Hike #13: Taco Hike
March 10th, 2010 § 3 Comments
Location: San Francisco (mostly the Mission)
Distance: 6 miles
Entry fee: Tums, open mind, roll of toilet paper
All the craziness of a beer with the happiness of a taco ~jesse
First, I would like to apologize for the lag time in getting this post out. I blame my group from my extension class completely, my whole weekend was spent doing things way less important than updating the blog.
Anyway…with 9 people joining, this was our biggest hike to date. So to start off, I would like to thank everyone who joined and made it the raging, colon-cleansing success that it was.
First, some taco facts are in order:
- Tacos date back at least to the 1500s. When Cortez arrived he found Aztecs eating fish tacos
- Nobody knows why the Spanish called them tacos
- There is a main-belt asteroid called 14917 Taco
Our hike took us from the Western Addition to Upper Haight and down to the Mission (where we did most of our taqueria-ing.) There were a few rules:
- Only mexican beers, tequila, micheladas, and horchata can be drunken
- If we come across the bacon wrapped hotdog cart you have to eat one
- Free beer to anyone who spots the El Tonayese taco truck
First stop: Papalote on Fulton. Known for it’s burritos (not tacos) and tofu (this is a higher-end taqueria), we decided to give the marinated tofu taco a shot. Coupled with a few Coronas it was a nice, light, tangy intro to the night…and a far cry from what we would be eating further down the line. Salsa at Papalote takes the cake, you can put it on anything. From there we headed to El Balazo on upper Haight. Happy to find it up and running after hearing about the raids a few years ago, I really enjoyed the decor (if a little overstimulating). The chile verde taco was pretty good with a nice kick to it, but the carne asada taco fell a little short with sub-par meat. Cabbage salad there gets two thumbs up.
So, with 2 tacos down, next on the list we were scheduled to meet Ferg at Little Chihuahua on Divisadero at 7:30…almost a mile away. Time: 7:15. Onward and upward!
After a brisk hike/light jog over to Divis, we met up with Ferg and found Little Chihuahua…completely packed. La Taqueria, a must-visit on our hike, was still 2.5 miles away and closed at 9pm. It was kind of a long way to go without further sustenance, but since we were feeling a little crunched for time and wanted to enjoy our La Taq taco at a leisurely pace, we decided to skip Chihuahua and go the distance in one fell swoop.
So we booked it allllll the way down to the Mission and got to La Taq at 8:20 where we met up with Summer, Ryan, and Mike and ordered….TACOS DELICIOSOS! (And one burrito…dammit Mike). Ryan and Summer introduced us to the crispy tacos, which I now highly recommend. Loaded with guac and just the right amount of crisp to both the meat and tortilla, these tacos were completely awesome. Words from our hikers to describe these divine delicacies included: filling; tendermoist; overstuffed; more bang for your buck; perfectly crispy tortilla. A true delight.
After (basically) getting booted from La Taq at 9pm, we walked a few doors down to El Faralito. The taqueria was packed, per usual, so we decided to check out the El Faralito bar next door. Turns out, you can order food from the taqueria at the bar! Genius!
That aside, reasons El Faralito rocked included (but were not limited to):
- The custom beer special imposed by the bartender–buy six beers get one free
- 7 tacos cost $12
- Tacos come with a plastic cup of full jalapenos
- The completely enormous SUPER TACO (the result of some sort of miscommunication during the ordering process)
- Getting double tequila shots from the bartender for the price of one
- The tequila
- The bartender
And, according to Summer, the veggie tacos here beat out the ones at La Taq. It was hard to leave. But after we finished our tacos and jalapenos and beers and tequila (and after Summer, Molly, and I got hugs and kisses from the old dudes sitting by the front door), we did. Feeling pretty stuffed from our one-two taco punch, we headed down the street and ran into our first…BACON WRAPPED HOT DOG CART! Rules are rules. Down the hatch.
Feeling ill, we continued our walk along Mission when out jumped…ANOTHER BWHDC! Ryan, always a stickler for rules, got another one. The rest of us opted out…rules are made to be broken. At that point we decided we needed to get off of Mission IMMEDIATELY to avoid another bacon hot dog sneak attack, and veered into Doc’s Clock for a quality beer. Unable to finish his hot dog before we went into Docs, Ryan put it in his pocket to keep it warm.
After a beer at Docs everyone was feeling pretty disgusting…but we had one taqueria left on the list! We made our way up Mission when, half a block in, I heard a shriek of horror (terror?) Hidden behind a post on our side of the street…a third bacon wrapped hot dog cart. And Ryan, who had just finished his second, was buying one (but this one with no mayo).
We made it to our final stop, Taqueria los Coyotes, without further incident, where we finally met up with Jesse and Tierney and one wasted girl who thought Los Coyotes was a great place for a nap.
Descriptive words for our final taqueria included: hard to finish; good salsa bar; delicious produce; angry gigantic limes; soggy
tortillas; phenomenal meat; greasy. Watch out for the habanera sauce there.
24 tacos, 6 bacon wrapped hot dogs, 1 burrito, 6 miles, and innumerable jalapenos later, I can say with confidence that Hike #13 was a (bloated) success!!
Best taco (based purely on taste and quality): La Taqueria
Best overall taco experience: El Faralito
Lessons Learned: get the crispy tacos at La Taq; meat sweats are not just an urban myth
Flora and Fauna: bacon wrapped hot dog
Best hike ever. Makes me want to put my hiking boots on.
sounds delightful! tums, toilet roll and open mind or open behind?
[...] (and an occasional taco) from La [...]