Home > Relish Austin > Archives > 2009 > June > 02 > Entry
Austin Meets Houston Taco Tour
Who says Austin and Houston don’t get along? A group of curious Austin foodies and bloggers hit a single street in Houston last weekend to try the best tacos in the city, led of course, by new Houston friends who know about these kinds of things.
Team Austin: Mando Rayo, Penny de los Santos, Marshall Wright, Jam and Leo Sanitchat, Ian Knox and Nelson Flores.
Team Houston: Jay Francis, Katherine Shilcutt, Peggy, Juan Carlos and Geraldina Reina, David and Katie, Alison Cook and Robb Walsh.
We met up at Jarro Cafe at the crack of taco time, which isn’t until 10:30 a.m. if it’s a Sunday. About half of us hit up the breakfast tacos, with melted white cheese and not-too-greasy chorizo and bacon. Freshly made tortillas gave us all hope for the day. Passion fruit aguas frescas whetted our lips for the dozen other flavors we’d encounter within a 4-mile stretch of Long Point Road. Jarro has a trailer out front, but when the day is already heating up, take advantage of air conditioning when you can get it.
Next stop was Taqueria Cuernavaca, in a empty parking lot at the corner of Campbell and Blalock, just a few blocks north of Long Point. Choose from a handful of types of small, cheap ($1 each for the al pastor) tacos, but the best part is the servers will come to your car when you order. It’s a carhop (“mesera de coche”, I’ve decided it should be called), where you can order your tacos and Mexican coke and wait for the eager-to-help servers to bring it to you.
Before we even left Jarro, Jay Francis became our unofficial leader. Francis, a serious Chowhounder with a Houston Press blog, asked if we had an campero-style chicken places in Austin. Pollo Campero, which serves fried chicken in a style associated most with Ecuador, was en route to our next bonafide taco joint. We tried the fried chicken (salty, but good) and fried yucca sticks. Final answer: A delicious alternative to fast food. Not a truck, but a pit stop with crispy chicken skin.
El Ultimo Taco Truck, a taco truck next to a car wash, wasn’t just only our next stop, it was easily the best food on the tour. From pierna to campechanas, beef fajitas and the always-refreshing watermelon agua fresca, Ultimo really was the ultimate taco trailer experience. The parking lot of the car wash doubles as a shady area to wait for your amazing food.
After four stops, we were ready for a sit-down place with a bit of ambiente. El Hidalguense, around the block from El Ultimo, fit the bill. Three mariachi musicians and the smell of a borrego pit greeted us as we walked through the door, but the best welcome came as we sat at the table. The server brought out not only an amuse bouche, if you will, of tequila, but also a free flauta for everyone to get things going.
This place is famous for its mutton (borrego), which is cooking a pit next to a plancha on which a smiling woman is turning hand-pressed tortillas, but I preferred the beef taco, which was essentially a vehicle to eat the fiery tableside salsa.
By this point, we could eat no more. We’d been eating for hours, but Jay suggested a stop at Canino’s Produce Market before we headed back to Austin.
This indoor and outdoor farmers’ market should be a mecca for any serious eater traveling to or living in Houston. The front half is a big, single market with tons of well-priced produce (not necessarily organic or from Texas).
But walk through that market to the back to find the real jewel: smaller vendors selling three times the variety of what’s inside. This is easily one of the better outdoor markets I’ve been to in the States, and it reminded me a lot of the outdoor markets we used to shop at in Europe.
You can find fruits and vegetables (don’t pass up the pineapple samples) and every kind of dried pepper, seed and spice, including several kinds of real cinnamon bark. If you have a garden, look out for the fruit trees, and flower and vegetable transplants that you can plant at home.
At the very back of the lot are taco trucks and ice cream carts. You need a reward after perusing all those goods.
What a pleasure it was to be led through some of Houston’s best eats by Houston foodies who seemed honored to have us as guests in their fair food city.
View Austin Meets Houston Taco Tour in a larger map
(If you’re planning your own taco tour, here is a map of all of the recommended stops we considered.)
Permalink | Comments (5) | Post your comment Categories: On the road, Playing with your food
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By Jodi
June 2, 2009 9:43 AM | Link to this
Sounds awesome! Sad I missed it but loved following you guys on Twitter and reading your post! Adam and I might need to recreate this next time we’re in Houston!
By elmundodemando
June 2, 2009 9:47 AM | Link to this
Good times Addie!
By stevear
June 2, 2009 2:34 PM | Link to this
i recall a Taco blog of yours months’ back that stunk; finding borrego (mutton) layered in tortillas IS a gem; this taco hunt was even real enough for me. Great work Addie.
By Sicilian
June 2, 2009 9:03 PM | Link to this
I am glad you posted the route… . I think our next trip to Houston may find us hunting some Tacos. Ciao
By Owlman70
June 3, 2009 2:38 PM | Link to this
Too bad you did not try Brothers Tacos on Navigation for the best breakfast tacos in the city.