Tacos al Pastor

No trip to Mexico City (or tales of said trip) would be complete without the legendary tacos al pastor. The story I've been told is that some time in the last 50 - 100 years a large group of Lebanese immigrated here and, of course, wanted to make shawarma. Lamb was in short supply & super expensive so they put what religious convictions they had left aside & used pork. They also couldn't get their hands on all the spices & herbs they usually used in the marinade so they substituted local ones like achiote. There was obviously no pita handy but plenty of tortillas. Combine all this together & you get the most important street food here: an intensely flavorful (but slightly smaller than usual) taco made from pork shaved off a shawarma spit, accompanied by pineapple, onions, lime & a choice of sauces and eaten 3 - 4 at a time. People eat them constantly & everybody debates who makes the best version, like slices of pizza in NYC but even more of an obsession.

Let me tell you what brought me to my long-awaited first tacos al pastor yesterday. My landlord's husband came by with an electrician to fix a handful of things that haven't worked since I moved in. They decided they needed to buy new light fixtures to replace the ones I had & they offered to take me along for the ride. How could I say no? We weaved in & out of terrifying traffic & ended the trip by backing half-way down a one way street to park in front of the shop, all while old European harpsichord music trilled from the car stereo.

While we were in the shop- for maybe 5 minutes- a cop came by & started to tow the car. The landlord's husband dove into the car while the electrician ran after them. I slowly strolled behind knowing I could only make things worse if I tried to get involved. When I got to the corner, I saw everyone pulled over in the middle of the block right in front of Mercado San Juan (the giant artisan market, not the excellent food market). Once things seemed under control, the electrician went back to the store while the husband paid his fine to stop the towing & I noticed that right across the street was an El Huequito stand.

El Huequito is one of the popular contenders for top tacos al pastor & I went to another of their 3 locations on my last trip here. They only serve 2 things- tacos al pastor & drinks. So I sheepishly excused myself to eat tacos while the husband paid tickets & light fixture bills. Needless to say they were delicious, or as they say here ¡super bueno!

In non-food news I had 2 very strange musical experiences yesterday, one common & one new. First the common: Mexico City LOVES Rick Astley. I've heard one of his songs at least once every day I've been here including my trip to the light store & my previous visit to this city. Is he aware he's a star here & not the largely forgotten 2-hit-wonder he is everywhere else in the world? Now the unusual: I met my friend at a bar in the middle of a large department store in a posh neighborhood. Strange already, but there's more. It was decorated like a Midwest Holiday Inn bar from the 1950s & included an old man in a tuxedo at a piano playing instrumental medleys of soft rock songs. I couldn't possibly list them all but I recall hearing "Never Get Caught Between The Moon & New York City" prominently featured in one segment. Advice we should all take to heart. ¡Besos!