spanktum,

by all means lets see your al pastor recipe.

I like arturo's ok, but like Erik, the taco I usually get there is the lomo. but Atotonilco's now that's the al pastor I, at least, crave. especially washed down by one of their very good liquados.

Though I should mention that for some reason I have not had the al pastor at leon on blackhawk and ashland that JeffB has highly recommended, any recommendation by JeffB I'd take very seriously

I forgot about this thread(and my original posting...dur). By all means, try Leon's al pastor(on a good day)

wsteinbe wrote:Been lurking for awhile, though I'd finally contribute. Not certain if there's a spit, but Zaca Taco on south Pulaski (technically its on 71st, but everyone gets to it form Pulaski) has some fabulous al pastor tacos. My ex girlfriend and I stumbled onto this place accidentaly. We had driven past it a number of time and there was always a line no matter the time of day. They grill all the meats and the aroma is fabulouts. Highly recommend taking an adventure down there for this little gem.

I find that Zaco Taco AlPastor was too sweet. It tasted like they put the pineapple in the taco! Their steak is one of the best in the city.
El Gallo De Oro (NOT the one on 63rd and Sacremento) has excellent Pastor.

For an irrelevant but very pleasant and interesting link with a nice picture of al pastor (scroll down a ways to Poncho's):

http://www.extramsg.com/modules.php?nam ... le&sid=396

Antonius

Edited for content by the author.

Antonius,

Pineapple atop the pastor, yes. But are you saying you've seen it mixed in? That's what Pizzaholic is joking, I think-- that it was so pineapply it tasted like it was mixed into the meat. (Probably just a piece from close to the top that had absorbed a lot of juice, I'd guess.)

Mike G wrote:Pineapple atop the pastor, yes. But are you saying you've seen it mixed in? That's what Pizzaholic is joking, I think-- that it was so pineapply it tasted like it was mixed into the meat. (Probably just a piece from close to the top that had absorbed a lot of juice, I'd guess.)

Apologies to P-H for my missing the definite article. Reading skills in this country are diminishing at an appalling rate.

The link is nice, though.

Hey, pineapple added is within the realm of possible variation. See the following (from earlier in this same thread):

MZA wrote:

zim wrote:I'm a little shocked to hear the lack of love for atotonilco.

I agree. I have really grown to like the tacos al pastor there, especially at the 26th St. location.

It's important to remember that Atotonilco serves al pastor as it is normally served in Jalisco, with larger slices, more marinade and usually the lack of pineaple (or onion, for that matter.) They are not the sublime tacos al pastor one finds in D.F., Morelos or Puebla, served with the tiny, crusty, smoky bits of meat with the dab of extra marinade and the little pineaple piece infused with pork juices tossed on top. Even so, it's as close as I've found to the real thing. I do, however, always ask for onions, cilantro and a plate of limes. They usually don't serve them without asking, in my experience.

Amata wrote:Hey, pineapple added is within the realm of possible variation. See the following (from earlier in this same thread)...

Thank you, Amata, indeed that is so... Remember Tony R's description to us of getting tacos at a roadside place in Mexico, with inclusion of a little pineapple with the meat?

Mike G wrote:Pineapple atop the pastor, yes. But are you saying you've seen it mixed in?

I especially enjoyed the mild but flavorful al pastor pork, with bits of pineapple in it....

Cool. Yes, it seems logical enough to me to add it in, after all there are plenty of salsas with pineapple in them, but I've never seen it in this country myself.

The pineapples aren’t only for decoration. As I understand it, pineapple is nearly always used in the marinade for al pastor and slivers of the fruit are often included in a proper taco al pastor.

La Poblanita is a fairly new taqueria in the Brighton Park neighborhood, specializing in tacos al pastor and tacos arabes. The spit used for al pastor is crowned with a pineapple, bits of which are included in the taco. When the guy pictured here makes a taco you’re in for a show: he flicks off pieces of pineapple at about 2 per second and catches them behind his head.

Slicing Pineapple at La Poblanita

This is the spit for al pastor. The spit at the right has differently seasoned meat used for tacos arabes. These are served on flour tortillas accompanied by a cinnamon-scented salsa. One day I hope to do a longer report on La Poblanita. Let me say it’s not completely consistent but on its better days it’s very good indeed.

Taqueria La Poblanita
4171 S Archer Av (near Sacramento)
Chicago
773-523-8800

pineapple is nearly always used in the marinade for al pastor

Sure, it almost always has a pineapple flavor (though the one at the end of this post seems to have been pineapple-free entirely) but bits of pineapple I have not seen before; though again, what could be more logical?

Mike, you're obviously not eating enough al pastor. It's really not all that uncommon to get a little pineapple in with your meat, though not always that sucessfully done. For example los molcajetes in Rogers Park (which otherwise has some pretty nice stuff, good table salsa, tortillas heche a mano, pretty nice tortas) throws what has to be canned pineapple in their al pastor to fairly ill effect.

Well, on a recommendation like that... maybe I'm glad I haven't seen pineapple in my pastor.

Mike, Sorry I shouldn't have just put out the bad experiences, just feebly trying to indicate that if a place went so far as to throw in stuff like canned pinapples which I am sure they knew would lessen the flavor, it must be a thing they thought pineapples "had" to be in the taco for it qualify as al pastor. I've had pineapple with my al pastor to better effect at a number of places, for instance el gallo on montrose. Though I still stand by my earlier atotonilco rec w/o pineapple, thought Rene's place looks mighty interesting

anyone else have experience w/ the 2 practically side-by-side al pastor joints?

Taqueria el Pastor
4418 West 63rd Street
Chicago, IL 60629
(773) 284-1003

al pastor torta:


taqueria el pastor on left, mario's on right


Mario's Taco's
4540 W 63rd St
Chicago, IL 60629
7735828226




(pineapple slices included in tacos)

i'm no al pastor pro, just happened to miss entrance to i55 while heading down western and ended up taking 63rd (i like to drive by The ZONE just to do the bike gawk ) all the way to cicero... i don't recall either tacos being spectacular or particularly flavourful, can someone provide supporting taste opinion? Mario's has some pretty cool "combos" tho: $20 for 2 yields a buncha grilled meat from beef flank to al pastor to carne asada, etc. with a pineapples prominently present...

The best tacos al pastor I've had of late have been here.



-ramon

zim wrote:Mike, you're obviously not eating enough al pastor. It's really not all that uncommon to get a little pineapple in with your meat, though not always that sucessfully done. For example los molcajetes in Rogers Park (which otherwise has some pretty nice stuff, good table salsa, tortillas heche a mano, pretty nice tortas) throws what has to be canned pineapple in their al pastor to fairly ill effect.

Here's a picture of the tacos al pastor at Frontera -- with pineapple in the mix. (I doubt it is canned.)



Photo Credit: The Delicious Life

NOTE: This linked image shows up when I view it from home, not from the office ... your mileage may vary.

Somewhere over the last 10 years I migrated from other meats to Al Pastor as the meat of preference in any and all of my Mexican fast food. It started with my dearly departed local burrito joint that did prepare the meat on a rotisserie, but also fried it up to add crispiness upon order, much as many gyros joints do. But I really knew nothing about it other than observing and sampling, and surprisingly have never had it with any noticeable pineapple. Now I know better.

IMHO most gyros places are serving warmed up meatloaf, and have gotten away from the roots of the spit.

This comes from the very first post on this thread, which I somehow also missed for all this time. All I can say is Amen, brother. Another dearly departed local place served real gyros, marinated, crispy bits of lamb, which I fondly referred to as carnitas ala grecque. So good, and they completely turned me off of the meatloaf stuff. Are there any places that serve real Gyros? (Probably should be another thread, I suppose).

Having Al Pastor tacos for lunch.

After seeing Rene G's picture of the pastor and arabes spits at Taqueria la Poblanita, I swung by this evening and got a bit of takeout.

The space is much larger, brighter, cleaner, etc than I expected. You can tell it's a recently opened space. The kid who took my order (high school age, maybe) was working on his biology homework when I showed up, and the two cooks were being overseen by an older guy, probably the owner and kid's dad. Total speculation. Anyway, all this at 10pm on a saturday night.

I got two tacos al pastor sin nada, a taco al arabes, and a coke (hecho en mexico) to go. The pastor was sliced off the spit directly into two warmed storebought corn tortillas and topped with quite a bit (to me, too much) of pineapple. The arabes was sliced and then crisped up on the grill while some onions cooked down next to them. It was wrapped in a pretty decent flour tortilla.

This was all packaged for takeout pretty well. Six mini cups of salsa (four red, a very very smoky thick salsa, and two green, which I haven't yet tasted) and a plateful of key limes, cebollitas, and sliced radish, which was a very nice touch.

The pastor was very good, even after the 15 minute trip home, but the taco de arabes was really the star. The meat had nice flavor and seasoning balance and the onions were soft and slightly caramelized. It came together really well.

I'm quite impressed with this place. I hope they make it and I hope they can keep quality consistent.

I was just wondering what cut of pork is so finely marinated and sliced in those pictures of tacos al pastor.

Just wondering what kind of pork is used for tacos al pastor.

long-time lurker, first time poster since this is a favorite topic. saw arturo's mentioned but not lazo's, right next door on western and armitage, which I've always enjoyed more. no idea if the meat is off a spit but great tacos al pastor -- of the cilantro and onion variety. also a big variety of more adventuresome tacos I haven't worked up the will to try but mean to -- sesos, etc.

In the Tribune At Place section today (8/17/06) they had a article about things that were cooked in a spit. Carniceria Leon and Tacqueria Puebla were both mentioned. I didn't know you could request some pineapple from Carniceria Leon...I will have to ask next time I am there. Hopefully with this article these places will not be crowded!

Mario wrote:In the Tribune At Place section today (8/17/06) they had a article about things that were cooked in a spit. Carniceria Leon and Tacqueria Puebla were both mentioned. I didn't know you could request some pineapple from Carniceria Leon...I will have to ask next time I am there. Hopefully with this article these places will not be crowded!

Okay...I receive the Thursday Trib. in my subscription and always look forward to the odd reappearence of Monica Eng. As per Carneceria Leon: um...wha?!

I'm a might confused...1402 Ashland ain't the address of my beloved Taqueria/Carneceria Leon(they'd be at 1456-or so...Blackhawk/Ashland)...and the photo couldn't have been taken in the same store unless the guy impaling achiote-kissed pork on a spit is doing so way over behind the immaculate meat counter...Taqueria Leon is *tiny* and a photo of the actual spit couldn't encompass the produce/butcher sections.

I guess I'm kneejerking regarding the great al pastor/carne asada available up the strip and the mediocre tacos (imo...mea culpa...ad nauseum)available in the La Pasadita armpit. As I've opined elsewhere...people are forever overlooking---or misapprehending the location---(until recently) Taqueria Leon for Supermercado/Carneceria Guanajuato...etc. When al pastor bliss glows within the tiny store on the nearby CORNER.

and, perhaps this is virtual gumflappin' and Monica Eng really does intend that a store at 1402 offers awesome al pastor.

Christopher Gordon wrote:I'm a might confused...1402 Ashland ain't the address of my beloved Taqueria/Carneceria Leon(they'd be at 1456-or so...Blackhawk/Ashland)

Every listing I see has:

Carniceria Leon
1402 N Ashland Ave at Blackhawk St
773-772-9804

Best,
Michael

eatchicago wrote:

Christopher Gordon wrote:I'm a might confused...1402 Ashland ain't the address of my beloved Taqueria/Carneceria Leon(they'd be at 1456-or so...Blackhawk/Ashland)

Every listing I see has:

Carniceria Leon
1402 N Ashland Ave at Blackhawk St
773-772-9804

Best,
Michael

I could be showing my Chicago geography ignorance...but since I lived at 1457 for 6 years I always assumed Blackhawk/Ashland would have to be the even-numbered equivalent.

Christopher Gordon wrote:I'm a might confused...1402 Ashland ain't the address of my beloved Taqueria/Carneceria Leon(they'd be at 1456-or so...

Christopher,

I thought you were mistake about the address of Carniceria Leon, so I called. The man who answered the phone said 1402 N Ashland. Carnicerias Guanajuato is at 1436 N Ashland.

Enjoy,
Gary

Carniceria Leon
1402 N Ashland Ave
Chicago, IL 60622
773-772-9804

Carnicerias Guanajuato
1436 N Ashland
Chicago, IL
773-772-5266

G Wiv wrote:

Christopher Gordon wrote:I'm a might confused...1402 Ashland ain't the address of my beloved Taqueria/Carneceria Leon(they'd be at 1456-or so...

Christopher,

I thought you were mistake about the address of Carniceria Leon, so I called. The man who answered the phone said 1402 N Ashland. Carnicerias Guanajuato is at 1436 N Ashland.

Enjoy,
Gary

Carniceria Leon
1402 N Ashland Ave
Chicago, IL 60622
773-772-9804

Carnicerias Guanajuato
1436 N Ashland
Chicago, IL
773-772-5266

I knew the drone of military jets warming up for this weekend's festivities was getting to me.

see: gratuitous emoticon deployment

we were at 1357-esque Ashland for 6 years...not 14--, duh...

still doesn't explain the pic in the trib.: why would they shoot the sterile, blindingly-white meat counter instead of the encrusted, greasy, spit and griddle?

oh...

And why all of the sudden write for the first time about a place that has been chugging away quietly for many years on that corner?