Two years ago, CL challenged 64 pizzerias to enter tournament-style culinary combat, slice versus slice, the deserving winner crowned best pie in the Bay area. Last year, burgers took center-stage in our quest for gustatory greatness, one patty reigning supreme. This year, the tradition continues.
It's Taco Time, baby!
Like pizza and burgers, the fundamentals are simple: tortilla stuffed with meat, vegetables and sauce. But, as with CL's tournaments of years past, taco success is more elusive than that basic combination would indicate. One misstep and the entire thing can literally fall apart in your hands.
Tacos also defy easy definitions. How do you compare the fried fish tacos of Baja California with the chopped, stewed tripe of Central Mexico? Or pork pastor slathered in adobo versus simple ground beef seasoned with chili and vinegar? Not to mention the litany of meats that rarely cross American palates, like cabeza (head), lengua (tongue), buche (esophagus) and sesos (brains). Can finely chopped tongue stack up against simple carne asada?
This article appears in Mar 11-17, 2009.