I was really excited to try these. I just loved the idea of “Oriental tacos.” I didn’t expect flying carpets or Buddha figures, but I’d read a little bit about “tacos arabes” in Puebla on Chowhound, and I’d imagined a beautiful collision between shwarmas and tacos to create something completely, fabulously new.
So after three months of thinking about them, I couldn’t help but be a bit disappointed when I finally got to La Antequera in Colonia Reforma, on Calzada Porfirio Diaz a few blocks north of Belisario Dominguez. The menu listed quesadillas, tortas, and two types of tacos, “arabes” and “orientales.”
“What’s the difference?” I asked.
“Arabes are larger, orientales are smaller.”
A truly unexciting answer. Still, I ordered one of each and a side of “cebollas,” imagining unctuous, rich, sautéed onions.
When they arrived, they just sat there like limp rags. The “arabe” taco had, instead of a corn tortilla, a slightly thicker bread around it. It wasn’t quite like pita, a little chewy, a little floury. The bread had good flavor, and the meat inside it was salty and flavorful also, but there was nothing else going on. It came with a side of tart red salsa, and I sprinkled it on liberally, but there was nothing else to help it gain some dimension. The onions turned out to be quite pale, not at all caramelized as I’d hoped, and watery to boot.
The “orientale” was a smaller version, with a tortilla wrapped around. Just like the waiter said.
I think the experience could have been different in a group. I can imagine a happy table of friends sitting around a plate filled with meat, another plate stacked high with hot pita-like breads, drinking beer and making tacos one after the other. But my two sad little tacos and even sadder bowl of chopped onions wasn’t that.
If you are meat-lover, you are more likely to fall head over heels in love with the "carne frita" or fried meat of pork at El Biche Pobre.
5 comments:
TACOS ARABES IS A ONE OF A KIND TACO LIKE NO OTHER IN THE WORLD . I UNDER STAND THAT MANY WILL SAY THAT THERE ARE BETTER BU SIMPLY THE FLAVOR OF THE MEAT ... AND #1 THE HOT SAUCE SHOULD TASTE LIKE NO OTHER . THAT AND CEMITAS WOULD BE THE FIRST ENTREES ID ORDER WHEN I ARRIVE IN PUEBLA FROM CALIFORNIA. AMERICANS ONLY THINK OF CUANTITY WHEN ITS QUALITY WHAT PUEBLA KNOWS.
I had some Tacos Árabes at La Lechuza in Oaxaca, and enjoyed them. However, those we arte at La Rana in Puebla were better.
All the tacos arabes I tried outside Puebla were not excellent. Maybe some were good but the majority were rubbish. You need to try them in Puebla. They are not "complicated" tacos, they don't have that much inside (like the plazeros or al pastor) but the deliciousness is in the meet and the sauce.
I had tacos arabes in Merida, Yucatan several months back. They were f***ing delicious. The place I ate them at also put chicharron inside--not wet/stewed chicharron, but the dry kind, like pork rinds. It was a little outdoor place on Montejo, a block or two from La Musa, for those of you who know the city. If I remember correctly there were grilled onions mixed in with the meat, which was extremely flavorful, tender, and quite juicy. It left me with a good feeling and now that I'm writing about them I'm craving them.
I disagree that "Americans" only care about quantity. That's an ignorant generalization.
I also encountered tacos arabes in Merida, Mexico and found them to be one of the best tacos i ate while traveling. The part I enjoyed most was this creamy garlic sauce served on the side, I was curious if this was common with tacos arabes around different parts of mexico.
Post a Comment