Highway Tacos

Sooooo... during the summer I drive to Michigan a lot.  I believe in the Ballad of Lilly and Lola I regaled you with tales of an idiot eating their way north.  Their are many ways to northern Michigan but the fastest way, "as the crow flies" is to buzz up 55 to Joliet, shoot on 80 across the remainder of Illinois (South Chicago), zip across the northern most portion of Indiana (from Gary to Michigan City and then hit Michigan and head up Highway 31.

The problem is the first part.  That first stretch from the river in St. Louis to where it hits 80 in Joliet.  It is at best a wasteland of corn and wind and that it only during the time when the corn is growing.  The rest of the time it is wind and soybeans or wind and dirt.  It is a miserable 4 hours plus no matter how you cut it.  Last weekend when traveling home from #Beckerwedding (more on that later) I decided that since I was driving home by myself, I had gotten a late start and because I wanted to ruin another shirt that I should find every taco place on that strip of road or thereabouts.

I think it is pretty well established that I give too much.  I do too much for other people.  I extend myself in really unbelievable ways to do tremendous acts of savage kindness which are too many to be listed and frankly I would be embarrassed by their sheer volume but there is no question that no one gets more of this unbelievable sacrifice.... than you people.  So as i am driving and ignoring calls from work, emails from work, cried of help from work, injured people on the highway, monsoon warnings, deadly heat and the sad fact that I left my Ray-Bans up in Michigan I am typing in Google searches of "Street Tacos" along with a city name.

I have come to think of "street tacos" as two corn tortillas, overlapping with any meat (other than ground beef which is verboten) along with some onion, cilantro and a lime wedge.  That is the street taco.  Sadly there is no Wikipedia definition of "street taco" but I am going to stand by my definition.  A lot of interesting things come up but when traveling at high speed along the highway and avoiding deer and occasionally people you cannot read too closely.  Hy the way... this is another way I give too much.  DO NOT TEXT AND DRIVE.

Even when you have the whole day it is difficult to eat tacos too many times.  It wears you out.  They burn.  They got processed (sometimes unhappily by your body.  They can kill you.  There, I said it.  When booming over highway 80 and stiffing the toll booth lady for a dime I came across a place in Joliet called Ricos.  All i read was "it is in a silver trailer behind the SuperMercado.  What could possibly go wrong.  With the iPhone I got my directions and off I went!  The Google Maps gave me a stupid way to get there but that happens.  I got there and BOY did I get there.  I arrived around 11:30 to a full parking lot and had to jockey.  there were anglos around but not too many and I spotted the trailer and knew I had done well.

It was... beautiful.  I watched the two gentlemen in front of me order their lunches and tried to gain my bearings.  There were tubs of sodas from other countries and the menu was half in Spanish, half in english.  Everyone around me was speaking Spanish and I had read about their pork tacos and I ordered them and stood around,  pretending to stare at my phone as life teemed around on the parking lot.

My tacos came up and she put them in a styrofoam container and put them in a plastic grocery bag and I hopped in my car and was on my way.  Twisting out of Joliet and back onto 80 I sampled my first one and it was chewy, spicy perfection.  I had an iced tea which I needed to gulp and I got my big allergic sweat on as I got on 55 and headed south.  This place is about 3 minutes off the highway in Joliet.  I will be back.

Then I decided to double down.  I tried to find something in Springfield and if anyone has a place for street tacos in Springfield, I want to know about it.  Striking out on "the Google" I then tried Bloomington which was just a little too close but.... what the hell.  There were a couple of places but ultimately I chose La Carniceria.  It too was awesome.  Three more tacos Pastor that looked like this.  

Not Everyone is crazy about tomatoes on their street tacos.  These were good and they were served with a green (verde) and a red sauce.  I have found generally that the green sauces are  milder.  These too were OUTSTANDING!  One of the sad casualties of the outing was my WEATON T-Shirt but there prices a man has to pay for this type of searching and eating for the benefit of other people.  Trying to find highway tacos... my white whale... my quest.... as I said... I give too much.  Google map these things.  You dont need me to do it.  When you head north on 55 to Chicago or points further north... think tacos... this delicious and enjoy and thank you hard working diner reviewer.

Diner Review: Mi Ranchito

Sooooo.... As I have previously stated there are a great number of Mexican places that have opened in the last few years. Lots of good tacos and burritos and carnitas and asada and what not. Great tacos served on corn tortillas with a little cilantro and some lime. When the tortillas are warm and the carnitas is good it is more than a little bit of heaven. They have sprung up all over place. It is a treasure. I keep my eyes peeled and when a place pops up I like to check it out and the more off the beaten path, the better. Last year I touted El Ranchito in Fairmont City and it should not be confused with this impostor called Ml Ranchito.

So this place has been getting good reviews and there has been a lot of talk. It is on Kingsland just north of Olive and about 5 blocks south of Delmar. It is in the end of a crappy little strip mall and when I went on a recent day for lunch it was easy to get a table at 11:45 and it was a waiting line by noon. People seem to love the place and I had a table by the door and people just kept rolling in. it is hugely popular as a lunch destination right now.

The chips and salsa were reasonably good. Nothing too special. The sauce was read and clumpy with onions but not too hot. 4 kinds of hot sauce on the table to spice it up. Chips were clearly not the standard store bought chips and they crunched in a way that was not displeasing.

The menu was a disappointment looking to me like a slightly more authentic Casa Gallardo. Your meat choices for the tacos were “chicken” or “beef” rather than all the different delicacies that I have grown accustomed to. There was no beef tongue. There was no goat. There was no “asada”. I mean there has to be 4 different kinds of pork at El Ranchito in Pontoon Beach. But still, there were a ton of people there and quite a few cops (they know where to eat) and so it was with great anticipation that I ordered the carnitas plate.

While I would not classify it as a disappointment, the meat itself was great, the rest of the plate was uninspiring yellow rice and some lettuce with tomato pieces in it. I had to ask for some lime wedges. Then I unrolled the aluminum foil I was doubly disappointed to see flour tortillas. How does that happen? I know I am no expert about Mexican food, or tacos, or the law, or marriage or...well obviously anything... but FLOUR tortillas? Really? Still as I said, the meat was good and and it was acceptable but I want JOY from my food.

The iced tea was brewed. The bill was not too expensive but I just cannot recommend the place. It has no personality, an uninteresting location and a quality of food only slightly higher than chain Mexican restaurants. And flour tortillas? Blech! 6 Slingers on the ten scale.

here is their web site but it is down or at least was today. That says about all you need to know.

http://www.mi-ranchitostl.com/

Diner Review: La Tienda Ranchito, Fairmont City Illinois

Sooooo seriously, it would appear that my FFL Franchise is on it’s way to a really, REALLY unprecedented 2nd year championship. If that happens I plan to quit practicing law and just bask in being a GOD AMONG MEN for a year or so. Fantasy Football might easily be one of the stupidest things that i do but it does keep you focused week to week on the NFL which I guess is a good thing if you are 50, like me, your children have abandoned you, like me and your wife is happiest when you are parked in front of the TV (where you can be found, observed and or quaranteened) and not pressuring her for sex on the weekend. The league is made up primarily of plaintiff’s attorneys and as near as I can tell they take great risks and generally make butt loads of money. There are some losers in the league who are not like that, like me and an investigator and an “Investment advisor”. It is NOT an exlectic group but it is an interesting one.

Three of us are pretty much locked at our desks all day emailing inanities and annoying the others by filling their boxes. The rest occasionally wade in. One of the only benefits I have seen from the league other than the millions in prizes I won last year is that it gives me a network of people who really like food and eat out almost every day and several of them eat out every night. This has lef to the following discovery in Fairmont City Illinois. It is Tienda El Ranchito, located at 2565 N 32nd St. in Fairmont City, IL 62201. Their phone is (618) 875-1521.

This place is....unstoppable. I have been to all the places on Cherokee and have a great respect for them. the same can be said for Durango on Page and a couple of the places in Overland. They are all literally shovelling out high quality food every day at a very reasonable price but Tienda is to be much lauded and glorified. Every time I go (and I have been there 5 times now) I drive by it. Take 55/70 East and get off at the fairmont City Exit that has the place that was formerly an old Venture. take a right on Collinsville Road. If you go left you see the burial mounds and eventually get to Fairmont Park, but if you go right it will sneak up on your left. On your right you will see the looming landfill by the highway. It sits back from the road and has one sign. When you park go to the left to find the door.

When you go in it is just a Mexican grocery with all the beauty that entails including tons of pepper and peppers and masa and Mexican sugar cane coke and little Mexican chotchkes and a full meat counter with all nature of chicken, pork and other treats, If you bear to your left as you go in and follow the wall it leads to to the restaraunt and bar in back and you have arrived in heaven. The TV’s during the week carry a steady stream of some Mexican MTV and another one will have on the Telemundo soap opera and if at all possible soccer will also be on. That is VERY important. On Saturdays there is also football (as opposed to Futbol) and Sundays they shgow the pro games. They have a full bar. they have a Facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Tienda-El-Ranchito/120919354588146

The place is normally chocked full of the nicest people in the world. the staff tends to be helpful and patient although they can get busy. they will bring you out home made chips along with verde and a little red sauce and some of the best salsa your going to get. really simple with onions, tomato and cilantro and with the chips, heaven. They have a decent selection of cerveza and all the Mexican beers are of course served with lime because without the lime they have almost no flavor at all. Still, they are refreshing.

I must admit that I have been relatively narrow in my review of their offerings. As with breakfast I play in a certain wheelhouse and have a fairly telescopic view of the oferings. That having been said they are making the BEST tacos in a town that now has a LOT of good places to get good tacos. Recently I went for a Saturday lunch because I had heard (therough the FFL grapevine) that they make fresh corn tortillas on Saturday. This was not a lie. I ordered the carnitas and the pollo. They are served with onion, cilantro and lime and with the fresh buttery corn tortilla it was more than a small slice of heaven. My date had a chalupa which although i was incredulous about, looked good and he said was outstanding. The meat in both my tacos was floavorful without being overly seasoned and the heavy cilantro, fresh onions and a squeeze of lime made them absolutely perfect.

It is not often i can write about a place as nothing but a fan but that is the case with Tienda El Ranchito. I did a little more fact finding in another taquiria over there in what we will now dub :The Fairmont City Project”. I will report more on that later. For now, Tienda El Ranchito. 9 Slingers on the 10 scale. Quoting the old Milwaukee’ss Best commercial, “It don’t get no better!”

St. Louis Tacos: The Real Deal

Sooooo....tacos. I have an odd, inexplicable penchant for tacos. Tacos of many different types and styles. I tire of anyone calling such a bastardized item “authentic”. There are Mexican, New Mexican, Texas, Thai, Korean.... the road goes on forever and the party never ends. I have developed a preference generally for simple soft corn tortillas with some type of meat and a little lime and cilantro. They seem pure to me and when I discovered i could get them down on Cherokee Street it was yet another thing that made me smile about St. Louis. Sure, we have lost our brewery to Brazilians, the cardinals are owned by some rich boys from Country Day and every large company worth it’s salt has run (not walked) out of our little town. But we have some damn fine tacos.

La Vallesina with it’s outdoor dining is my favorite but on some days my inadequacies at Spanish can limit my meal. So this week I went on a small but interesting taco binge trying two new places. The first is The Farmhaus. I had tried to dine there last Friday fro fried fish but they were “sold out” when I went. The Farmhaus is open for dinner but has reved up a small, ravenous fan club for it’s daily Blue Plate specials. They tend to be comfort food and started being whatever they wanted to cook. There are no choices. you pay 10 or 11 bucks and you eat whatever they serve you with a side, salad and a drink. If nothing else it is a cute idea. So I went with my niece and nephew this Tuesday because the Farmhaus has announced taco Tuesday. I was unnaturally excited. the place is sparse in decoration but was already filling up at 11:30. The salad was suspicious to me with the dreaded “field greens” which I view to be weeds but they had an excellent dressing and in an effort to continue to broaden my tastes I ate it. They have flavored iced tea which is a strike against them but the water was cold. they then served each of us three tacos, chorizo, carnitas and veggie. They were all good but surprisingly the chorizo was the best. they were served plain with a lime along with Spanish rice and big meaty beans (which i hate but understand that I am in a sad, unschooled minority. It was all good. My complaint is that they were not great. Tacos should be great. i will not need to go back for Taco Tuesday but I look forward to experiencing other Blue Plates. it is a great kitschy idea. All you need to know:

http://www.farmhausrestaurant.com/farmhausabout.asp

Which brings me to my favorite, great kitschy idea....the taco truck! They have had these out in L.A. for years. Large wagon like trucks with a ull kitchen jammed inside. In L.A. it was the Korean taco truck that really got peoples attention. They were hard to find but a treat and developed quite a following. The thought of getting food from a truck is VERY appealing to me. I fondly remember the ice cream stock and the hot dog stand and the taco truck seemed a natural. For the last year I had been blathering in my tiresome way to friends that I was going to revolutionize St. Louis cuisine with a taco truck and that my son could run on it on his graduation. Alas he graduated and got a job and I got distracted...probably by a shiny object or perhaps a gum wrapper, and it never happened. And them the bastards stole my idea.

This is what a taco looks like on a car seat...as you drive.



So after taco Tuesday at Farmhaus I was leaving court on a Wednesday and got the tweet from Cha Cha Chow that the taco truck was outside Barnes Hospital on Euclid and Forest Park. Yes, I follow both Farmhaus and Cha Cha Chow on Twitter. Yes, i am not cool or young enough to be on Twitter. Get over it. I was done with court at 11 when I got the Tweet heading back to Clayton. Why not? I want to say for the record that it was an excellent decision. I pulled up behind the truck illegally parked on Euclid (and i illegally parked behind it). there is something illicit abd buying your food from a truck, especially when you are driving up behind it. it is kind of like a drive by shooting... with food. I hopped out and jogged to the sidewalk side of the truck and asked after the tacos. They assured me that they were life changing and I ordered the chicken, the carnitas and the fish. 9 bucks. I think that breaks down to 3 bucks each. The pork was mouth watering and flavorful with a verde that was not hot but very bright with great tomatillo bursting out and served as god intended on corn. The chicken was similarly flavorful with cheese and onion. the fish was a little disappointed because it was covered in their mayo, cha cha sauce.

I ate them all in the car as I drove. Even the fish. they did not change my life but it was oh so good and I know i will be hitting the taco truck at least a few times a month. If you do not tweet I think you can find it through their website of Facebook page but go hear to get the delicious menu.

http://chachachow.com/menu.html

Cha Cha’s Taco Truck, if they play it right will become a cherished St. Louis tradition. Even for the sober. Go there. Now.