Queen E, MA, and I were at the office earlier this week. The lunch hour was quickly approaching. We needed some food.Our usual options (Dockside for salads, Russell St. BBQ for
pulled pork) just didn't sound right. MA had seen a taco truck just a little way down Front Ave near those new hideous condos. We agreed that tacos sounded good.We hoped into the car
and headed that direction, but when we got to where MA was SURE the cart had been parked, it wasn't. What to do. We all had our hearts set on tacos, so we agreed to head down to SW 3rd, food cart row. We stopped at the first taco stand we saw,
Taqueria Villanueva. Yep, they have a horse on the side of their cart.Queen E wanted one chicken taco and one beef taco (I got her a machaca beef with some sort of mild green sauce). MA got a pastor burrito. I get a machaca taco a pastor taco. You can see photos of all, except the chicken taco, above and to the left.
The pastor taco, in my mind, was the hit, although the machaca wasn't bad. The burrito was big and hefty, and a good price.
As time goes on, I find that I prefer the light little flavor bomb tacos in their tasty tortilla shells to the big (often too big) and heavy gut bomb burritos. But that's just me. I think I'm on a tacos al pastor quest. Anyone have suggestions around town they'd like to share?
4 comments:
OMG, GMTA! My goal for the Fall is to eat my way through every taqueria in PDX. I figure it's a cheap culinary thrill -- plus I only really know Marta's and Panadería Gonzalez... and that's a bit of a drive on a weekend. anyway, starting with Patrick on Tuesday, LMK
I have no idea what GMTA or LMK are. But, if they mean you wanna grab some tacos with me at some point, the answer is yes.
Hungry T - I'm presently eating my way through some North Portland taquerias, and hope to have a a post on my site soon.
Villanueva looks like they use tastt homeade tortillas for their tacos, and the tacos themselves look like they are loaded with a fair amount of meat. I will give them a try if I can ever get downtown on a weekday. How much were the tacos apiece?
I agree with you on the taco vs. burrito observation. A burrito is reserved for those times I'm busy and I don't feel like eating again for a week (which needless to say is not very often).
By far, the BEST al pastor is Ochoa in downtown Hillsboro. I've only been there once, on a weekend, and they had the spit pastor roasting. Amazing stuff. I wish I could get out there more often, but I pretty much have no reason to go to Hillsboro at all.
There's a taco truck on the corner of Denver and Killingsworth I've been frequenting lately that has pastor, in addition to asada, barbacoa, carnitas, and others (including lengua, if you are so inclined). I'll send you the link to my post when I get that up.
Other places I've had pastor: King Burrito (N. Lombard), Taqueria Don Pancho (Alberta), La Bonita (Alberta), Cha Cha Cha, with various results. The King Burrito was overly greasy, but I kinda liked that - to an extent. Don Pancho had a distint pineapple flavor, and you can actually get the pork next door at the butcher counter, the La Bonita was simply grilled bits of pork but not really pastor (but still flavorful), and Cha Cha Cha wasn't pastor at all.
I heard of a place last year from ExtraMSG's site that had an outdoor spit - located on 4th Plain in Vancouver - that he raved about and that used homemade tortillas. But, alas, I drove out that way on a Sunday and the joint ExtraMSG described on his site had closed, and another establishment had opened in it's spot (don't remember the name). I had 3 of the pastor tacos on their menu, but they weren't really grilled or carved to order, and they were simply ok. The place had a weird vibe because I seemed to be the only non-familia member in the place and I think most of the patrons had been drinking since early morning (it was around 10:45 am).
I've heard Urupuan on 82nd also makes a good pastor - and during summer they break out with the spit, but I have yet to check it out.
Carnivore-
Tacos were $1.50 each. Pretty reasonable, in my mind. I've enjoyed the pastor over at Autentica on Killingsworth too. Are you up in North Portland? We ought to grab a taco together sometime. I'll keep an eager eye out for your taco report!
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