A Max Minute: Tacos El Gordo by Max Jacobson
The buzz is palpable.
Tacos El Gordo, a new chain based in Tijuana, has opened downtown, on a sleepy stretch of E. Charleston hard by car dealerships, attorneys and pawnbrokers. ’Divorcios’ and various other services are displayed on billboards in Spanish. I can almost hear them saying, “Ola. I’m Pedro Rodriguez, and I’m here to take your money.”
But you won’t have to shell out more than two bucks for one of the most delicious taste treats in Las Vegas, the pork adobada taco. The red and white free standing restaurant is dominated by its scent, from a huge spit twirling behind the order counter.
After you order, one of the staff will slice off meat, fat, ruddy spices and crackling skin, then layer it into a taco. The next step is slathering the meat with a creamy sauce, and then topping it off with yellow chili and roasted green onions. Ten dollars gets you a family sized platter of the stuff, on a mountain of French fries. If you want that order adobada frites, from the wall mounted menu.
Everything here is a bargain, and the place is always jammed with odd looking white men, Hispanic workers, and pregnant women. Nothing is quite as good as the adobada, but there are other meats to try. There’s a serviceable carne asada, and surprisingly tame chorizo, which is sort of crumbled onto your taco shell.
If you want sopes, you’ll pay four dollars, for your meat piled onto a fat corn cake, and topped with a crisp tostada. They vary the toppings, as well. The carne asada comes on a cheese topped taco shell, making it a Hispanic Philly cheesesteak, and smeared with a glob of guacamole.
Order the chorizo, and the taco comes topped with a finely pureed red salsa. Anything labeled a taco, incidentally, is two dollars.
You’ll decide what you want first, and then choose a line to stand it. The adobada has its own separate line, and the other choices become clear when you line up. When you get your food, you go to the cashier. If you want to order a drink, you do so when you pay for the meat. The cashier, whose English is likely to be slightly better than Charos, gives you the cups. There are Mexican and American soft drinks, self-service like it would be at your neighborhood Burger King.
This is the best Mexican import since Salma Hayek.
At 1724 E. Charleston Blvd.
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