Mexico
Carnitas de Puerco "Tlazintla"—San Miguel Tlazintla, Mexico - 2025
I can't say enough great things about the food and the people here.
I spent quite some time in SMT and if anyone that's been there knows, it is a very small town with very few places and things to do. Need gas? It's at the grocery store down the street, held in 55 gallon drums which are then transferred to a gas can and then into your vehicle—That's a good description of the town. This restaurant was about as simple as it gets, a metal roof on top of cinder blocks and no actual doors or windows, much of many places in deep Mexico.
I unfortunately cannot recall the gentleman's name that ran through place but it was himself, his wife, and his son in there. There was also a house pet, "Gus" el ganso—or, goose in Spanish; He was very talkative and loved sprigs of cilantro and neck rubs.
I was the only one there on every occasion that I went and with my Spanish being really good, it was no problem to sit there for hours and eat and talk with the family. The man handled cooking the meat and his wife made my tortillas by hand. During different visits, I had carnitas tacos, steak tacos, and breakfast as well with house made escabeche and salsas obviously. It was all served with diced white onion, cilantro, and limes, as is tradition in Mexico—to not do so would anger the ancestors.
When not running the restaurant, the family lives just down the dirt road on a farm where they tend to their animals and other matters. They wonderful hosts on all occasions and I hope they are all doing most well with good health. I can't wait to see them again.
Looking out the front "door"
Posted menus
Standard Mexican accoutrements
Gus the goose eating my cilantro
Gus and the owner
His wife getting the mixture together for fresh tortillas
Getting ready to press
Pressing the tortilla
Removing from press
Placing on the grill
Steak tacos
Breakfast plate with escabeche
Breakfast with blacker coffee that I came with and I came with espresso in my short glass on the right
Tortillas "Hecho a Mano"
Tortillas made by hand
Gus, the Goose
Gus, the pet of the restaurant and will eat your cilantro
Tacos La Chula—Mexico City, Mexico - 2025
Tacos La Chula is a staple of Mexico City, they have a few locations throughout CDMX and each one is as good as the other one. Ice cold beers such as Victoria, Corona, Modelo and others ready to be poured. Staff cutting al pastor fresh off the spit along with slices of pineapple directly onto the hand made tortillas. Steak, chicken, tripe, chorizo , and many other meats all ready to be served up in some kind of fashion—Charro beans made fresh and served with a side of fresh fried chicharrones. There's not a single thing you could order that wouldn't be delicious.
One of the things I loved was the fact that every table got their own platter of 6 house made salsas that they refill for free. Some not so spicy and some spicy, but all so flavorful—I used every one.
My typical order on the numerous occasions visited typically included starting out with those charro beans, I would get a bowl of them and throw in some of the fresh pico and crush up the chicharrones for the crunch. The entire bowl was delicious from beginning to end, this was enjoyed with an ice cold beer which was usually the liter of Victoria poured into a giant goblet.
After the beans, it was hard not to have the tacos al pastor so that was usually my order. Sure the steak tacos and chicken tacos were phenomenal but there's just something about that meat being roasted on that spit with all the fat just dripping down and covering every inch of meat and then the whole pineapple at the top with the juices running down to also add flavor. This was peak taco flavor. All freshly sliced onto those handmade tortillas and served "con todo," cilantro and onion. Once at the table, this is when you add a healthy amount of those table salsas. For me, the green salsa verde was the most flavorful and spicy! Hit the tacos with some fresh lime and a sip of that cold beer and it's basically heaven.
Preparation of chicken
Multiple meats
Charro beans
Tacos al pastor
Charro beans and Victoria
Table salsas
Al pastor spit with pineapple
Steak tacos
Fresh Sliced Al Pastor and Pineapple
Working the Grill
El Pialadero de Guadalajara—Mexico City, Mexico - 2025
I stumbled across this place not far from the hotel, this is where I discovered "carne en su jugo," now let's talk about that. Carne en su jugo literally translates to "meat in its juices." It's exactly as it sounds. Strips of beef, bacon, onions and beans all cooked in its juices and scooped up into a bowl with the broth.
They served it with, surprise surprise, cilantro, onions, limes, caramelized onions, salsas, tortillas, and tostadas. It's perfect as is, eat it straight out of the bowl or top it up and spoon it into a tortilla.
It gets a lot of its flavor from the juice it's cooked in because there's a lot of fat there and fat is flavor. I found it best to just add the sides into it directly and dip the tortillas and just eat.
To drink, I had a fresh made cantarito and it was ICE cold and delicious, perfect to go with the main food.
The second time I went, I had the same thing but was able to try the ceviche since I had someone with me to eat some of it. Ceviche is one of my favorites and there's was made well. Fresh fish in lime juice with tomatoes, onions, salt, and cilantro—Served cold, it's light and refreshing. This was a favorite spot in CDMX.
Carne en su jugo
Carne en su jugo and ceviche