Mexico City - Taqueria Orinoco and Morning in La Condesa

As we were finishing up dinner at Maximo Bistrot; I asked the Missus if She wanted dessert. She said "yes", but not from Maximo. The Missus had something else in mind for "dessert". As we walked out of the restaurant, She told me, "I want tacos for dessert"! Tacos? Well, ok then, I had a place just a few blocks away that was still open in mind. Taqueria Orinoco.

There was already a line forming when we arrived at the taco shop right on busy Avenida Insurgentes.

The line moved fairly quickly and we got up to the counter to order in like 15 minutes or so.

From here, you place your order, are given a number if you are eating in, and if the place is buzzing like on this evening, you wait until a table is ready.

And the place was definitely hopping on this evening.

The tacos here are Monterrey style; that would be Northern....so "trompo" is similar to Al Pastor. We ordered one each of the three on the menu. I think what the Missus enjoyed the most were the salsas; ranging from mild to a really nice and tangy cilantro, to a totally scalding Piquin, which I first ran into during my trip to Paredoncito. The Missus really loved it; but paid the price!

The tres tacos came on a metal tray with griddled onions and really good "smashed" potatoes, basically cooked twice.....my favorite part of the meal.

Our favorite taco was the chicharron, slightly crunchy outside, really fatty, though perhaps a bit on the dry side. The res was dry, chewy, and pretty bland. The trompo, was like Al Pastor, but not nearly as sweet. The tortillas were really good, pliable, but up to the task of enrobing the fillings without breaking. The corn flavor was good and straight-forward.

And while these are considered to be on the expensive side, with water this still came out to just over five bucks US.

As we left there was a line to the end of the block...….

Taqueria Orinoco
Avenida Insurgentes Sur 253, Roma Norte
06700 Ciudad de México, CDMX, Mexico
Hours
Sun - Wed  Noon - 1am
Thurs          Noon - 3am
Fri - Sat      Noon - 5am

Needless to say; we were pretty stuffed, and we rolled on back to where we were staying. I slept like a baby, at least until the birds started chirping in the morning. Still, we both fell back asleep after that.

There really wasn't any reason to get up early, the Missus had only one thing on the agenda for the day. We finally rose around 8 and left the hotel soon thereafter.

La Condesa is quite charming. I wish I took more photos. The area is known for murals; like this one across the street from where we were staying.

The neighborhood is quite charming.

And along with "people watching"; there were two things we especially loved checking out.

The squirrels doing the "tightrope walk" on powerlines to get from tree to tree.

And the dogs.....and some of the dog walkers who did a pretty amazing job.

We were really enjoying ourselves...….

Thanks for stopping by!

Comments

[kat]

what a nice dessert!

[Sandy]

I really like that logo! The line and the interior is making me think of Tacos el Gordo.

[Soo]

Awesome pic of the squirrel! Looks like a great taco shop.

[Som Tommy]

The inside of the taco shop looks like Five Guys.

[Kirk]

Lol Kat!

Hi Sandy - The Missus said it looked like In-N-Out!

It was a ncie taco shop Soo!

Hi ST - See what I mentioned above to Sandy!

[Junichi]

Maybe they don't use pineapples in their al pastor? That's what adds the sweetness.

[Kirk]

They had a large pineapple on top of the trompo Junichi. But, I think the regional style tends more toward achiote and other flavors. Also, they don't do a the "final pass" in the drippings which is what I really think adds the texture and sweetness to al pastor.

[Christina C]

I'm in training to prep my taco stomach for our Mexico City visit. :-)

[Kirk]

Lol Christina!