Taco Trek: Yan and Ben remember the Alamo

By Yan Digilov and Ben Lopez     2/11/10 6:00pm

Taco Trek

Alamo Tamale & Taco has established itself as a major player in the Taco District by doing the exact opposite. Standing at the gates to Taco Heaven on 2310 Navigation Boulevard since 1960, the two-room building features a kitchen in one room and two countertops in the other - one for eating, one for ordering.

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Originally intended to be a single restaurant, Alamo has grown tremendously in size and popularity, and currently consists of three storefronts, one tamale factory and a huge online business that ships tamales around the continental United States. But fortunately for the customer, its small-business feel remains, with simplicity trumping complexity every time.

Ben's Take

This week's trip to Alamo Tamale and Taco was rife with anticipation, as the restaurant came highly recommended by Will, good friend and spiritual adviser to me and Yan. While explaining the meaning of life, Will once told us about his experience as a young schoolboy. After enjoying a delicious breakfast of Alamo tacos, he spilled some of the contents of the meal on his white Oxford shirt, and was then humiliated at school. Despite the childhood embarrassment, however, our friend finds himself returning to Alamo Tamale again and again, made wiser with every bite of taco.

I never figured out what he was trying to teach us with that parable, but I did learn one thing - we had to try this taco place. The inside was simple and straightforward: Customers enter to find two women standing behind a counter, presiding over a variety of piping hot fillings to please any taste.Ordering was unconventional: The menu was sparse, so the staff relied more on customers pointing to the desired contents for their tortilla. For once, our indecision about ordering paid off, and by the time the ladies caught up with our pointing and picking, our tacos resembled huge bricks.

My first choice was a weekend specialty, the barbacoa taco. The taco came stuffed to the brim with some of the tastiest and most tender slow-roasted beef I've ever had.

The carnitas taco was next, another weekend-only specialty offered by Alamo. Carnitas begin as chunks of pork, roasted or grilled to perfection, then shredded or served whole in tacos. The meat in my taco was a bit dry, as they weren't the freshest item served that afternoon. On a positive note, a nicely balanced pico de gallo salsa mixed up the taste of the shredded pork carnitas, making me eager to try the taco for our next visit.

Meanwhile, the flour tortillas were perfect. They were hot and fresh to keep the filling warm, yet reserved enough to not steal the show from the taco filling. If you're a corn tortilla fan, they're just as delicious, and if you're looking for something new or different, try a gordita - a thicker corn-based tortilla served like a pita pocket.

For the finale, we saved the morsels that put Alamo on the map and then launched them to nation-wide popularity: the hand-made tamales. According to the Web site, most of the tamales are made by machine these days to accommodate the large number of orders, but Will let us onto an insider's secret: Just ask for the tamales handmade.

The tamales were absolutely fantastic. Brought fresh from the mysterious back half of Alamo Tamale & Taco, these hand-rolled delicacies came steaming hot out of the wrapper, filled with pork or chicken. The tamales come in orders of six or 12. But don't worry - you'll finish them without a problem, just as we finished this trek without a worry and with full stomachs to boot.

Yan's Take

The morning I decided to continue this final leg of our trek, I woke up with a headache, not quite sure what I had done the night before. If a cobweb of memory serves correctly, I had set out the previous night dedicated to finding some pretty girls who would be impressed with my status as Taco God - though if I remember correctly, Rice girls are not impressed by powerful men with good taste in tacos. So there I was, bleary-eyed and confused but, as always, ready for tacos.

Alamo really is a curious place. A simple, seemingly quiet exterior hides the hustle and bustle of the taco traffic inside. From the second we walked in, the pressure to choose the right taco was on. Corn or flour was the obvious first decision to plow through, but the numerous fillings displayed in front of us took the form of a Jeopardy board - will I take clumpy red thing for 100 or beany green thing for 1,000?

With my superior, er, meager Spanish speaking skills, I believe I insulted the first server's mother and nearly asked the second to kiss me, at which point Ben took over. We ordered four tacos, an authentic Coca-Cola in the glass bottle and got a few extra jars of hot sauce before sitting down.

Finally, I had the chance to get my bearings and take in the atmosphere. It was small. It was simple. And it was slightly uncomfortable. But like in the yoga classes that we enjoy frequenting on Fridays, we pushed aside the temporal discomfort to focus on eternal truths.

For example, one great way to measure the quality of an early morning taco trek is to see how long the taste will last inside your fingernails, and in this case, I was able to suck on my fingers for hours before the last red-tinted remnant of spicy potato blew away in the wind.

Indeed, the spicy potato was one of the best parts of the meal. I tried the taco first with beans and rice, and liked it so much that I grabbed another with spicy potatoes and corn before we left. The potatoes were cooked in red chili sauce, the perfect adrenaline-boost to start a taco morning.

Next, I tried what I understood to be the result of a vegetarian request, a unique blend of bell pepper, cheese and beans. Never have I seen such a creative concoction, and the taste was fantastically unique. Mildly sweet and plenty spicy thanks to the hot sauce I had generously piled on, the taco tasted like something Momma would make (if my momma had not been born in the Soviet Union).

Thinking my vegetarian treats were over, the next taco came as quite the surprise. Nopales, a vegatable made from prickly pear cactus, combined with plenty of rice and beans in tacos to emerge as the star of my meal. The hearty taste was just as unexpected as the previous taco, another homemade taste that felt just right.

But for the wonderful vegetarian treats present, there was one drawback: no meatless eggs. Instead, I finished my meal with a classic bean and rice taco that tasted a little drab, but the fresh tortilla and homemade taste left me with a satiated smile.

I should have been wiser after my many adventures in those parts, but it happened again. Thinking that the experience was over, I began walking out when I was beckoned toward the dessert tray. I elected to try the rice pudding, and at the risk of sounding hyperbolic, I'm not sure a better dish has ever been made. It tasted like eternal childhood with a dash of cinnamon.

And so afterwards we went into the wild world, our bellies full of peppers, beans and cheese and our hearts tinged with emotion. It was the end. I had given them $7, and they had given me so much more. This was the end of a journey, the conclusion of a lifelong quest to find the best tacos our wonderful city could provide.

Many have asked me what is next. After tackling this Everest of taco goals, what could I do? Travel the world telling my tales? Retire for good? Some people even suggested that I teach. And while Ben and I cannot guess what lies ahead, one thing is for certain: Wherever there is a small family-owned taco stand, offering cheap golden tortillas filled to the brim with hearty goodness and a friendly smile, we will be there. And we will be hungry.

Now get even hungrier by checking out last week's installment of Taco Trek.

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