Yuma Part 2 - Taco Stands and Some "Errands"

As we pulled out of Tio Juan's lot, I suddenly thought about the weather! Ah, yes, the weather, a nice 80 degrees, with no wind. I mentioned this to Ed, who said, "you, picked a good day, this is about as good as it gets here".

We drove further up 8th Street, and noticed a Taco Stand set-up in the parking lot of this meat market:

So Ed parked, and took me on an little tour of the Market. But of course, this was about tacos. So Ed paid for two tacos, and took the receipt outside:

What Ed got were 2 Tacos Al Pastor, or "Shepard-style tacos". According to the interesting story; Lebanese immigrants brought with them Middle-Eastern style of grilling meat, mostly lamb, on a vertical spit. Eventually this was adapted by Mexicans, who marinate pork, and also apply a dry rub, usually grilling the meat on a vertical spit, topped with a slices of pineapple. The final product is a slightly spicy, red meat:

At this location, the meat is obviously grilled, and placed by the Young Lady  on top of corn tortilla's. You grab your tacos and walk over to a metal "cooler" and add whatever "garnish" you want. In this case Ed added shredded cabbage, and a nice salsa. You could clearly taste the nice "spice" and slightly smokey taste. The meat was nicely balanced, moist and tender. I was starting to understand the "other" part of eating a taco; that is the melding of textures, the soft and slightly chewy tortilla, the moist and tender meat, and the crunchy cabbage. This was a "new" location for Ed as well; He usually takes a "right" at the intersection before this market. And it actually has an address:

El Toro Meat Market
1007 W 8th St
Yuma, AZ 85364

The next stop? Ed's favorite Meat Market, Coronado's on 24th street. We finally saw some "Gringo's" here grabbing a burrito, otherwise, we were the only "Gringo's", well maybe I'm closer to a "JA-ngo" :

Though Ed shops here often; he had never tried the tacos from the market's stand:

What we got here were two Cabeza Tacos. Literally "head" tacos; traditionally made from the head of a cow, that is steamed overnight, then shredded and mixed with the beef drippings(broth). Ed told me that these are very popular in Sonora, and most versions in Yuma are made with Beef "cheek". I'm assuming he meant the "cheeks" on the head side of the cow....

The moist stewed meat was placed on corn tortillas, Ed placed some cabbage and salsa fresca on top. The moist meat made this a somewhat ponderous taco. Oh, how did it taste? Delici-yoso!!! If one could condense "beef" taste into one bite, this is what it should taste like! Totally awesome. I asked Ed how he liked it? His response? "I'm almost ready to do a delici-yoso dance over this one." Perfect textures, for perfect beef. I'm basically at a loss for words over this.

Yuma Market Coronado's
890 E 24th St
Yuma, AZ

Before dropping me off to "freshen up" before dinner, we went on a little side trip. Need Kim Chee in Yuma? Well the only place is the Oriental Gift Shop:

This little store is stuffed with everything from souvenirs and lucky bamboo, to health products, to asian food products. And according to Ed, on Saturday afternoon Kim Chee is delivered from Los Angeles, so he had to make sure he got a bottle. This is Yuma's only Asian General Store, I jokingly called it Ranch 49.5 Market. The Korean Proprietor laughed when we asked when a Korean BBQ was going to open up in Yuma!

Oriental Gift Shop
1701 S Ave B Ste 107
Yuma, AZ 85364

Next - Dinner in Yuma! Stay tuned....

Comments

[Rachel]

Yaay first to post !! :)

This is turning out to be some awesome taco crawl! kim chee tacos anyone?? you could experiment and make the "crunchy coldness" kim chee instead of cabbage !

Glad you found such interesting food! I would've loved to have tried the lebanese style tacos as well as the beef cheek ones. Thats what I love about the good ol US of A. The great regional differences in FOOD !

[Angie]

Looks more like Ranch 33 Market! But, hey, at least you don't have the crowds to fight through.

The tacos look great. I always thought the same thing when I hear the word beef cheeks.

Rachel, that kimchee taco is not so farfetched. Once, while driving north on the I-5, I stopped at an El Salvadoran restaurant (Tita's Pupuseria) in Buttonwillow. I could have sworn it was kimchee they served me along with the pupusas.

[Reid]

Hi Kirk,

Interesting. I heard beef cheeks had a really nice flavor and that the meat was very tender. Now I know.

BTW...those tacos look killer! =P

[Kathy]

I like that 99 Ranch comment! haha (my roomate is giving me strange looks for laughing at the computer screen)

Beef cheek tacos sound delicious, all moist and tender...uh oh, my stomach is rumbling again!

[Kirk]

Hi Rachel - Again, kimchee goes with everything, right? :o) I've seen signs for "tacos Al Pastor (as in pasture)", now I know what it means.

Hi Angie - Sounds like they replaced the cabbage or lettuce with Curtido, which is the pickled and sometimes spicy cabbage & carrots they top pupusas with. It's delici-yoso!

Hi Reid - Like a really condensed beef flavor. It was really good.

Hi Kathy - This was a real education for me.

[Pam]

Oooh, Ed almost did a delici-yoso dance? Those cabeza tacos must be good!

Funny comment re: the Ranch 49.5 Market! Classic!

[elmomonster]

Hilarious post! Ranch 49.5! HA! What a cool little road trip you went on!

[Kirk]

Hi Pam - That was some good cheek(thought I wuz going to say head, huh?).

Hi Elmo - We haven't even gotten to dinner yet.

[ed]

Al Pastor means shepherd style or some such. Until I heard about the Lebanese/lamb connection, it always seemed weird that pork tacos were called shepherd style. After all, have you ever tried to herd pigs?

[Kirk]

Hi Ed - Yes, I noted that under the second picture above. I used pasture as a verbal clue so I could remember, after all we ate sooo damn much!

[dimamom]

I read somewhere that there is an asian market in the Yuma Foothills...Does anybody know about this place? I drove all the way down Fortuna and Foothills Blvds looking for it: no luck.

[sue]

the Asian Mkt in the foothills area is way out in the strip mall with the Wells Fargo and the DoNut shop. Goes by intiials L&S, S&C (something helpful like that). Very complete--Deep freezer chests of fish of all kinds, vertical reach-in refrigerated cases with branded packaged fresh and frozen fish and seafood, meats, pastries, and fresh Asian greens and fresh shitake mushrooms. Aisles of sauces from all over Asia. Dry goods in popular Asian brands, groceries, cookies, canned goods, youi name it. Even comic books. If I lived in Yuma it would be in the weekly rotation.

[ed (from Yuma)]

It's called L & P. It is in the same stripmall with Don Quixote. Like Sue says, it's got all kinds of stuff.