Our Mission Should We Accept It…
I mean, if you’re gonna eat, eat big, right.
If you’re gonna eat carne guisada, eat carne guisada even bigger! Or at least all over town. And that’s exactly what we did this past January. Carpe carne guisada!
Eat on a quest, and eat with ambition and a mission!
“Ambition should be made of sterner stuff…” ~Marc Antony, Act 3, Scene 2, from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar
We agree, Marc Antony! Not just about our buddy Caesar, but about ambition in general. Especially when food is involved.
Now, if that back-stabber Brutus thought Caesar WAS ambitious, I’m not sure he would have even known WHAT to think about #CarpeCarneGuisada (also know as the quest for the best carne guisada in San Antonio, Texas!)
(For those of you reading who may not be familiar with this almost perfect food, here’s a quick tutorial: carne guisada is literally “meat stew,” its meaty juices thickened with a roux/oil & flour, if you will, and flavored with a mix of – things that all fans of Tex-Mex are fond of – garlic, comino/cumin, black pepper, Mexican oregano, some dried chiles perhaps, maybe onion, please no – or at least not too much – green bell pepper, some tomato sauce or its equivalent in some form, with the amount of the latter depending on whether or not you like it really red, or more brown, and then you also add lots of chili powder. I don’t, but some of those red-fans do. Brown versus red. A debate for a different blog post, perhaps, but only subtly mentioned here. Lots of family recipes out there, not all my favorite, but none of them wrong, really.)
And So The Mission Began…(aka it’s good to have friends who are as hungry as I am!)
What started as a purely selfish and personal desire to find the best carne guisada taco in San Antonio ended up being a 36 hour odyssey of brown-and-sometimes-a-little-red-in-there-gravy covered heaven or beef, if you will, in a flour tortilla – and boy, what a 36 hours it was! Along with some of my favorite partners in crime (two of my best comadres, Cindy and Esther, not to mention several people who previously provided suggestions when polled), we tried 22 local establishments doing God’s work; 22 Tex-Mex places of worship where we used lots of napkins, judged all sorts of varying thicknesses of tortillas and everything in between – in between the tortillas, that is – and smiled at being called mija, mamas or just mama, while handing over wads of dollar bills that were very well earned and even more happily spent. What a quest!
And so, the quest included the following establishments in and around San Antonio:
Don Pedro
Mary Lou’s (Olmos Park)
Mary Lou’s (on Pleasanton)
Lula’s
The Original Blanco Cafe
Nicha’s
Las Cazuelas
Mi Monterey
Tacos el Rey
The Original Donut Shop
Rocky’s Tacos
Taco Martinez
Teodora’s
Angela’s
Judy’s
Tommy’s
Taco Haven
Ramona’s Cafe
Roy’s Taco Hut
Lupita’s
Mendez Cafe
La Maná
Wow, what a list! First, let me just say that while I was driving home on Saturday evening after the quest was over I started to think, you know, who cares if a few were a little mild, or maybe one or two contained a bit too much salt or way too much chili powder or not enough comino (even if just in today’s batch). Because really, I’ve lived in places where there were no restaurants with carne guisada, and while I can always make my own, who wants to live in a world where you can’t grab a breakfast taco to go and devour it on your way to work. Even the stalest tortilla would be oh, so good in a carne guisada-less world. So, bless all of them above. As I mentioned above, they are truly doing God’s work. Tex-Mex style.
But, this was a quest for the best, after all. A mission to find the best meat. And so I judged. I judged the meat by itself first, then a bite of the meat with the tortilla, and then added the salsa and took another bite. I chose the best from each round, and then moved that winner to fight the next round’s winner and so on. It was a tough job, but really, I was born to do this, so I carried – and chewed – on. And on.
My life is pretty awesome, I must say. Also pretty awesome, based on the tacos tasted yesterday and today, is my new top five list:
#5, Judy’s
#4, Tommy’s
#3, Angela’s
#2, Mary Lou’s (Olmos Park)
#1, Taco Haven
So, many of you know that I wanted the Southside to “win” and that numbers 2 & 1 were my favorites before this quest of mine (with Taco Haven being my favorite for a long, long time). But I promise I ate each and every bite with an open mind, a pure heart, and a willing pansa. I’m proud that I was open to all the giant chunks of green bell pepper, the not-so-great salsa verdes that seem to be everywhere(!) and all the places that insist on providing chingos of salt & pepper packets (who adds salt & pepper to carne guisada???) Anyway, I ventured far and away from the neighborhood places I’ve called home and didn’t pick up a single stray dog while driving around the Westside. (Crying inside!!!) I am pretty proud of myself. #CarpeCarneGuisada was one of the #52things that I wanted to check off in 2018, but I also think it was a pretty badass thing to do. Thanks for coming along for the ride, and if I’ve inspired some of you to venture out to try a new taco or two… Mission accomplished.
With a full heart and a happy stomach (or the other way around), love always,
Elda Eats XO
#eldaeats #eldaeatssanantonio #eldaeatscarneguisada #carpecarneguisada #carneguisadalife
Blogger’s note: Some of this was previously posted elsewhere earlier this year. Posting here now because this is where it belongs.
Disclaimer: San Antonio Southside girl here who grew up going to Don Pedro with family, spent more than a few several hours at Taco Haven during high school and would probably choose a carne guisada plate as my last meal right before execution. With chips & salsa, of course.
Oh, and shout out to Barbacoa Apparel in San Antonio. They make pretty cool t-shirts. #barbacoaapparel
Coming soon: Round two #carpecarneguisadaotravez #whoswithme
