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The Taco Project

Metro Balderas
799 S. 1st St., San Jose. 408.292.37109

Metro Balderas’ Almaden Avenue location has long been one of my favorite taquerias. Named after a subway stop in Mexico City, the restaurant specializes in tacos as well as Mexico City street food like pambazos, huaraches, tortas and alambres. It’s great stuff, especially the tacos. On weekends, they haul out an outdoor griddle and cook up delicious al pastor tacos along with grilled onions and other fixins. It’s straight outta DF. So, when the restaurant opened a new location on 1st Street I was excited. Now one of Silicon Valley’s best tacos was only a few blocks from my office. Or at least that’s what I thought.

Alas, after ordering my requite carne asada and al pastor tacos ($1.45 each) I pronounce them solidly mediocre. The tacos are served on two-ply tortillas and are nice and small and minimally adorned with just onions, cilantro and a dab of red salsa. But looks aren’t everything.

Visually speaking, the tacos are great.

The al pastor was the best of the two . The pork was crispy and juicy inside, but it lacked that sweet and savory al pastor. Making matter worse were the gummy, dense tortillas. The carne asada taco is peppery, lightly browned and sufficiently tender but otherwise unremarkable. These tacos would work in a pinch but I’d head to the original location for a better version.

Taco tally

1. Los Jarritos

2. Tacos Eva

3. Tacos El Ranchito No. 2

4. Los Dos Compadres

5. Metro Balderas (S.1st Street location)

6. La Cabana

The Taco Project

LOS JARRITOS
Keyes Rd. (at 11th St.), San Jose, next to 7-11

I started The Taco Project with the express purpose of bringing greater attention to Silicon Valley’s taco riches. Today, I hit the jackpot with Los Jarritos.

It was the words “handmade tortillas” and “chavindecas” that caught my eye on this taco truck.

The shade from the roof makes this taco truck an appealing place to eat.

I was driving down Keyes Road in San Jose researching Vietnamese restaurants when I saw a lonely taco truck parked in an empty lot that could have once been a gas station. The dusty lot was surrounded by a chain link fence but there was an opening for cars to drive through. My heart racing and stomach cheering, I drove in.

A few plastic chairs and tables had been set up under the shade of a free standing roof. Across the lot in what was maybe the gas station’s office was a makeshift kitchen where I could hear the chop-chop of knives on cutting boards. On either side of it were two other spaces that were either under construction or undergoing demolition. I couldn’t tell which. The confusing state of affairs and disrepair was pure Mexico. I knew I was in for something special. Read the rest of this entry »

Mexican uprising

I got some good responses to my Livefeed column about the lack of diversity among Silicon Valley’s Mexican restaurants. Here are few excerpts:

I would like to recommend that you try the restaurant El Tule. It is located at 5440 Thornwood Dr. in San Jose, and the phone number is 408. 227.1752. It is a small restaurant owned and run by a family from Oaxaca (so basically it is like having a family inviting you into an extension of their home and cooking for you.) The food is amazing - especially the traditional Oaxacan dishes like the mole and tlayudas (and they even have chapulines). All their homemade drinks are excellent too. Having lived in Oaxaca this past summer and loving the food, I now definitely go out of my way to go to this restaurant.
–Beth J.

Finally somebody (that be you) said publicly what I have been saying all along about the lack of real Mexican cuisine. I have “Mexico the Beautiful” cookbook, which is an art book on it’s own with the most sumptuous food you would ever want to find. Being French, I know that many of the dishes presented in the book could just as well be from France. As you said, Mexican cuisine is right up there with the best in the world. I am totally baffled why no one has started a Mexican restaurant featuring the wonderful food that is in this cookbook…OK, it’s one of those “if I ever won the lottery” statements, but that’s the first thing I think I would do. Hire myself a decent chef from Mexico and start cooking some of those recipes.
–Bernard M.

I feel real strongly about your article in this week’s Metro and fully agree! Where the hell is the rest of the Mexican food? I recommend Chalateco (several locations including 2323 The Alameda, Santa Clara) at the very least, because they do serve a tiny bit of outsider food, but not much. Eduardo’s (3123 Williamsburg Ave. San Jose) serves great, straight outta Mexico tacos and the like, and Mexico Bakery (2811 Story Rd., San Jose) serves the best tortas I’ve tasted from here to San Diego (tho, since their remodel, the jury is out because I haven’t been back). Up in San Mateo, Tres Amigos (243 S. B St.) serves probably the best horchata around at least, and has top-shelf burritos (get wet) among other things.
–Juan

Enjoyed your column. Have you tried the ceviche at La Costa (at 1805 Alum Rock Ave.? It’s good stuff!
–Chris K.

This is the beginning of a good list. One of the suggestions was so good that I’m planning a restaurant review of it in the coming weeks. Any more tips for places that go beyond the same ol’ tacos and burritos? Please keep them coming.

The Taco Project

While I’ve often lamented the lack of variety of Silicon Valley’s Mexican restaurants, we are awash in taquerias. As I drive around the valley looking for new places to eat I’m forever coming across new ones. And so I’m unveiling the Taco Project, a systematic sampling of Silicon Valley’s taco riches. In the weeks and months ahead, I’ll be stopping in at taquerias in the South Bay (and a few beyond) to try their wares and I hope you’ll steer me toward some particularly good tacos as well. Specifically, I’ll be eating al pastor and carne asada tacos. Why just those? Well, the pork and beef tacos are my favorite and I think these two varieties offer insight into a taqueria’s taco prowess.

For me, a good taco is Mexican food stripped down to its essentials: a tortilla topped with a some delicious bits of meat and salsa. A good taco is an exercise restraint. The twin tortillas should be about as big as beer coaster. It’s not so overloaded with toppings that it falls apart or topples to the floor when you bring it to your mouth. It should be gone in just two to three bites. I look upon tacos made with cheese, sour cream, lettuce, and guacamole with suspicion. Cilantro and a bit of diced onion, however, are good things. And a good taco shouldn’t cost more than a buck or two.

And so here are a few of the first tacos I encountered in these early days of the Taco Project.

Tacos Eva 1565 Mabury Rd., San Jose (across from flea market parking lot).

I have a soft spot for taco trucks so when I drove past this beauty my heart leaped. As it turns out, $1 got me one of the best tacos I’ve had in these parts. The al pastor taco is particularly delicious with dry spice hints of cinnamon or clove. (The nice family inside wouldn’t tell me what it was). The meat itself was crisp and juicy. The carne asada taco was no slouch either with tiny bits of caramelized beef and juicy goodness inside. The thin but spicy salsa spooned on top was the perfect accompaniment. Extra points for the charred serrano chiles and pickled jalapenos that come with these beauties. Tacos Eva sets the bar very high. Here’s what mine looked like seconds before I chowed down:

Tacos El Rancherito No. 2 1729 McKee Rd., San Jose.

Tacos El Rancherito is another eastside SJ gem. The tacos go for a buck a piece but what’s special about this place is an extra dollar will get you tacos with freshly made tortillas. It’s money well spent. The tortillas are chewy and soft but sturdy enough to handle a payload of meat, onions and salsa. The al pastor is the winner here. The succulent bits of roasted pork commingle with the pleasingly spicy salsa to create a rich, OK greasy, sauce. Add a big squirt of lemon juice and you’ve got taco nirvana. The carne asada lacked the tender juiciness of the pork but it’s still pretty good piled onto one of those fresh tortillas. Here’s what they looked like:

La Cabana Taqueria 2332 Mission St., Santa Cruz.

My final stop of my first tour de taco was La Cabana Taqueria. It’s on the Westside of Santa Cruz so it’s not Silicon Valley but it’s near my house and I was hungry. While Silicon Valley is awash in taco riches, Santa Cruz is taco challenged. La Cabana used to be located in Davenport but opened recently next to the Arrow Surf Shop. But it does little to elevate the quality of Santa Cruz’ tacos scene.

Look at this:

Too much of everything. The weight and heat of all that beef and pork quickly ripped my tacos in half so I had to eat them with a fork. That’s unacceptable for a food that’s supposed to be a quick bite you eat on the street. And the pork and beef were adequate but otherwise unremarkable. Santa Cruz has the surf but Silicon Valley is the place for tacos.

The Taco Tally

1. Tacos Eva

2. Tacos El Rancherito No. 2

3. La Cabana

A blog is born

At long last, Live Feed the blog is finally up and running. The print version of Live Feed will continue but I imagine Live Feed the blog will become the tail that wags that dog. I’m going to quote myself from a Live Feed column I wrote a few months ago about my entry into blogdom:

At their best, blogs have a richness and immediacy that’s unmatched by any other form of media. Readers of the print version of Live Feed can write a letter to the editor, but in a blog the responses build on each other and create a kind of metadialogue, all the while taking me to task where I’m in error or opening my eyes to new information or points of interest. Or at least some really funny video. That’s good for me and hopefully good for you, the reader, too.

While many blog boosters and more than a few old-school media types say the rise of blogs is making newspapers irrelevant, that’s clearly not the case. According to data compiled by Technorati last year, The New York Times had nearly 80,000 inbound links from blogs, more than any other publication. While many of those links were undoubtedly critical and sought to prove the point that the mainstream media just doesn’t get it, I’m sure the impetus behind all those links was a healthy mix of praise, scorn and just piqued interest. And that’s as it should be. If a newspaper doesn’t engage the public, it’s little more than fish wrap. A more engaged public benefits all, and if blogs can be part of that then I’m behind them all the way.

Thanks for reading.