Photos by Troy Fields

See more of Los Corrales' tiny dining room and kitchen in our slideshow.

​If you've ever enjoyed machacado con huevo for breakfast in Houston, you've probably had machaca from Los Corrales. The family-run factory in the East End has been producing only two products since 1990: dried beef and shredded dried beef, both interchangeably referred to as machaca.

Los Corrales distributes its dried beef throughout the state, although it's primarily found in Houston. And although you can pick up a few packets of the stuff yourself at stores like Mi Tienda or La Michoacan, it's more fun to eat it straight from the source.

Like a butcher shop with a burger joint attached to it, Los Corrales -- the subject of this week's cafe review -- has a tiny restaurant add-on where you can eat its machaca in a variety of dishes: machacado con huevo, of course, but also classics like aporreado and caldo norteño.

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photos by Marco Torres

Hello, gorgeous!

​They said it couldn't be done. But "they" were wrong. I made it. And now, ten pounds lighter, I'm back and hungry as ever.

Thinking back, the premise was so simple. Can a Houstonian go 30 days without Mexican food? The simple answer is "yes, of course!" But the reality was anything but simple, especially for me. You know that thing when your subconscious picks up on an object or idea, then all of a sudden you see that object or idea in everything, everywhere? For the month of November, tacos ruled everything around me. It was my forbidden fruit in this urban Garden of Eden called Houston.

My #30DaysNoTacos challenge was never intended to be an exercise in discovering new restaurants or cuisines. Nor was it intended to prove the unhealthiness of Mexican food. It was simply an interesting gastronomical experiment. The reactions that I received from my friends, family, and strangers ranged from support ("you can do it, Marco! Just a few more days!") to outrage ("how dare you turn your back on the most holy and noble taco!"). All of the comments and support made this craziness worth the suffering.

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Photos by Marco Torres

Mexico City Tacos 2009, a.k.a. The Photo That Haunts My Dreams

​It's been 15 days since I started this challenge.

Fifteen. Long. Days.

But I'm hanging in there! People still think I'm crazy, and I partly agree, but the truth is... my mind was made up to take on this challenge even before I pitched the story to Eating Our Words. I've written roughly 30 blog posts for The Houston Press, but the "Operation: No Tacos" post has received more comments than any of my other posts combined. You guys sure do love your tacos.

Most people start their day with a healthy breakfast. I normally don't eat breakfast during the week, although I do serve myself a bowl of cereal on occasion. That changes on the weekend though. On Saturday and Sunday, I'm ready for barbacoa tacos or a nice, big, spicy bowl of menudo. These last two weekends have certainly been tests of my self-restraint.

To beat the hungry crowds, I usually take an early lunch at 11 a.m. I don't cook very much at home anymore, so there are no leftovers for me to pack. Yet avoiding Mexican food at lunch has been relatively easy, especially after finding the gem called Medley's Cafe. I've eaten lunch there at least three times this month. The burgers, kabobs, and gyros are excellent. Great food at a low price.

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Portrait of a Taco Enthusiast as A Young Man

​That's me up there with my dad, eating a plate full of tacos, the happiest 4-year-old ever. It was there in that one-bedroom duplex in the East End where my love of tacos and all things Mexican originated. Menudo for breakfast? Yes, please. Tamales for lunch? Of course! What about dinner? Yep, you guessed it... tacos!

Even now, 27 years later, in this great city with a million and one restaurants serving a wide spectrum of international and American cuisine, I still find myself eating Mexican food at least five times a week. You know you live in Houston when three of your top five places to eat are taco trucks.

Well, there must have been something in the salsa as I ate dinner at Tacos Tierra Caliente last week, because it was there that I pondered the following:

As a Houstonian, how difficult would it be to survive a full month without eating Mexican food? What if that Houstonian was also of Mexican descent, like me?

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The Laredo Taqueria location on Cavalcade is the subject of this week's Café review. Here are some photos of our last breakfast outing there.

​These four tacos are stuffed with calabacitas con puerco, huevos con chorizo, huevos con nopales and barbacoa. They cost $2 each.

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Photos by J.C. Reid

Oaxaca Meat Market

FM 517 in Dickinson, Texas is an unremarkable stretch of country road that's the main gateway to San Leon, Texas, and the legendary Gilhooley's Oyster Bar. Oysters lovers from around the world have made the pilgrimage down FM 517 to the little oyster shack on Galveston Bay.

But nearby, other culinary delights await. Lining the route are barbecue and seafood joints, along with small restaurants that reflect the changing demographics of the area. Evidence of the influx of Hispanic residents is everywhere, with one of the best examples being the Oaxaca Meat Market in Dickinson.

Sitting side-by-side with Ronnie's Hog Heaven Ice House ("Boobies make me smile!") in a gritty strip center at the intersection of FM 517 and Dickinson Avenue, Oaxaca is a deli, meat market and convenience store featuring products from its namesake Oaxaca region of Mexico.

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What exactly is a hamburguesa estilo Monterrey? I visited the Hamburguesas Del Rio location at Avenida Constitucion 1121 Pte. Centro in Monterrey, Mexico to seek the definitive answer to that question. I had long assumed that the term described a specific Mexican-style set of garnishes, namely the shredded lettuce, chopped onion, sliced tomato, hamburger patty, slice of ham and avocado architecture seen in the photo.

But I was wrong. A couple of bites revealed that there was something altogether different about the hamburger patty itself. So I asked the man with the spatula, the intrepid hamburguesero, what went into the meat mix. Migas (bread crumbs), huevos (eggs), and garlic salt were among the ingredients he listed. I have since found recipes online that include those items as well as salsa Ingles (Worcestershire), soy sauce, and other seasonings.

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Chicharron de barriga tastes like crispy fried bacon

Searching for a late night snack after a night out, I found myself at La Michoacana Meat Market # 10 at Gessner near the West Park Toll Road. Unfortunately, the kitchen was closing up when I walked in, so I couldn’t get a taco. I wandered over to the meat counter in the back of the store to see what they had ready to eat. There were a lot of chicharrones, but not much else.

As I have complained here before, I love the bacon-like chicharrones you get in the carnicerias of Monterrey, Mexico, but I hate the crumbly fat puffs that pass for chicharrones around here. I was about to give up and go get some fried chicken, when I noticed the bin that said “chicharron de barriga.” It looked a lot meatier than the other kind, so I asked for a tiny sample. It turned out to be a meaty, bacon-flavored fried pork strip of exactly the kind I’ve been looking for.

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Matamoros Meat Market No. 4 on Washington Ave. was once my favorite carniceria. It was simply a meat market that sold tacos, and it was part of the inspiration for this series.

The first time I lined up to buy tacos there seven years ago (“The Authenticity Myth,” October 26, 2000), I wrote: “At Matamoros Meat Market No. 4 on Washington Avenue, I stand before a glass case filled with glistening pieces of roasted buche (pork stomach), deep-fried chicharrones (crunchy fat) and several choices of stewed meats in long trays.”

When I went back six years later, the meat case had been removed. Now there was a taqueria with stainless-steel counters and stools where the butcher shop used to be. In an article about the gentrification of Washington Ave., (“Where Carnitas Meet Foie Gras,” March 16, 2006) I compared the $4 fajita plate at the newly revamped Matamoros Meat Market No. 4 with the $18 fajita plate at El Tiempo, the expansive new Tex-Mex eatery that had recently opened next door.

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ST. LAWRENCE MARKET, TORONTO -- “You must be from the States,” the butcher at the St. Lawrence Market said as I took his picture carrying a huge hindquarter of beef into his meat market. “You guys don’t get to see real meat anymore, hey?”

He was right. In Houston, meat comes in little plastic packages, even in the Mexican carnicerias. It was shocking to see big primal cuts of beef hanging in a meat locker.

Texas may be a cattle ranching state, but when was the last time you saw a side of beef? When was the last time you saw a real butcher shop?

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