All tagged raw onion

El Charco de las Ranas

Finding the best tacos al pastor in Mexico City is akin to finding the best baguette in Paris. There are so many places of exceptional quality; the differences come down to stylistic nuances in flavor and preparation. The best taco al pastor in Mexico City is the closest taquería nearby above a minimum quality threshold that's open late-night. Fortunately, the city is full of such restaurants. One of them is El Charco de las Ranas, or "frog's puddle." It's a sit-down restaurant as opposed to a street-side taco stand. The authenticity police might get angry that real tacos are to be consumed sitting down, but rest assured this is the real deal. There's a full kitchen in the back with a fire-roasted rotating pork spit by the door. The smell of roasting pork permeates the entire restaurant.

Barbacoa Vicky

A few miles inland off a recently-paved road lies a concrete white utilitarian building stamped with the logos of Pepsi and Pacifico. The sturdy building is adorned with exposed electric and telephone lines. Despite being wrapped in ten layers of paint, the true age of the restaurant is revealed through hints of peels and flakes. The hot sun of San José -- a place where the sun shines 364 days of the year -- beats down incessantly on the fading pained script logo: "Restaurant Vicky." While the surrounding buildings have been occupied and abandoned over the last thirty years through Baja California Sur's development, like a church, Barbacoa Vicky has held strong. It offers a unique delicacy: the best slow-roasted lamb tacos in town. Barbacoa at Vicky's comes from sheep, slow-roasted underground in hot embers for eight hours. The resulting meat, ordered here by the kilogram, develops a soft and stringy texture intertwined in pockets of juicy fat. The meat is typically rife with moisture and arriving early in the day ensures the juiciest cuts. The fresh corn tortillas -- speckled with coarse grains of yellow corn -- absorb the excess fat, much like spreading butter on cornbread. Wrapped with a splash of lime, a dash of cilantro, and a small dollop of guacamole and the barbacoa taco is ready to go.