Again, Sunset Magazine strikes again! They sent me off to try a taqueria in Las Vegas, but they also forgot to tell me how to navigate ordering tacos. I suspect you are confused by this comment, it is pretty easy to order tacos at a fast food restaurant. You now stand corrected.
So, when we play that game that you are asked “if you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?”. My answer…always…tacos, street tacos.
So, for the those others who will chase down the best taquerias in every state….Tacos El Gordo is a “must do” for your list. The first hint is that it will be busy, very busy. When you walk in the door, the counter will take the length of the room..and their will be multiple lines forming. This is very confusing and why the best hint is that for the best experience, you don’t go alone…you need at least two of you, because you get in line to order PER item. Your choices are Carne Asada, Adobada, Chorizo and a whole bunch of offal choices….beef head, tripe, tongue, eyes…hard pass. I prefer “awful” to “offal”. But you do you.
Once you choose your meat choice you get in that line and then you get to pick how you want it on your tortilla….We all know, tacos, quesadillas, tostadas…but take some time before you go to look up and understand sopes, mulas and vampiro. My fav is vampiro, they grill melt the cheese on the tortilla, fill it up with meat, add onions/cilantro, salsa and guacamole. Topped with a little cheesy tortilla hat. Then you can (kind of) hold it like a sandwich to eat it.
So, if you have multiple people, some can get into the carne asada line, some in the adobada line and someone had to get in the fries line! The French fries are covered with your meat of choice, and all the yummy taco toppings.
As you get up to the window to order you will see some that all of that food is being grilled and cooked right in front of you. The adobada is the big red spiced pork slab that looks kind of like the gyro meat spit…it is always the longest line. They will be cutting off chucks of savory meat to add to your tacos… I recommend you add this one to your list. There will be red trays stacked up within your reach…grab one, when they are done cooking for you they will use the long tongs to reach your plate out to you. Be on your way..either to the next line or to check out. Check out is another area where you can usually pick up your drinks of choice, ask for salsas and then look around for the fresh lime/radish bar. Fill up there and then good luck finding a seat….always good to bring yet one more person to get that table saved.
And then tell me what you think of the food. Best ever, right?!