Over the 101 Fwy ~ Hollywood
CBro, Juan Maynard Bastones, and Rio Kvisto have a sick obsession with Fear Factor-style tacos of the cabesa, buche, and organ variety. If there was a pig snout taco mixed with bovine butt, they would be all up on that, talking to the gals in the hair salon about how good snout and booty taste when stewed. Still, the trio inspire me to be a little more adventurous than than my garden variety pastor, asada, and carnitas taste test.
I've had good goat before while trodding the collie fields of Jamdung, but more often than not, chivo transformed to birria tastes like rank na-na to me, with a sweaty, musky taste of game that me cyann deal with, seen? Eating it from a taco truck is perhaps a safe bet that the birria will be a little funky Kingston, but onward, HO! I came up to Tacos Autentica starved (I don't know the real name actually, but this will do for now, eh?).
"Tiene birria?" "Si." I got me some carnitas and pastor too, just to provide a control situation. Sharing a talk with a fellow digging through the trash, I felt guilty picking up my three tacos and gave him a buck, hoping it'd go towards the city's cheapest nutritional source and not the sweet bosom of rock cocaine. My tacos came out in a few minutes, a somewhat daunting plate of multi-colored flesh peeking from thin corn shields.
The carnitas tasted pretty good, but was not wet enough for my tastes and came in one huge log of meat with one or two smaller bricks on the side, which was harder to eat than normal, and kept the pork from being more tender and stewy. If it had been shredded or even cut, the juice would have been better balanced and the pork would have been better. Don't go out of your way for carnitas, its presentation reduces its taste too much...
The pastor was the bomb, it really hit the spot, well-cooked, greasy, a parade of spices and textures, prepared just like I like it, traditional with crunch and a dark, pasty salsa with hints of burned chilis and tomato, slathered in diced onion and oregano.
As I said, birria tastes kind of like going down on a girl who you've been running around town with all day. Only difference, I think I can restrain myself from munching these particular tacos again. The goat has a musky, slightly sour taste, that if not super-fresh, to me, tastes a little grody (almost to the max). The dark red of the meat was appetizing, but the taste was just kind of a turn-off and the flesh itself a taste slimy. Too much flavor going on in there basically. I love the idea of picking up goat tacos for their adventure factor, but will have to try again elsewhere another day, it was too gamey and gnarsty at this stop.
I will stop at this truck again, cuz the location, perched right over the 101, is very convenient. Though the carnitas were a let-down, I'm pretty sure what they do with pastor will apply to other dishes, so I think they're worth a repeat session. And remember, even if the goat was not a big hit, cabrones still make fine friends and long-time companions for the lonely.
