There's feet in the soup at Tacos Y Salsas
Like macaroni and cheese with cut-up hot dogs, unseasoned ramen noodles in spaghetti sauce, or bullion cubes sucked from between clenched teeth, the traditional Mexican soup known as menudo was a meal born out of necessity; a peasant’s dish, cobbled together from the down-and-dirty ingredients that would otherwise be discarded out the back door of a butcher’s shop. Unlike those aforementioned desperate culinary measures, however, menudo is remembered fondly by folks who were raised with its unique flavors, and has garnered a following among foodies who have developed the taste (and the stomach) for it.
Among the carnicerias, taquerias, and assorted food carts on Federal Boulevard, Tacos Y Salsas puts in long hours to prepare its signature menudo rojo (“red,” for those who failed Spanish 101). The dish begins with its most infamous ingredient, tripe, or less delicately, cow stomach. Not just any cow stomach will do, however: The bovine population has four to choose from. Utilized here is honeycomb tripe, a darker, tender cut that gives the dish a full body. The flavor is further enhanced by pig’s feet, an entire hoof submerged right in the center of the bowl. It may sound like a delicacy that could put the most dedicated boot-licker off his fetish, but the smooth meats are actually quite delicious, though excessively tender. The texture of the hominy floating atop it all offers a welcome relief from all that melt-in-your-mouth flesh.
Menudo is an ideal dish for those carnivores who are livin’ la vida low-carb; to be sure, no one has ever made a successful vegetarian version. The only veggies here are the ones that transform the base into a burning hot oil slick of flavor—namely, the plethora of chilies that give the dish its lava-red hue. Thankfully, the soup is served with a plate of spongy, fresh corn tortillas to cool overheated palates. Tacos Y Salsas also has plenty of sugary Coca-Cola on hand, imported directly from Mexico, which is just one more thing it has over Taco Bell.
