[quirky rock music playing]
[Francisco del Santiago speaking] We are El Tizoncito in Mexico City. This is a place that started many years ago.
And these guys are so proud of its own taco pastor,
that they claim to be the creators of this style of tacos.
It became so popular, that even they opened different franchises in the city.
But this happened to me the very first and the most authentic in that sense, no?
This is pork. Would be prepared and marinated before it is set for being cooking.
And then they sit in these things that we call "trompo,"
and it's an installation that cooks the meat with charcoal,
which is very interesting and something that is disappearing little by little in big cities, no?
So, this kind of cooking gives a kind of a caramelized meat when it's already cooked....
And the taquero must be skilled enough to turn and spin the trompo,
every now and then, in order to cook the meat the right way.
And then, part of the secret is, that he just shapes the portion of meat that have been already caramelized....
....And then with the combination of the fresh pineapple, that also he slices,
and jumps to the taco. And it makes really something unique.
This squeeze of the fresh pineapple is — it makes the big difference, no?
Well, to me, tacos in Mexico City, they are so important because it's a.... uh....
.....even more than a dish, it will be a way to eat.
And when you are going out with friends at night,
and you go for a cinema or after the theater play,
and you get hungry and then you want something to eat in between drinks....
Then you know that you have the taquerias.
It's a very traditional way to gather with friends or family.
And when you have summer in the street, why they prefer this place from another,
most of the time, the answer is, you know, "I really love the salsa, is so different," or "it's so nice,"
or, "it's really spicy" or "is mild."
So, the type of salsa is very important.
Also, I would like to say that Mexican — we are very kind of oriented to establish a relationship
with the vendors, you know, with the taqueros, or the Maestro [....],
which is the man in front of the trompo.
So, when you become a frequent visitor, they would know exactly who are you are,
how many tacos, and the way you like to eat them.
And I think that's also participates in the decision of summary....
If I want to go to that place or another service — is very important also, no?
[quirky music playing]
When it comes to the favorites of the night in Mexico City,
we are right now in the trendy neighborhood of the city, Colonia Condesa.
We are Taqueria El Greco.
Zamboni — he has been here for 37 years already.
The place is 39 years old, so you can see that Zamboni already belongs to the the establishment.
The name of the place is El Greco. That means "The Greek."
And they serve — as you can see this trompo installation.....
Trompo and caribe. Is kind of taco. Difficult to keep track what the region of it is.
But we believe they come from [...] Possibly a Lebanese family.
At the beginning of the 20th Century.
Many of these immigrants were coming away from the Ottoman Empire
and ministers and Families establish themselves in the city of Puebla and then they were spread to Mexico City
with these special kinds of tacos, that you might identify as [...] or shawarma.
In the foreign tacos that we can enjoy today, with a [....]....
Use shavings from the meat of the trompo.
It's pork. Perhaps at the beginning, it may have been lamb meat,
but in this case, it's pork because we [...] with condiments, as you can see.
Cilantro, cebolla. And the difference with the favorite taco of Mexicans
which is Al Pastor, is that this type of meat has to be physically prepared.
So, after this cooking, it's going to be presented inside the tortilla of harina,
flour tortilla or pita bread.
There can be many combinations, like....
the fact that also this kind of meat can be served on a taco made of corn tortilla....
.....or even tortilla harina, which is flour tortilla, you know?
It has use the regular toppings, onion, cilantro.
So, in this case they bring you this beautiful tray that you can see.
We Mexicans would love to put lemon on anything so, um....
Here we have the lemon slice. And then we have at least three different salsas, like I was saying before.
This is maybe one of the most interesting ones.
it looks like a pico de gallo, which by tradition, would be the three colors of the Mexican flag....
But in this case, besides the red tomato and the onion, it has....
....habanero in it, so it's extremely, extremely spicy.
And then on this side we have a very interesting.... Four different types of chili salsa.
One is [....], Guajillo, Arbol, Chipotle.
And the other ones used a regular green color salsa,
made with the tomatillo and serrano.