Someone has tricked us into believing that a fast meal can only come from a place with a drive-thru and a dollar menu. If you’ve read any of our posts you know that we are not against eating out. On the contrary, we love supporting our neighborhood’s taco stands and taquerias and their owners who take pride in quickly serving quality food. But sometimes a home cooked meal- prepared en su casa, en su cocina, con su familia- is cheaper, faster, and a more practical approach to getting a delicious dinner on your table in a jiff.
The modern grocery store has left us with little excuse not to prepare our meals at home. Once upon a time, oceans had to be crossed in order to bring an avocado, tomato, or ear of corn to the table. Today, mountains of produce from all over the world come to find us. This is especially true of Oak Cliff which has an abundance of supermarkets. At any given moment, walking, biking, or driving around the OC you are probably a half mile away from a grocery store. At the same time we may feel that many of the markets around the hood seem off limits to certain people.
Of course food is closely tied to culture. It makes sense that grocery store execs would target a certain demographic and bring in items that cater to that culture’s culinary whims. Too bad many of us don’t care about where our demographic is supposed to shop. We go where the good food is and sometimes that means heading to an Southeast Asian market, an Italian market, or right up the street to our nearest Latin market. We are not Hispanic but that does not mean a store specializing in foods from Latin America and Spain are never to be entered. There really is no excuse to buy Mission tortillas at Tom Thumb when not 5 blocks away fresh tortillas of all kinds are being made by the dozen at El Rio Grande, their package warm to the touch and downy soft. A language barrier becomes no barrier at all when what is valued by the consumer is not ease but quality.
An appeal to cleanliness is often given as another reason not to shop at unfamiliar markets or visit new hole in the wall restaurants. But spending some time perusing food inspection scores reveals the old adage to be true: you can’t judge a book by its cover (El Si Hay vs. Bolsa). The markets we visited all had good or great ratings, equal to or higher than non-Latin markets like Tom Thumb, Kroger, or even Central Market (that boutique market’s bakery got a rating of 66 in early 2009 boosted to only an 81 a month later, compare that to Fiesta’s 84 and 90 around the same time period).
So now that the excuses not to shop at these markets have been debunked, lets get to the results.
Our daughter’s 1st birthday gave us the opportunity to invite our families and closest friends over for dinner and spend money on a lot of food and drinks. Thanks to our daughter’s adorableness we had a captive audience and we used this to our advantage. We quickly put our guest to work, blindly tasting 10 meats from 4 different supermarkets. A sampling of tasters included a Nonagenarian, a Norwegian tennis player, a vegetarian, a musician or two, a college/grad student or 10, and about half a dozen kiddos under the age of 1 (we’ll have to wait for some language skills to develop before receiving any meaningful reviews…but most seemed to like the chicken). Guests were asked to write about the way they assembled their taco, what it tasted like, and give it a star rating. So here are the results in order of least popular to most popular.
La MichoacanaLa Michoacana was the place I had in mind when I decided to do a taco tasting. I knew a place advertising itself simply as a meat market would have to be great. These markets can be found all over DFW and that was also a good sign to me that they were doing something right. Walking through the doors this past weekend, I was surprised to find that the place is not just one big meat counter. Instead they had fresh produce (including some giant avocados selling for $.79 a piece), some canned and dry goods, fresh salsas, and a sizable prepared foods area, complete with a dozen or so booths for shoppers to sit down and eat. We will definitely be back to check out what comes out of their kitchen but this day we were on a different mission. Walking to the back it was evident that the place specializes in marinated meats. Saturday’s of course are very busy for any grocer and La Michoacana was no exception. They were out of their marinated chicken breasts and almost out of fajita meat. The Bistek Marinada ($3.69/lb) was clearly skirt steak, trimmed of fat and fairly thin. Their Carne Adobada/Ranchero para Tacos (2.69/lb) looked to be marinated similarly to the fajita meat but was pre-sliced into thin strips. It ended up that the dollar price difference yielded a fattier and tougher meat when cooked. The flavor was peppery, slightly spicy, but allowed the beefy flavor of the meat to shine. The fajita meat was my (“D’s”) favorite and I didn’t mind the tougher taco meat because of the splendid flavor. I also enjoyed the chicken which was thinly sliced breast meat which cooked super fast on the grill, probably under 4 minutes a side. Again, the flavor of the chicken was allowed to shine by a seasoning that relied on pepper as its major flavor enhancer. The reviews concluded that La Michoacana’s meat was “tender”, “well seasoned without being too salty”, but that the “fatty beef” was unwelcome. 3 1/2 Tacos out of 5 El Rio Grande Supermercdo 2515 W. Jefferson Blvd. Dallas, TX 75211 214- 941-6715 http://www.elriogrande.net Fajita Marinada – $3.99/lb Bistek de Pollo Marinada – $1.99/lb Pork Al Pastor – $2.49/lb
El Rio Grande opened up shortly after the Albertson’s on Davis/Jefferson and Hampton closed its doors. The building was transformed into the colorful market it is today, complete with wall murals and decorative gas lamposts serving as checkout lane markers. The store boasts a massive produce section, panederia, tortillaria, taqueria, and of course a meat market. The meat and seafood counters take up the entire back wall, boasting at least 50 items to choose from. It is staffed by half a dozen butchers and fish mongers and I had to wait a few minutes until it was my turn to be served. Even with all that time to wait I still had trouble ordering, there were so many options! I walked out with the fajita marinada (marinated skirt steak), bistek de pollo marinada (a misleading name for boneless, skinless chicken thighs), and pork al pastor (marinated cubed pork with onions and pineapple). The pork seemed to be the standout of the bunch. I smelled the distinct aroma of beer when I opened the packaging. This ingredient along with the onion, pineapple, and a good amount of crushed dried chiles promised to bring a tidal wave of flavor. Once cooked, the pork meat was tender, though cubed larger than Fiesta’s, the only other pastor we tried, making for a more intense chew. This might have been what kept it from pulling out ahead of Fiesta’s al pastor, which I thought was too salty but others liked. The pastor did not get bad reviews and this turned out to be the shared fate of El Rio Grande’s meat. No bad reviews, but nothing spectacular. The chicken was totally different from La Michoacana’s, jucier, but also chewy at times. It was also neon red and hard to cook since it was not filleted. Not unappetizing, but there are better ways to prep food. I do not remember the fajita meat, but a few liked the spicier flavor and tender texture. Nothing to write home or complain about. The chicken and pork were great deals; a family on a grocery budget would enjoy a meal from El Rio Grande’s meat market as a special treat without having to pay special prices.
3 1/2 out of 5 Tacos
Jerry’s Supermarket 532 West Jefferson Boulevard, Dallas, TX 75208-4722 (214) 941-8110 Fajita Marinada – $4.19/lb The experience of walking into the Jerry’s on Jefferson is underwhelming and small. The parking lot boasts an ancient design, cars squeezed together in a tiny space (I’ll try to park on the street next time). The building and its murals facing Jefferson Blvd. remain the same today as they are in my memory. However, like any place remembered in childhood,the store is smaller than I remembered. I am sure at least 5 Jerry’s could fit into a Wal-Mart and about 10 Jerry’s parking lots could fit into the acres that make up a Supercenter’s lot. Walking around the store I had to ask myself, “Who were these people who designed and shopped in such places so many decades ago? How is it that standards could change so drastically over such a relatively small amount of time? When did such a sliver of a checkout lane ever suffice?” Fortunately, the flavor of Jerry’s marinated fajita meat is not stuck in a time warp but is instead timeless. One of maybe 4 options to choose from at the tiny meat counter, the beef was being sold alongside cheeses and tiny brined peppers (you’ll have to visit for yourself to find out what I’m talking about). The meat ($4.19/lb)was again a bright red color, but still noticably skirt steak. Right next to it was the Fajita nortena which was not made of skirt steak,probably substituting a round or chuck steak instead. We’ll have to try the fajita nortena some other time. What we did get was desribed as “tender”, “delicious”, and “perfectly seasoned” by our guests. The meat was also a hit for the grill master, cooking up in about 5 minutes. Of course you’ll need to be careful not to over cook such thinly sliced meat. The flavor was saltier than the rest, but had the perfect amount of spices and a subtle garlic flavor. The meat was chopped up because it was so thin and disappeared quickly. I’m sure the same would happen with your own audience should you choose to prepare this meat for your family or friends! 4 out of 5 tacos Fiesta Mart 611 West Jefferson Boulevard, Dallas, TX 75208-4873 (214) 944-3300 http://www.fiestamart.com/ Marinated Fajita – $2.99/lb Pork al Pastor – $3.99/lb By far the most recognizable Latin foods market in Oak Cliff, yet Fiesta may still remain a mystery to many of you. My favorite place to shop was bought out by Fiesta not so long ago (the Carnival on Westmoreland and Illinois). That Carnival showed me how accessible different foods from different cultures could be and Fiesta has continued to carry that torch. So I was surprised when I walked up to the meat counter on a Saturday evening to find it deserted. I expected to see all sorts of customers clamoring for the last bits of carne marinada. But no people waited to be served, no staff were ready to help the non-existent masses. The store had plenty of people in it, so I wondered about why the meat market would remain so neglected. I’m still not sure if this is a trend or if I just hit a dead time of the evening. What matters is that I went home with a few pounds of Beef fajita meat ($2.99lb, the cheapest of the bunch) and some more pork al pastor ($3.99/lb). When I took out the beef, I was suprised to see that all 2.5lbs of the beef was in one long strip of skirt steak. It had not been sectioned off into managable pieces but spanned at least 2 feet. After slicing it up into grill sized bits I threw it on a pretty hot grill. A particularly fatty piece flamed up the glowing hardwood briquets but the meat remained rare as the flames spat and sizzled around the meat. After 10 minutes, the beef as not cooked through. This is probably because the meat was about 3/4 of an inch thick, making it by far the thickest meat we cooked all day. While the thickness stretched the cook time to about 20 minutes for medium-well doneness, the person looking to conjure up a fajita taco a little on the medium-rare side would find this meat to be perfect at around the 13 minute mark. Most of our tasters did find this beef to be their taco meat of choice. I read one review that boasted that the meat was so good that it could stand to be eaten by itself, outside of a tortilla and more like a steak. I would have to agree that the beef from Fiesta does offer a beefy, steak like experience to taco eating. However, a few comments hinted at the meat being a bit tougher, more fatty, and chewy (like a steak can be I suppose) preferring the thinner meat from Jerry’s. I was glad to see that Fiesta was a favorite because I do think it is a great place to start shopping if you are new to visiting Latin food marts. Hopefully you enjoy the experience of shopping there, firing up your grill, then sitting down to a delicious meal at home. 4 out of 5 Tacos By no means have we tried all the places to get good marinated meat for tacos. We’ve only skimmed the surface. Plus, there are so many other meats out there to try. I definitely want to try some of the prepared tablitas, carnitas, and the like. Perhaps we’ll have a special posting with the results. Or maybe I’ll simply make an amazing Sunday lunch for 2 and enjoy keeping the results of a full and happy bellys to myself, hoping you find out for yourself.
Well done, and what fun! And I’m sure you and we have crossed paths at a supermercado somewhere.
By the way, La Michoacana has an excellent selection of charcoals. We’re partial to mesquite.
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