Tacos 101 a master class in Mexican street food
TACOS 101 (out of 4) Address: 101 Dundas St. E. (at Church St.), 416-362-8226, tacos101.com Chef: Julio Campos Hours: Monday to Saturday, 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Sunday, noon to 7 p.m. Reservations: No Price: Dinner for two with pop, tax and tip: $20 Don’t let the name fool you.
Tacos101is named for its Dundas St. E. address, not a class at nearby Ryerson University. But the tiny, lively taqueria nonetheless offers a fun survey course on Mexico’s bestknown street food.
It offers fresh, simple flavours. Everything is under $5. Students and others line up for the fried tortilla chips, homemade sauces, non-alcoholic aguas frescas and the wonderfully messy tacos.
“I know the drill. I’m getting myself ready,” says one regular, taking off his suit jacket and rolling up his shirt sleeves. The vibe You can’t miss Tacos 101.
Colourful Mexican paper cut-outs flutter outside. Reggaeton pulses through the open window.
Inside, four cooks are jammed in the kitchen, where pork rotates on a spit for a faithful “al pastor.” Luchadores, Mexico’s masked wrestlers, are a decor theme. Even the tip jar has personality, a dancing plastic dog activated by the weight of a coin in its bowl.
The all-day taqueria is strictly inand-out. Think of it as a food truck with some stools. El jefe Tacos 101 opened last October, with a Puerto Vallarta-born chef hired through Craigslist to “get that authenticity,” says co-owner Jeff Sato.
Chef Julio Campos puts a big wallop of lime in the guacamole ($3) and turns dried chiles de arbol into creamy red hot sauce. For the sometimes-greasy carnitas ($4) — the weakest of the five fillings — he stews pork shoulder, belly and shank in lard using a traditional copper pot shipped from a relative in Michoacan.
Each taco comes with two corn tortillas in case customers want to divide the heaped fillings. Sato suggests using tortilla chips to scoop up whatever falls onto the plate. The real deal No taco stand in Mexico would be without the magenta hibiscus tea called Jamaica and the milky rice drink horchata. So it is here. The horchata is especially fine, easy on the cinnamon (both $2).
Solid foods also hit the right notes, with juicy chopped chicken adobado ($4) revealing the achiote in its marinade. Baja-style fish tacos ($4.50) marry cold mango sauce to hot-from-the-fryer battered cod.
For vegetarians, Campos piles gentle green strips of cactus ($4) atop black beans, avocado purée and crumbled feta. On their own ($3), the beans are as comforting as a thick blanket. Mexican gyros The signature offering is tacos al pastor ($4), meat shaved from the kind of shawarma rotisserie Lebanese im- migrants brought to Mexico.
Here, layers of pork shoulder are topped with a turban-like pineapple. The meat is just right, caramelized and tender. Cut pineapple adds a welcome tartness, avocado cream certain richness while fresh cilantro brings soapy goodness.
Yes, you’ll sometimes find onion roots in your pico de gallo. True, staff may mix up your order or you might not get a stool. And Tacos 101 sometimes sells out by 8:30 p.m., a halfhour before closing time. Just go with the flow. It’s a lesson worth learning. apataki@thestar, Twitter @amypataki