SFoodie: El Mundo de Mando - A Texas Taco Blogger's Crawl Through the Mission

Last week I had a great opportunity to do a week long taco hunt in the City by the Bay & was asked to write it up for SF Weekly's food blog, SFoodie. Coolio!! Check it out!

El Mundo de Mando: A Texas Taco Blogger's Crawl Through the Mission

By Mando Rayo in La Vida Taco

Friday, Jun. 26 2009 @ 12:27PM

The holy trinity at Taqueria Pancho Villa.

Austin, Tex., taco blogger Mando Rayo (aka El Mundo de Mando of TacoJournalism) was in Cali this week, getting his first-ever taste of S.F. flavor. How did the Mission stack up to taco culture in Central Texas? Read on, homie.

Ahh, San Francisco: What a great city. You are home to Journey, Rice-A-Roni, trolleys, and most important ... tacos! I was told that tacos would be hard to find in the city by the bay but, alas, I have found you, your moms, your tias y tus cousins right in the heart of a gentri-barrio, the Mission. A place where you can start with a greasy torta de lengua, hacer hambre in an old-school cantina, top it off with a taco todo organico and finish it con un café con los hipsters, hippies, and one Taco Journalist with a sí, se puede attitude!

My goal was to get a good taste of the taco scene in San Francisco, and I think I got a pretty good start with the help of my taco-eating compadres: Lindsey Simon from dishola, Angela, Ruthie, and Ixchel. Not only did we eat tacos, we explored the Mission, its beautiful murals, and good coffee. We even ventured into Central America. Nice!

La Taqueria's off-menu carnitas taco dorado.

We started at La Taqueria (2889 Mission at 25th St.). We actually pounced on the doors 'cuz we were hungry and we heard that they made a mean taco dorado (which isn't on the menu). I ordered the carnitas taco dorado -- it's a taco with a soft corn tortilla on top of a fried corn tortilla with melted cheese in between, stuffed with your favorite carne, frijoles de la hoya/ranchero style, fresh salsa, avocado slices y crema. Just for looks, this taco got a 5 taco rating -- that's tops on the TacoJournalism system! Once I got that sucka into my mouth, I was in heaven. The carnitas were really tasty, reminded me of the times back home when we used to make carnitas fresh off the pig, diqueada style. The combination of the soft and hard tortillas, the messiness of the crema and salsa, the richness of the beans and the goodness of the carnitas took me back in time living between borders, to a place called El Paso/Juarez (don't laugh!). Ay, que rico!

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