A Cinco de Mayo Paean to Mexican Cuisine

A recently published commentary by a good friend raised a very important question.  Why Taco Tuesday?  They are good any day of the week.  

https://www.scene4.com/0521/gregoryluce05r21.html

I heartily concur.  Who came up with the idea of a Taco Tuesday anyway?  And why a Tuesday and not some other day?   My friend surmised it was due to the catchy alliteration and that just might be the case.  What is better than something that rolls right off the tongue? 

Digging just a little deeper it has been suggested that it was coined in coastal California as an adjunct to Happy Hour.  Cheap tacos are served up to be washed down with the adult beverage of one’s choice.  Taco John's International, Inc., a Cheyenne, Wyoming-based fast food  company, claimed it was the sole owner of the trademark “Taco Tuesday®” since 1989 in order to serve its specially priced “100% American beef tacos topped with crisp lettuce, cheese and our signature mild sauce.”  The United States Patent and Trademark Office has ruled, however, that “Taco Tuesday” is "a commonplace term, message or expression widely used by a variety of sources that merely conveys an ordinary, familiar, well-recognized concept or sentiment."  Damn straight!  Still, why just on Tuesday?

My friend was raised in Texas and Oklahoma and was weaned on Tex-Mex fare.  I, on the other hand, am a true blue Midwestern boy who grew up on meat and potatoes and the de rigeur Friday fish fry whether one is Catholic or not.  Mexican cuisine was not as ubiquitous in the American heartland and elsewhere as it is now what with chains like Taco Bell, Chipotle, Taco John’s, Moe’s . . . the list goes on.  That said, he and I are very simpatico these days regarding our love for Mexican food . . . and not just tacos.   

It was not until the beginning of 1974, when I moved to Tucson to begin graduate school, that I discovered just what I had been missing during my Midwestern youth.  It was there that I enjoyed my first non-chain taco (almost always served in a stiff pre-folded corn tortilla shell).  It was in the desert Southwest that I was also introduced to tostadas (which became my default dining choice when I ate on campus), the multiple variants of a well-prepared enchilada and burrito (including the local Tucson variant - the deep fried burrito known as a chimichanga), chili relleno, refried beans, and of course a tasty sopapilla for dessert.  Since then I have been a big fan of Mexican food in general, and I enjoy it regularly. 

Tacos in Tucson, and Mexican dishes in general, have long been patterned on Sonoran recipes and preparations which vary in degrees from what we consider as “Tex-Mex” and Mex-West dishes often found elsewhere in the USA.  With regard to the taco, the building blocks are a tortilla de horina (unleavened) with carne asada – chuck roll or top sirloin in most cases which can also be combined if desired.  The meat is cut into half inch thick strips and grilled with just a little salt and lime juice and then cut into bite-size cubes.  Refried beans are spread on the tortilla, the meat is added and then

topped off with salsa of choice and guacamole.  A sprinkle of cheese if one so desires.  Fold (if you can) and enjoy.  After leaving Tucson for the East Coast in 1976, I had to rely on a dear friend from my desert days to keep me supplied with Old Pueblo Poblano Salsa Ranchera, my favorite Tucson-made hot sauce.  It seemed to me that no Mexican fare would be complete without a couple shakes of OPPS.  Thankfully it is now available online and I no longer have to rely on my friend to mule it east for me.

Living where we do in metropolitan Washington DC, there is a host of small independent Mexican, Central American, and Tex-Mex eateries to choose from, and we have visited not a few.  One of them sticks out above all the rest and it would be entirely appropriate to give it a shout out.  Taco Fiesta started out thirty years ago in a small 16-seat restaurant in a strip mall adjacent to the University of Maryland campus in College Park.  Owned and managed by Jerry Gutierrez, a native Angelino, he made everything fresh from scratch daily relying on old family recipes.  It reminded me a great deal of the hole-in-the-wall joints I used to frequent in my Tucson days.  Great food and a most reasonable price and the carne asada is to die for!  Several years ago Jerry moved the restaurant close to his home in Baltimore, being one of the first businesses to open up in the Harbor East neighborhood then undergoing a massive rehabilitation project.  There it has remained at 618 South Exeter Street where it is a well-known and popular anchor in this now up-scale commercial and residential area just east of downtown.  And it is still frequented by loyal patrons from the days back in College Park.  It serves some of the best genuine Mexican fare you will find anywhere. 

https://www.tacofiesta.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/taco-feista-jan-2021.pdf

And there are up to a dozen fresh daily salsa selections to compliment any item on the menu.  Jerry is a good friend and a wonderful host and a great guy to chat with.  Taco Fiesta is a regular stop whenever we are in Baltimore.  

Wishing everyone a festive Cinco de Mayo!!!!

Note Bene: According to MarketWatch corn is presently leading the rally among grain commodities, having increased in price more than 30% so far in 2021 to its highest level in eight years.  This will create trouble for American consumers who favor Mexican food as the US demand for feeds and a current supply deficit will force this country to increase its importation of corn, especially from China.  The price of Mexican food will go up this summer.