Closed:Tacos de Guisado Pati,Mexico City: Contempo Street Food Stylings From a Taco de Guisado Institute

Update: This stand has closed due to Pati moving back to her home state

On the other side of town in Mexico's capitol, the street food choices are fewer, but none the less interesting. Colonia Roma Sur has some great street food,bordering the trendy neighborhood of Condesa.A couple of stands in the areas do some very creative and contemporary tacos de guisado,tacos of stews.

At Ricos Tacos de Guisado de Pati, you'll encounter convention and the unconventional.


Pati comes from Veracruz and has been on Av. Tlaxcala near the Chilpancingo metro station for about 17 years. She has 24 years making tacos de guisado in Mexico City. In addition to her tacos, she also makes enchiladas, flautas, and quesadillas. Although you are here for the tacos de guisado, nothing at this stand should be overlooked, it's all fantastic.


Last month, I stopped by for lunch and spotted her quesadilla de pancita, beef stomach stuffed into a fried tortilla, topped with lettuce, tomato, onions and queso blanco, white cheese.

I strongly suggest that you indulge in some of Pati's black beans. They are right alongside the salsas and are on the house. The beans have so many herbal virtues, and when they settle on your plate, a lush and fatty skin forms on the top begging for your attention.



The innards reveal a lovely guisado of stomach and vegetables. This is a perfect bite, so many pleasing textures and flavors, another dish of offal ready for the unwilling masses.


But the breakfast and lunch crowd are here for the tacos.


As in many traditional taco de guisado stands, Pati has a bunch of cazuelas stacked on her comal, and on each other. The guisados at these stands are prepared at home or in a commissary. That big pot of rice you will always find at a tacos de guisado stand is the glue that keeps it all on the tortilla.


This is perhaps the most common guisado in Mexico City, arroz con huevo.You may say,"rice with hard-boiled eggs....who wants that?" "Boring!" Oh no, my friend. There's a reason these are so popular. If the rice is delicious, the combination of the two comfort foods is unbeatable.

With a bit of Pati's masterfully crafted salsas, this taco is complete. Pati has pico de gallo, sometimes a chipotle salsa, a green salsa made with the more flavorful cuaresmeño, practically identical to the jalapeño, or a salsa of fresh chile de arbol.


Another typical stew is the chile relleno. These are soft, fluffy and expertly cooked, offered in a taco or on a plate.



Plump taco de chicharron is cooked al dente here, with more skin to sauce. This is an exceptional version of this ubiquitous stew, with a stronger pork skin quality that most others.



The taco de tortita de carne is another regular taco on the guisado scene. Various torts of meats and vegetables with egg, in this instance ground beef, are found all over Mexico City. Pati has a spinach as well as a a chicken tort I believe, but it all depends on the day and the whim of the cook.


The espinaca con crema is one of those tacos that says anything goes in the world of tacos de guisado. If it's good, then it belongs on a tortilla.

Creamed spinach, rice, and some spice? It's not a Mexican recipe, but Pati can cook anything and makes it taste great.



My all time favorite taco at Pati's is her taco de nopal con huevo. We're talking cactus strips in a tomato sauce with some fried eggs floating in the sauce. You get a fried egg on your taco, a contemporary version of the usual egg and cactus scramble. This stand has a flair for cooking.

When the yolk runs onto the rice, heavenly flavors abound.



If you ask for Tacos de Guisados de Pati, you'll only get blank stares. Her stand doesn't have an official name, outside the sign that says Ricos Tacos de Guisado, which is just saying what they have, really. And, yes,they are rico!But if you ask, "por donde estan los tacos de chile en nogada," you might get a little more help from the locals. It's not every stand that has these.




These are mini chiles en nogada done with chiles cuaresmeños in a taco. The nogada, walnut sauce, and picadillo(ground meat, nuts, and fruit)filling are lovingly crafted and completely lack any ruse. Mexico's celebrated national symbol of gastronomic achievement in the form of a humble street guisado, I love it. It's wild to think that these tacos are less than a dollar each.

Pati makes these street delicacies year round, not adhering to the seasonal character of chiles en nogada. With the pomegranate seeds, all of the elements of a taco are present, no need for condiments here.

Mexico City is the taco de guisado capitol of the universe, and one could even devote a lifetime to documenting the varieties in Mexico City alone, without success. For the taco lover, a visit to Pati's stand is an essential stop. It's the past,present, and future of Mexico's street food culture.

Ricos Tacos de Guisado de Pati
Tlaxcala between Chilpancingo and Tuxpan, across from the IMSS(Tlaxcala,159)
around the block from the Chilpancingo metro station
Colonia Roma Sur
Mexico City
Monday-Friday(morning 'til early afternoon), best items go fast
Colonia Roma Sur

Tacos Carmelita: Mexico City Rising,Tacos de Guisado Have Arrived

For the past four years, right under our very noses, a brilliant Mexico City style tacos de guisado shop has been sitting right next door to Langer's, hidden in plain sight. No, it's not some entrepreneur that has family from Mexico, or traveled to Mexico City to research tacos de guisado, but a real cook from Mexico's capitol.

Located at the Westlake Mall in MacArthur Park, Tacos Carmelita is the only food option next to lingerie, clothing,and electronics stalls. The neglected theater sign reminds that the Weslake neighborhood, now home to mostly Mexican and Central-American swap meet malls and stores,check cashing,and fake ID's pushers,was once upscale. This area still has a bit of a rep, but has really mellowed in recent years.

Wrapping up a shoot with Squid Ink's Elina Shatkin, we had decided on either the food truck row on Wilshire, or MacArthur Park. As fortune would have it, the camera man was stuck in traffic, so we headed to MacArthur Park since one by one the Wilshire trucks were pulling away.

When we got to 7th and Alvarado, I thought, wait, there's nothing here. MacArthur Park has its share of uninteresting trucks in the evenings, but mid-afternoon is a taco dead zone in the Latin-American neighborhoods of the globe. There are also some comidas corridas, and Good Salvadorean and Guatemalan, but tacos? I decided to take a walk."If I don't find anything down the street,let's just use the park."


I saw Tacos Carmelita and looked around a bit more in the Westlake Mall, and thought the taco shop would work fine until I looked at the warming trays and saw the guisados . I asked,"You have tacos de guisado?" Isabel, who has cooked there for four years smiled and nodded.

Isabel comes from the Basilica de Guadalupe neighborhood of Mexico City, just north of the Centro Historico. This is the center of worship for Mexico's beloved Virgen de Guadalupe. She's been cooking professionally for about 17 years, and even had her own restaurant at one point.

Tacos de guisado, tacos of stews, are the most prevalent form of the street taco in Mexico City, and Mexico. They are the home cooked stews of Mexican moms and grandmothers lovingly placed in a tortilla.

You can get beans and rice on your tacos, the rice is the glue that keeps the sauce on the taco, and the beans complete the meal. It's a whole meal in a taco. I take these beans on the side, they are stand alone good.

The guisados are available during the week, from 10AM-5PM, on the weekends, just like in DF, they switch to the comfort dishes.


Fideos are always on the menu, the Mexican style pasta soup in a chicken and tomato broth. These are happily greasy and slurp to the last drop good.


They had the fideos with alphabet pasta the first time I went, this will bring many a Latino back to their grandmother's kitchen.


The red pozole, only available on the weekends is done DF style, with pork trotters. This comes with quite a bit of meat. It's among the best pozoles in the city.

In addition to these killer tacos, there are tortas and quesadillas available with the various stews.


The carnitas are of the home style variety, not cooked low and slow in a copper pot, but very much like the usual carnitas you encounter in our LA restaurants. The difference, these are better, with a nice saltiness, and good texture. I really prefer carnitas from a specialist, but carnita lovers should check these out, but these are a weekend only taco.


Everything is coming up tinga this year, well, tinga has always been a standard guisado in Mexico. This simple, spicy chicken recipe is a reality check for the tinga cheerleaders around town.This is what it should taste like! Its snappy gusto is balanced by the rice and torilla, an excellent guisado.


The pipian rojo, as Isabel's other chicken guisados, comes with a drumstick. Isabel has her sauce technique together. This sauce is a made with pumpkin seeds, dry chiles and spices.

She changes the guisados daily, so there's always something new to try.


Pollo en adobo is a magnificent taco, full of dark, dried chile essence, and hints of sweetness and spice.


The chicharron verde is awesome,tangy, and luscious. It will have you moaning for more.



The albondigas enchipotladas, meatballs in chipotle come with a surprise, they're filled with hard-boiled eggs. Yes, these are for making your own tacos. The heat is sensual and shows restraint in using the charismatic chipotle.


Picadillo, comes in a plate or taco. This is seriously good.Isabel starts cooking at a commisary kitchen at 4AM, slowly cooking stews that arrive with color, depth, and substance.


On another day, cerdo en salsa verde (pork in green sauce) and pollo en crema de chipotle(chicken in cream of chipotle). The pork is tender and infused with green flavors, the cream of chipotle, subtlely heated,and finger-licking good.

All the guisados are rocking, but the bistec en pasilla(steak is pasilla chili sauce) is ablaze. A dark chile pasilla sauce with sublime flavor will have you asking for more tortillas should a drop have escaped your mouth.

This is a game changing taco stand in Los Angeles. This isn't just the presence of a tacos de guisado specialist, but a bonifide Mexico City kitchen.I haven't seen anything like it, in terms of variety and quality. Mexico City cuisine is coming up.

Tacos Carmelita
Inside the Westlake Mall
710 Alvarado St, at 7th
Los Angeles, CA
Mon-Sunday 10AM-5PM(closed Wednesday)

Tacos de Guisado La Tapatia,Mexico City: A Stone's Throw From Terminal 2 in Nearby Pantitlan,These Tacos Will Have You Praying for a Flight Delay

While my comrades in arms grumble and moan about a layover in Mexico City returning from the reaches of Mexico, I have taken these opportunites to execute various sorties into the city. With five hours, I can hit a major restaurant in Polanco or Condesa, fours hours and perhaps I'll hit a fonda in the city center, with three, the Mercado Merced, but give me a mere two hour stop and I'll treat you to some true street gourmet.

Tacos de guisado, or tacos of stews, are the most common type of street tacos in Mexico City.They range from the traditional stands with a soulful few stews like hard boiled egg and rice,blood sausage,chicharrones in green sauce,picadillo, to complex sauces and moles . They can even have chopped up hotdogs, sauteed with vegetables, quite common, or even such bold fillings as chiles en nogada or creamed spinach, like at a spot run by a woman named Paty in Condesa, where her creative stews draw in street connoisseurs that frequent her popular taco de guisado stand. I even witnessed an elderly gentleman order up a taco of french fries at some street stand in the centro historico.

Most tacos of guisados stands have around six to eight guisados, but I've seen some carry over twenty-five selections, the the place outside the Mercado Merced, near the flower market. These are the tacos of mom's home cooking. Something delicious your abuelita has on the stove. "No time to eat,son?" "I'll make you a taquito to go." The mouth-watering stew are bonded to the tortilla with rice. Throw in some beans, and you've got a comida economica in a taco.

While exploring options in the vicinity of Terminal 2, where Aeromexico is located, I stumbled across Taco de Guisado La Tapatia. The matriarch of the family hails from Guadalajara, but this kitchen is pure chilango.


As in many tacos de guisado stands, the home crafted stews are kept warm in cazuelas on a heated surface. Some use the more modern steam trays, but you know, we love it when we see these casserole dishes all laid out and stacked.

La Tapatia sets out around twelve stews each day from a repertory of the thirty or more they have listed,or whatever else they feel like cooking. The guisados change each day.

Tacos de guisado are early morning to early afternoon tacos, or until they run out.They're made for the working class during the week.On weekends, they are either closed, or they switch to more comfort style dishes.On the weekends in Mexico City, everyone is chasing down menudo, birria, or barbacoa, but it will be back to those guisados on Monday morning.


Before you squeeze throught the narrow entry way into their tiny fonda, you see a menu posted on either side of the entrance. A list of guisados was probably compiled when they opened, but hardly worth a second glance, just ask what they have today.

I have a feeling they never bothered measuring the taco cart parked in the entryway to their restaurant, but it does provide quite a spectacle, watching everyone slide into the seating area.You can also sit outside on a couple of plastic chairs, but I enjoy in their dining room and kitchen. Watching the salsas being made while your eyes smart from the grinding of capsaicin, or the little stack of dirty dishes in the sink that you can practically reach from the center table of the restaurant.It brings back memories of dining in my grandmother's kitchen to be close to aromas, the clanging of pots and pans, the sounds of running water,boiling stews, and sizzling meats.


La Tapatia is a serious kitchen. Chicharrones en salsa verde is full of aromatics, and whole stalks of cilantro. Brush this on your taco and you've a masterpiece, one of classical origins.


Chile relleno in a tomato sauce, with mild spice will make you a believer in this often poorly prepared dish. Chiles rellenos are difficult to master, and these are the product of greatness.It's about the balance of flavors and textures.


The taco de molito verde is a required eating. A green pumkin seed mole with depth and a wonderful mouth feel.


The taco de alambre is one of the reasons a second tortilla comes with your order. You can make a second taco. Sauteed Oaxacan cheese, ham, peppers, onions, bacon, and whatever else the cook throws in. This is Mexican hash.


Chicharron prensado, a Mexico City favorite consists of pork parts and fat pressed into a molded form. When cooked it falls apart and has a pork on steroids kind of sensation. La Tapatia's version comes spicy and sassy.



Oh, the pollo almendrado is so good. Chicken is cooked in a thick almond based sauce until it has the perfect consistency. Spicy, nutty, herbacious, and divinely seasoned.


And, the manitas de cerdo, pig's feet? Forget about it! These have pleasurable sting of spice, and the fall apart trotters bring opulence and inspiration.


This is a world class taco. There are some salsa on the table but use your discretion, many of the guisados require no additional condiment.


But there's nothing like a great moronga, or blood sausage. Another dificult dish to master. I had a blood sausage taco in San Juan de Letran one day that truly tested my resistence to bacteria and rot. You don't want to get a hold of a bad one of these!

At La Tapatia, you can also get some beans with your order, that come on these small styrofoam plates. Outside you'll get a taco, inside, a bit of guisado to make your own tacos.


I couldn't get over the scent of this moronga.When I inquired of the elegance of this taco, la abuelita showed me fresh laurel, hierbabuena(mint), and thyme wrapped in a bouquet.Her smile lit up when I questioned about ingredients, full of knowing pride at her culinary achievement.



There is no hint of off putting flavors, which I do enjoy a little bit of funk, but this taco at La Tapatia could convert the most squeamish of diners. Moronga is a delicacy and is treated as such by the cooks at this humble eatery.

So, drop that burger, ditch that line for airport carne asada and escape the culinary confines of Terminal 2 into Pantitlan.Check in you bags, and drop your carry on off at the lockers near the exit. As you head out of the airport drop-off and pick up area, follow the walkway to Eje 1 Norte and make a left.Make a left on Santos Dumont, and take the fidt right,Juan Guillermo Villasana. Just past the first street, Rolando Garros, on the right hand side of the street is Tacos de Guisado La Tapatia. It'll take about 10-15 minutes to get back inside the airport.

A stop here will change your whole travel experience, and send you home with a smile. Next time you have a layover, or a flight delay, your frown will yield to the feelings of excitement that will set your appetite to primal stimulation. I wonder what La Tapatia has today?

Tacos de Guisado La Tapatia
Pantitlan
Located on Juan G. Villasana near Rolando Garros
Mexico City