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El Super Mercado (Mexican cuisine)  $

 7
JaT Rating

311 Mofett Blvd, Mountain View, 94043  (Directions)


650.690.3178


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Mexican market dishing out one dollar tacos


Reviewer: Jason
Total Reviews: 1040
Reviewed: 4/20/2009
Rating: 7
My photo gallery 		Not sure why Michael considers this the holy grail for taco worshippers? I mean $1 tacos are cool and everything but you're talking to someone who spent a decent portion of their college time in a drunken state roaming the alleys of Tijuana feasting on 6 tacos for $1. THAT IS THE HOLY GRAIL. I hear prices have gone up and you'll be lucky to find 2-3 tacos for $1 now.

$1 tacos are harder to find in taquerias but are more common on taco trucks. The tacos use a smaller tortillas and have less meat. In today's taco meal, more than surprised with the amount of meat fillings.

The meat selection at El Super Mercado is impressive with a dozen or so different styles of meat. Out of carnitas today which is disappointing but didn't stop me from ordering 4 tacos;

pollo asado - my favorite of the bunch. Picture 8. I like the crunchiness and salty marinade

barbecoa - lacking a deep flavor, very bland, large chunk of beef that resembled shredded beef, don't think I'd reorder this.

carne asada - could have used more seasoning but my 2nd favorite meat of the bunch, meat chopped finely, and nice pyramid of meat.

al pastor - oiliest of the bunch, there was an oil slick, not quite sure if I liked this. I have it mislabeled as carnitas on images but it's al pastor.

I can't confirm their cooking method, but from what I saw, reheat meat by dropping on flat grill (OK, no problems here), heat tortillas on grill (OK, no problems here), and then he made the tacos and took it to the back room. Came back and it look like the tacos were steaming? I think he nuked the tacos which is the bummer. The tortillas were nearly gummy and too moist. Overall, the meats were half win half lose.

$1 tacos are cool but for an additional $1, you'll get tacos in the next league where taste is the most important thing.
 
8
Agent Rating


Reviewer: takeru
Total Reviews: 31
Reviewed: 3/25/2009
Rating: 8
My photo gallery		 Heard through the grapevine that the holy grail of taco worshippers could be found at El Supermercado, and dragged true believer jason along on my pilgrimage. We can now verify that it's not a myth - the one dollar taco exists here.

There are theoretically more than a dozen meat choices at ES, you can barely make them out on the sign at the very left side of pic #2. Included were some 'exotic' items such as tripe, tongue, and cheek. However only a small subset was available today, the most glaring omission being CARNITAS. How can a taqueria be out of that at noon?! Guess we should've warned them that two fifths of the carnitas shootout (http://www.jatbar.com/shootout/shoot_intro.asp) were on the way. ;-)

We both ended up ordering the same four kinds of tacos, three were made with freshly grilled meats and one was not. This turned out to make a big difference in their overall quality, as follows:

Barbacoa - the only non-grilled choice. Composed of large chunks of beef which appeared to be pulled rather than chopped. Mushy and very little flavor as if they have been simmering for a long time. Weakest of the four and not a repeat order.

carne asada - now this was more like it. Small cubes of freshly grilled steak w/ a good savory char flavor. Worth ordering again.

pollo asado - also tasty, very similar in size, texture and preparation to the carne asada. Also a repeat order.

al pastor - the winner amongst the four. Tender marinated cubes of pork grilled to a nice crispness (rear center of pic #4). Greasiest of our choices but also had the best flavor. Definitely worth ordering again.

The corn tortillas were decent, not spectacular, and may have just been reheated but for a buck I didn't expect every component to be hand grilled right on the spot.

ES loses a half point for no carnitas but gains it back for offering a great deal on tasty tacos (other items were cheap too). I'll be back to try more!
 
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