ALISON COOK FINDS NEW WRINKLE IN FAJITA GAME.
I haven’t come across an exciting new wrinkle in Houston’s beloved fajita genre since … since … well, since I first wrote about Alex Padilla’s glorious fajita burger at the Original Ninfa’s on Navigation, back in 2011.
Now comes the brilliant addition of a sweetbreads option on the fajita parilladas offered by El Tiempo at their Westheimer annex. Yes, sweetbreads are organ meats, but fear not: These thymus and pancreas glands are notably mild and smooth. Thrown on the mesquite grill, they tighten up to a crisp exterior, leaving the insides like a fluff of cloud.
Tuck a little into one of El Tiempo’s pliable flour tortillas. Add a jot of pico de gallo and — this is important — some of the melted butter sauce that comes with the mixed fajita grills here. Roll and swoon. The effect is rich and light at once, with the most delicate tinge of the funk that makes offal-eating fun.
These mesquite-grilled mollejas summon up the Norteño cuisine of the border, where I first became enamored of sweetbread tacos (Matamoros) and brain tacos (Juarez) back in the 1980s. Some Houston taco trucks serve mollejas or sesos, along with kiosks at the big outdoor Latino flea markets on weekends.
But this is the first time I’ve seen mollejas brought into the festive fajitagrill context, where everyone sits around customizing their own tacos from a sizzling platter — or, in this case, the distinctive charcoal tabletop warmers El Tiempo uses, which rise up like metallic pyramids holding meaty offerings to the gods.
Or to us, anyway. You can order the grilled sweetbreads on their own — look under the carnes asadas section of the menu — or ask for them as an add-on option to the fajita order or parillada of your choice. (Beef fajitas and sweetbreads seems like an ideal combo to me, the stout against the suave.) The mollejas will cost you an extra 17 bucks, and it will be worth it.
You can’t just go into any El Tiempo and order the sweetbreads, however. They already took them off the menu at the Westheimer annex’s older sibling at 1308 Montrose because not enough people ordered them. So head to 322 Westheimer and get them while you can. I’m obsessed and can’t wait to go back for more.