Chorizo from Carniceria El Torito #1, KCMO

Hijole! El Torito makes some of the best chorizo mejicano I have ever had. Just made some breakfast tacos with aigs, taters, serranos and their chorizo. Que rrrrico!

Carniceria El Torito
4901 Saint John Ave, Kansas City, MO 64123-1842
(816) 920-5307 ‎

Tacos al pastor en Kansas City, MO.

These were all take-out orders..

Tacos al pastor from Carniceria El Torito!

And they are only a buck on Tuesdays!

Tacos al pastor from Taqueria Mejico #2

At this place one can sit down and have a Bohemia, a much better beer than Dos Equis.  I would be happy to shill for Bohemia since I am a lot more interesting than the most interesting man in the world. I’ve read he’s really from Brooklyn and formerly a lawyer.

Here’s a painting from the wall of the Carniceria El Torito (on St Johns). Nice place, nice folks.

Pintura de chancho

PANCHITO (Formerly THE HOOK)

After weeks of watching the work go on in the rehabbing of this former Midlothian TPKE fried fish emporium into a taqueria, I noticed that it was OPENING SOON!

Nearest the camera, carne al pastor, then carnitas, then carne asada..

And it was called PANCHITO Restaurante Mejicano y Taqueria (Authentic)  (or something like that) and we decided to investigate this place on Saturday. We met at one PM (I got there first and was able to find a menu and got an agua gaseosa (mineral water). We only wanted a snack, so rather than getting full plates, I decided that we should split three sopes (thick corn tortillas with a rim/edge) and chose carnitas (fried pork bits), carne al pastor (marinated pork), and carne asada (grilled beef).

After our order was placed, my brain was picked re: local ethnic grocery stores, educational background, and common acquaintances.

Our order arrived and we fell to with some salsa verde of moderate picante added to our meal. Everything tasted authentic and was approved of. The toppings were a trifle dry, but we couldn’t really see ordering fully sauced dishes at that time of the day, since we had other things to accomplish before the day was out.  I want to come back and try some of the platters; I think they had chicharron en salsa verde. I may go back by and pick up a menu.

It also seemed on the pricey side.. I would have expected the platters to be at least a dollar or so less.

PANCHITO is open most days from 10 AM to 10 PM.. Fridays & Saturdays from 10  AM to 4 AM. It could prove to be too interesting a place to visit in the early morning hours since it is right next to several transient motels. You young folks can live large, but I’ll pass.

Panchito Taqueria

And one should note that the formica booths are not for large folks.

the charm of formica and the transient motel..

More of La Milpa

Here you are. Looks quite nice.  I combined this with a trip to Taj Mahal to get some tea for my lady-wyfe in KCMO. Nearly went over to Jerusalem to see what they might have in the way of halal lamb to grill, but I went on home.

La Milpa without the cook tent.

La Milpa gets a makeover!!

I have been meaning to document this for at least a month. They’ve redone the stucco in a sky blue with embellishments. Quite handsome, I’d say. I’ll go by and take some more photos when the dining/cooking tent is down.

Note the blue finish.

Nice facade.

Whoever did this did a nice job. Reminds me of home in South Texas.

Facing Hull Street

Noth entry with corn motif

This is nicer than in a lot of the toffee nosed places downtown. Seguro que hell yes!

South entry with Quetzalcoatl motif

Flower beds

Para flores

The banner.. which says

outdoor carnitas/they are here/enjoy them!

Note the happy cartoon chanchito!

carnitas!

I got a carnita taco and is was as good as always. There were three fine salsas to go with this..

Mr Impolitic Eye needs to quit eatin’ at the hifalutin places. I nearly took a photo of the tripitas (chitlins), but I left my camera in the truck when I sat down to eat my taco.

Chorizo con cebollas!

Chorizo and onions..

Oregon in February: Tacos y NWPA

I was out that way, attending the annual SEASONAL AFFECTIVE DISORDER FESTIVAL in Boring, Oregon last weekend. Not much happened there, but I did have the best tacos al pastor that I have ever had at the El Jaliscense taco truck near the Boring Fire Station.

I had the best tacos al pastor here...

Tacos tend to be no more than $1.50 out there. I find it difficult to pay the Richmond going rate for tacos of $2.50. They guys who charge this must be freakin’ chilangos. “y TAKOS! No me dijé..“

I also brought carne adobado tacos to my mother-in-law’s so we’d have a quick lunch. These were from a neighborhood taqueria called TACOS DEL SUR.
They were great, with radishes and 5 types of salsa available.

I like to get lunch for three people for under ten bucks!!

I went by the neon salmon, but bought nothing. I was going to make some clam chowder, but decided not to.

Hail the neon salmon!

And Deschutes Brewery has a great new Pale Ale. NWPA Red Chair. But oh, this is wonderful stuff.

Some of the best beer I have ever tasted in my life!

Spelling TACO with a “que?”

The letter K! is seldom used.  Taco is hardly a loanword…

Spanish uses the Latin alphabet like most European languages, but the letter K is used only in a handful of loanwords to represent the sound usually written as C or QU.

From http://download.travlang.com/Ergane/spanish.htm

Cerro Azul mitotically divides and moves east.

Flat Rock’s traditional Mexican restaurant CERRO AZUL has opened another branch in the Midlothian Station Center. Where Hancock Fabrics & The Thrifty Quaker are.

It’s at Midlothian Turnpike & Coal Field Road.

Tell them they need to bring back Bohemia beer. They used to carry it.

The best Mexican beer you can get in the U.S.

El Vaquero again!!

Oona got back from Oregon and we went to El Vaquero tonight.  She had the chicken quesadilla plate (with rice, beans & salad) and I had carne asada gorditas.  And we each had a glass of horchata.

The owner brought us out a complementary bowl of their Friday special, caldo de res. Which is a restorative pho-like beef soup with potato, carrot, & cabbage in it. This place is one of the best non-gringoized Mexican restaurants in this burg. We may go there for breakfast tomorrow.

Carta de negocios

Heard in El Matamoros in Austin in the 1970s from a vegetarian:

“Could I have carne guisada tacos without meat?“

<snarfoux!>

El Vaquero

I’ve been watching the signs for this Mexican restaurant’s opening since the first of the year. I was on my way back from checking out tonight’s Art Space opening and cruising down Hull, scoping out the verdadero Taco Trucks at El Happy Mart, El TacoRey, usw.

I turned up Turner to get back to Midlothian and decided to check out El Vaquero, in the Marshall’s shopping center.

It’s a very basic place and, like a real Mexican restaurant it is open at 8AM for breakfast, 7 days a week. I may try that tomorrow since they have menudo on weekends (not that I am expecting a hangover, since menudo is said to be a remedy for such maladies).

“Pa’ un crudo/come menudo”

I had a couple of gorditas al pastor (marinated pork) and they were quite good with the requisite onions & cilantro. Their salsas (green & red) are homemade and they don’t have that wretched white dreck on the table. They seem to be making their own corn tortillas, too, which is a good sign.

Other dishes include tongue, tripe, chicken flautas, horchata, and several types of tamales on weekends. They have an ABC permit, but the beer hadn’t been delivered yet. This may be a good place to watch the Mexico/Argentina game on Sunday afternoon, too!

It's under the sign in the middle.