Street Tacos

Ordinarily Mark and I don't go out much at night unless we're going to some event. However, today for a variety of reasons we hadn't eaten anything since huevos Mexicanos at 10am, and we were both feeling a bit peckish. Mark had gone into town to pick up something for my insect bites and noticed that there was a kettle of tamales just around the corner.

When we got there, though, the kettle was gone, leaving only a little pile of ash on the street to show where the fire had been. But on the way we found a taco stand in the garage of a nearby house. The genial man was not ready to start serving, but from what he was preparing we realized that it would be tacos al pastor, made with pineapple, and garnished with finely chopped white onion and a generous sprinkle of cilantro.

 We'd wondered if there was a neighborhood taco stand but hadn't noticed one until tonight. In many Mexican neighborhoods there will be always one or more entrepreneurs who will bring out tacos or tamales or other fast food to serve to hungry people at night. They may have day jobs and may only be open a few nights a week--like on the weekend, for instance--and this is how they supplement their income.

When we were in San Cristóbal de las Casas last spring we learned that on Wednesday and Saturday nights one could find "red light tamales," so named because when they were available there would be a red light bulb in front of the house with a woman standing over a huge kettle of steaming hot tamales. In the distance we could see many red lights all over town.

We went back about a half hour later and brought home 7 tacos--4 for Mark, 3 for me--and devoured them without taking time to photograph them. They were delicious and just what we needed to take the edge off our hunger. (I promise a photo next time--honest.) They were 5 pesos apiece, served with a delicious grilled onion, 4 or 5 slices of cucumber, a small plastic bag of sauce, and a half lime to squeeze over them.