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This Taco Stand Just Won a Michelin Star, and It Only Serves 4 Things
Food & Wine ^ | May 16, 2024 | Stacey Leasca

Posted on 05/17/2024 4:48:45 PM PDT by nickcarraway

Note to self: Go to Mexico City immediately.

Need one more reason to book a trip to Mexico City? Easy. You need to go taste the food at El Califa de León, the very first Mexican taco stand to earn a Michelin star.

In May, a Michelin representative presented chef Arturo Rivera Martínez with the award, including the coveted white chef's jacket, which the Associated Press noted he didn't even bother putting on. He was just too busy searing his daily meats.

The taco stand, located in the San Rafael neighborhood, only serves four tacos, but those four tacos, Michelin explained, are done to absolute perfection.

"The Gaonera taco is exceptional. Thinly sliced beef filet is expertly cooked to order, seasoned with only salt and a squeeze of lime," the guide wrote in its new entry. "At the same time, a second cook prepares the excellent corn tortillas alongside. The resulting combination is elemental and pure. Other options are few but excellent, and include bistec (beef steak), chuleta (pork chop), and costilla (beef rib). With meat and tortillas of this caliber, the duo of house-made salsas is hardly even necessary."

This Chef's Restaurants Have Collected 21 Michelin Stars, More Than Any Other Chef on Earth And really, at least according to Rivera Martínez, that's the magic in his meals: Simplicity.

"The secret is the simplicity of our taco. It has only a tortilla, red or green sauce, and that's it. That, and the quality of the meat," Rivera Martínez told the AP, adding that "Coke" is the perfect pairing to his Michelin meals.

There are a few things you need to know if you plan to visit and order a taco. First, it's a tiny place where only about 10 people can fit inside at once, so you may have to wait outside, which people seem to happily do as they chow down on their orders. Next is it's firmly cash only. But that's also OK because the prices are all relatively affordable. According to El Sol de Mexico, the steak taco is 53 pesos (about $3.17), the rib is 82 pesos (about $4.90), the Gaonera runs at 70 pesos (about $4.19, and the Chop is another 82 pesos (again, just under $5). That Coke to wash it down with will cost you a little extra.


TOPICS: Food; Local News
KEYWORDS: donatefreerepubli; food; jimneedsyou; mexicanfood; tacos
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To: nickcarraway

Do they deliver?


21 posted on 05/17/2024 7:26:07 PM PDT by Bullish (...And just like that, I was dropped from the ping-list)
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To: nickcarraway

No way am I ever going to Mexico again for anything. It’s just too dangerous. Besides, there is a Taco Bell just a few miles from me.


22 posted on 05/17/2024 7:27:38 PM PDT by AlaskaErik (There are three kinds of rats: Rats, Damned Rats, and DemocRats.)
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To: SamAdams76

I love coke with lunch, and tacos are definitely what I call a lunch, not a dinner item.


23 posted on 05/17/2024 7:28:12 PM PDT by Bullish (...And just like that, I was dropped from the ping-list)
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To: Sicon

Just have Spam Spam egg and Spam... That’s not got much Spam in it.


24 posted on 05/17/2024 7:30:46 PM PDT by Bullish (...And just like that, I was dropped from the ping-list)
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To: Paladin2
I think they still make totally excellent tires.

It's kinda funny how so many people don't realize Michelin-starred restaurants comes from Michelin tires.

Michelin wanted to sell tires be getting people to drive to nice restaurants.

And, yes, for the longest time, Michelin tires were the best that you could buy. Thought I think the Japanese have caught up.

I remember being a "tire buster" for Sears Automotive back in the early 90s. After installing tires on a wheel, we'd put them on a balancing machine to see where to place the lead weights. Michelins almost never needed weights, and if they did, they needed the smallest size. They also marked where to place the tire along that valve stem for more accurate balancing. No other manufacturer did that.

Plus, their beads were the easiest to mount.

25 posted on 05/17/2024 7:32:05 PM PDT by Drew68
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To: Drew68

“Michelins almost never needed weights, and if they did, they needed the smallest size.”

BINGO!

[Stellar, among no shortage of superior performance on other tire attributes.]

[Tires are very complex. Most peeps have NO idea.]


26 posted on 05/17/2024 7:35:50 PM PDT by Paladin2
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To: AlaskaErik

I guess there’s not alot of streettaco shacks in AK.
.


27 posted on 05/17/2024 7:38:17 PM PDT by waterhill (I Believe!)
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To: AlaskaErik

I guess there’s not alot of streettaco shacks in AK.
.


28 posted on 05/17/2024 7:38:21 PM PDT by waterhill (I Believe!)
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To: AlaskaErik

Eating the garbage at Taco Bell is way more dangerous and deadly than Mexico, that’s for sure.


29 posted on 05/17/2024 7:40:11 PM PDT by Bullish (...And just like that, I was dropped from the ping-list)
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To: SamAdams76

Mexican Coca Cola. Made with cane sugar. Sweetness and fizz over a savory taco done perfectly? I can absolutely see how that would work.


30 posted on 05/17/2024 7:56:39 PM PDT by katana
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To: Liz

I hope you brought some for everybody.


31 posted on 05/17/2024 8:03:46 PM PDT by AndyJackson
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To: Drew68
I think the Japanese have caught up.


32 posted on 05/17/2024 8:06:23 PM PDT by AndyJackson
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To: Sicon

Dunno why. Sounded like a Monty Python skit, but I figured, naaah. So I googled it. Huh? Funny how the mind works.


33 posted on 05/17/2024 8:08:26 PM PDT by AndyJackson
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To: AndyJackson

Yes, I did.


34 posted on 05/17/2024 8:10:16 PM PDT by Liz (This then is ho w we should pray: Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. )
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To: Liz

Foods on the table right after Biden is done speaking.


35 posted on 05/17/2024 8:11:07 PM PDT by AndyJackson
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To: nickcarraway

McDonald’s had just five items once upon a time: hamburgers, cheeseburgers, fries, cokes, chocolate shakes. Their purity has been sacrificed on the altar of culinary diversity.


36 posted on 05/17/2024 9:06:22 PM PDT by JimmyTheFish
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To: JimmyTheFish
Ha!

I made fries with beef tallow twice in the last week.

Top THAT, Lollabridgida!

37 posted on 05/17/2024 11:55:33 PM PDT by kiryandil (FR Democrat Party operatives! Rally in defense of your Colombian cartel stooge Merchan!)
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To: Drew68

Wow, I didn’t know tires were complex and interesting!

Thanks for posting cool info..


38 posted on 05/18/2024 1:26:24 AM PDT by redinIllinois (Pro-life, accoountant, gun-totin' Grandma - multi issue voter )
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To: waterhill; AlaskaErik

There are more in Anchorage than you would believe. I’ve also seen one in Palmer.


39 posted on 05/18/2024 1:50:00 AM PDT by Oil Object Insp
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To: UnwashedPeasant

Because when an article is directly quoting something someone said, it’s in quotes to show the reader that is exactly what they said.


40 posted on 05/18/2024 7:22:17 AM PDT by ro_dreaming (Who knew "Idiocracy", "1984", "Enemy of the State", and "Person of Interest" would be non-fiction?)
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