolian beef.
This is the third time Maria's done snake in her restaurant. The first time she fried it, and the second time she grilled it. This preparation technique seems to highlight the best of the meat, and soften it up a little. In the words of my server: "Python is usually more muscular. But this one isn't." Let's just say, it was so good it took hold of me, and it never let go ...
Weird fact: Exotic Taco Wednesdays of recent past include jackfruit taco, ostrich meatloaf wonton taco, spiced latte taco and coconut curry rabbit.
Location: 828 E. Speedway
Phone: 520-777-8134
Hours: 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays, 12 p.m. to 10 p.m. Sundays.
Payment: accepts debit and credit cards
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