"Do rich people eat tacos?"
Photo courtesy of The Great Taco Hunt
I don't know who Cindy Price is, but she wrote a great mouthwatering story in today's NY Times about her search for the ultimate taco along Route 1 between Los Angeles and San Francisco. Cindy hit 28 taquerias in five days. That's some serious taco eating. She started in LA, and hit my favorite taqueria there, El Taurino. El Taurino is a little scary (the last time I was there an armed guard kept watch over the dining room), but the tacos there are fantastic.
She headed up to Santa Barbara, where before she tried the late Julia Child's favorite taqueria, La Super Rica Taqueria, she posed the following question: "Do rich people eat tacos?" I actually think the question is a food rorschach test for rich folks. That is, if they don't eat tacos, they are only rich in a material sense. Anyone who doesn't eat tacos cannot be spiritually enriched.
But this is a question I would like everyone to ponder: "Do rich people eat tacos?"
In her story Cindy also mentioned the phenomenal taco blog
Add a comment:
Previewing your comment:
HTML Hints
Some HTML is OK: <a href="URL">link</a>, <strong>strong</strong>, <em>em</em>
Comment Guidelines
Post whatever you want, just keep it seriously about eats, seriously. We reserve the right to delete off-topic or inflammatory comments. Learn more at our Comment Policy page.
If you see something not so nice, please, report an inappropriate comment.
2 Comments:
As to whether rich people eat tacos:
The Taqueria La Bamba is an amazing little hole in the wall in the heart (or, some would argue, armpit) of Silicon Valley. I worked at a charter school in the area last year and went there for lunch almost every day. Between noon and two there are lines out the door: half suited-and-tied businessmen, half local Latinos. The technology moguls apparently love their tacos, and the Mercedes and BMWs crowding into the parking lot say something about the wealth of a good segment of the clientele. This is no dressed-up taqueria, though; there's no seating, no decor, no frills of any kind-- just $1.82 tacos and enormous $3.65 burritos. The carnitas are the best I've ever had, and it's worth a trip just to see the speed with which the staff throws a burrito together: start-to-wrapped in about fifteen seconds.
So maybe the patrons of Taqueria La Bamba are among the spiritually enriched and materially wealthy. I would say it's hard to live in California and ignore the siren song of authentic Mexican food no matter what your income. If you're looking for the high-end taco specimen, I know that Pampano's in the city has a filet mignon soft taco appetizer that goes for about eighteen dollars. I'd rather pay the buck-eighty-two for the real thing, myself...
Carey at 9:55AM on 07/24/06
Yes, they do.
Certain Taquerias in Mexico City are located in 'rich people' areas...
The cool thing is: They overprice the tacos.
The ironic thing is: They never taste as good as the 50-Cent tacos that you can eat at some non-expensive taquerias.
I guess you just have to be wary on where you eat them... because if you are ONLY trying to save money, you can end up in the hospital.
=)
mau_s at 8:56PM on 08/02/06