Best tacos at taqueria coatzingo?

[bennyt]

Have been ordering the barbacoa de chivo the past few visits, but recently ordered a taco de carnitas as an afterthought, and it rocked my world. Any other taco recs?

[bigjeff]

TRIPE! and, their veggie one is actually pretty nice too if you get stuck going there w/ a vedge and they complain about a lack of choices. and regarding watered down guac, its not actually that, but an avocado sauce that is meant to be that runny and used as such, on tacos or otherwise, as opposed to a chunky thing to dip stuff into.

[E Eto]

I've never been crazy about the barbacoa de chivo at Coatzingo. It's pretty good, but it's not that different from many of the dozens of other places on Roosevelt that serves it (especially on weekends, when these places make it). The best tacos at Coatzingo IMO are the al pastor, the lengua, and the birria de res. The carnitas are above average, but less than spectacular. I find the carnitas better at some of the carts/trucks around Roosevelt, like Tacos Guichos, Tia Julia, the evening cart at 61st, or even the Sabor Mexicana carts.

[E Eto]

Check that. I just had a carnitas taco at the Sabor Mexicano cart in front of Roosevelt station, and it's not as good as the ones I had there a few weeks ago. It seems to lack consistency. At least it's convenient when you're on the run.

[BillyBob]

I am glad to hear you say that about carnitas at Coatzingo - I thought I was losing my mind (or my taste buds given how many on the board wax euphoric on TC tacos) because I had been thinking that the last couple carnitas I had at Coatzingo were only OK - we went cart crawling on roosevelt for carnitas two weekends ago and had superb one at Tia Julia - the best of the lot

[Silverjay]

I agree with the lengua al vapor and the birria recs. Those are the two stand outs. The other ones are good, but those are special "chowhoundish" items I believe- especially the lengua which is not done like that anywhere I've seen. The meat is like pulled, steamed, and stewed, not just diced and cooked in sauce. The tough top layer of the tongue has been removed as well. Superb. Also, TC uses guacamole and not watered down guacamole "sauce". This is something I really appreciate. I wish they did stewed chivo tacos like the Perez truck down at Red Hook though. Wonder if you ordered them if they would make?.?.?...

[david sprague]

i really LOVE the al pastor.....one of the best i've ever had. the chorizo delivers a kick as well.

[bennyt]

btw, if someone thinks that there are better tacos in Queens than at Coatzingo, I'd love to hear more recs...

[mepm231]

There's a hole in the wall place that makes great tacos on 89th St just south of Northern Blvd called El Jacalito. I always go for the al pastor and carnitas tacos. The eat-in area is usually empty, but there's always a steady flow of take-out/delivery orders.

[dhs]

Tacotento taqueria on Roosevelt is a good one to try. Go later in the day when the al pastor is available. For some reason they have been out of green sauce the last two times i went (is there a tomatillo shortage???). Their red sauce is good and the mole sauce used on certain dishes is very good too. There is little english spoken there, so if you don't know Spanish well, a cheat sheet may be helpful.

[E Eto]

¿Dónde está Tacotento?

[dhs]

Good question, I should have included that (I am one who needs a cheat sheet btw). It is at 9615 Roosevelt Ave near Junction Blvd. There is no exterior sign from what I recall. It actually looks like 2 non descript store fronts from the outside. In the afternoon/evening it is harder to miss because their al pastor 'gyro type' cooker is outside.

Also - on weekends there are several carts around the junction blvd and roosevelt intersection worth looking at too. One particularly peaked my interest recently with made to order tortillias but I had already eaten and did not try one. Need to go back and find out what was being offered there.

[E Eto]

Oh, OK. That's the location that once was Grano de Oro 2000, which then became La Espiga. The outside al pastor spit was put up when La Espiga took over that space. As for the hand made tortillas, were they made for tacos? Mostly, the handmade tortillas are used for quesadillas or gorditas or sopes/huaraches, but I haven't found many that make tacos from them.

[dhs]

Ahh ok. I have only been going there for about a year, and even so if the name changed, I probably would not have known.

The tortillas - I can't say what they were used for. I was so busy stuffing my face with a churro what was the final use for the tortillas did not make an impression on me. I do recall The tortilla press was was on the small side, taco size more than what i would normally relate to a quesadillas or huarache.

Do you know what the black/dark brown sorta blood colored sausage is that I have seen on several of the street carts?

[bigjeff]

do give a report on the churros, I believe there have been some recent threads requesting them

[dhs]

Well I don't have too much to report about the churros. There are 2 carts with the churro making setup. Both sold other things like the duritos/chicharones snacks and juice drinks. The bag I shared was not right out of the deep fryer but they were still hot and yummy fried dough tasty.