SF now has smooth and crushable basket tacos, a Mexico Metropolis avenue meals mainstay
Stroll down Mission and also you’ll discover avenue meals distributors shelling out scrumptious fare in every single place. Whether or not it’s the churro woman on twenty fourth Avenue outdoors BART, the elote man reducing piping scorching corn off the cob curbside on twenty third or the pupusa individuals prepping masa into aromatic flat discs on a plancha farther down towards twenty second, there’s simply a lot — and that’s simply in a two-block stretch.
One pandemic day a number of months in the past, I observed an addition to the Mission on twenty first Avenue: a mustachioed man named Felipe Reyes slinging tacos out of slightly blue cooler. Reyes had been let go from his job as a prepare dinner at one of many fast-casual ideas in San Francisco, and with a purpose to pay the payments, he merely did what he knew greatest: He cooked.
However Reyes wasn’t providing any plain outdated taco; he was promoting tacos de canasta, or basket tacos.
Tacos de canasta are a particular kind of steamed taco discovered all through Mexico Metropolis that doubtless have their origins farther east in Tlaxcala. Corn tortillas are full of totally different guisados (stews or different homey dishes) reminiscent of chicharron (pressed pork rinds), frijoles (beans) or papas (potatoes), then organized and layered inside a basket.
Reyes grew up consuming these tacos again in Mexico Metropolis, and he realized that he couldn’t discover them in San Francisco. He noticed a possibility.
He makes 240 of those tacos per day, six days every week. By himself. He begins round 3 or 4 p.m. on the day earlier than serving, making six guisados: chicharron, chorizo con papa, mole con pollo, tinga de pollo, frijoles and frijoles con chorizo. His meats are by no means frozen as a result of he says the ice leaches out taste; he by no means makes use of canned pinto beans as a result of he detests preservatives.
The subsequent morning at 6:30 a.m., he prepares his salsa, a posh roasted tomatillo salsa with 5 kinds of chiles. Then it’s on to the taco meeting, the place Reyes really is an innovator. Sometimes, the tacos are given a splash of scorching chile-infused oil then instantly sealed with blue plastic to lure the steam, which retains the tacos heat all through the day. (The blue is each conventional and symbolic, based on a legend described within the canasta episode of “Taco Chronicles” on Netflix: The Tlaxcalan gods requested for a dish wherein the blue sky could be mirrored, however because the Tlaxcalan individuals didn’t discover something, “they supplied the tacos wrapped in a blue blanket.”)
However as an alternative of giving the entire tacos a shower in scorching oil, Reyes first dips the tortillas in oil infused with guajillo chile and garlic that provides them an orange hue, then gently fries them on a comal till they’re heat.“I don’t like an excessive amount of fats,” Reyes tells me in Spanish.
He then stuffs the tortillas with the guisados that he rewarms (they get higher in a single day, he says) earlier than inserting the tacos right into a cooler lined with blue plastic. “The cooler helps preserve a continuing temperature in San Francisco, whose local weather can differ day by day,” says Reyes. He tops every layer of tacos with slices of onion that he cooks with a little bit of oil and oregano till smooth.
He’s out the door by 10 a.m. and hits Mission Avenue, the place he normally sells out by round 12:30 p.m. The smooth tacos price $1.50 and are extraordinarily crushable. The chicharron shouldn’t be missed: It’s savory, barely spicy and texturally complicated with little bits of pressed pork pores and skin combined in with melted meat — it’s his greatest vendor.
Taco connoisseurs may assume tacos de canasta are just like tacos al vapor, they usually’d be right in that they’re each steamed; the distinction is within the vessel. Whereas tacos de canasta steam in a basket, tacos al vapor are cooked in a metallic steam tray outfitted with holes — the identical trays usually used to prepare dinner sure cuts of meat like beef cabeza (head) and lengua (tongue).
Taco specialists may also learn about tacos sudados (sweaty tacos), that are a kind of tacos de canasta. The distinction is within the order of operations within the preparation: For sudados, the tortillas are dipped in scorching oil earlier than stuffing, then steamed previous to inserting in a basket, based on Ricardo Muñoz Zurita’s “Encyclopedic Dictionary of Mexican Gastronomy.” Reyes’ taco method technically blends sudados with canasta with an added step of heating the tortillas on the comal, thus giving his tacos a bit extra construction whereas nonetheless staying melt-in-your-mouth smooth.
In Mexico Metropolis, the taco baskets are generally affixed to the again of bikes in order that roving taqueros can peddle tacos whereas pedaling round city. Reyes, too, roves; not like many of the Mission Avenue distributors, he doesn’t keep in a single spot. Catch him if you happen to can.
Welcome to Dish
Dish is a brand new column by yours really, Omar Mamoon. Each different week, I’ll zoom in on a single dish I discover undeniably scrumptious, exploring numerous elements reminiscent of its historical past, preparation, maker and extra. From tamales to teriyaki, burgers to biryani, I’ll cowl all of it as long as the dish calls my identify and speaks to my soul. Typically I’ll give attention to a restaurant dish, different occasions there will probably be a recipe to accompany the story.
A bit extra about myself: I’ve been residing and consuming in copious portions within the Bay Space since 2003, particularly San Francisco’s Mission District, the place I reside. I’ve been writing about meals professionally for nearly seven years, frequently contributing to this publication in addition to Esquire Journal, the place I assist scout new bars and eating places.
For nearly eight years, I’ve been working a small cookie dough enterprise, and my candy treats are present in numerous eating places and low retailers all through the town.
In some ways, Dish is just a continuation of what I’ve already been doing for the previous couple of years, and I’m stoked to share what I discover distinctive and scrumptious through this column.
— O.M.
What I like about Reyes, apart from his entrepreneurship and work ethic, is his gratitude. “Mil gracias a todos” he’ll usually say on his social media. In 2002, his kidneys failed, and for seven years he was getting blood pumped from his arteries. He ultimately bought a kidney transplant, and he has been on medicine ever since. The person works for 3 causes: his hire, his medical payments and the household he can’t even see. His daughters, nonetheless in Mexico Metropolis, are actually 36, 32 and 21. He has missed seeing them develop up and has grandchildren he’s by no means met in individual, however he talks to them day by day on the cellphone and nonetheless sends them cash.
Once I consider my pandemic issues, I believe how irritating it’s that I can’t go on a trip or see my household in Southern California. Reyes’ story makes me grateful for what I’ve.
However I fear for him. I fear that the well being division will shut him down. I fear about his well being. However Reyes doesn’t appear too involved and as an alternative leaves it as much as a better energy, usually saying: “Que dios me lo bendiga y protega.”
“Might God bless and defend me.”
Amen, Felipe. Amen.
Tacos de Canasta. Wednesday to Monday, normally beginning at 10 a.m. till bought out (usually by 1 p.m.), on Mission Avenue between twentieth and twenty fourth streets.
Omar Mamoon is a San Francisco author and cookie man. Instagram: @ommmar E mail: food@sfchronicle.com
