The Joy of Tacos

Specifically South Philly Barbacoa tacos

Who doesn’t love a good taco? I mean, really? I grew up on tacos. My west coast mother essentially brought them to my east coast family. My mom-mom was making tacos (pronounced by her as tay-cos) when my mother went into labor. My grandma (the other one, not the one who called them tay-cos) was renowned for her taco recipe. Am I of Mexican heritage? Sadly, no. But gosh darn, I have always loved tacos.

And so, I found myself last Saturday trekking down at 10:15 AM to a section of Philly called the Italian Market to finally try some of Cristina Martinez’s famous lamb barbacoa tacos. Why 10:15? Because South Philly Barbacoa opens at 5 AM and is only open until they run out of food for the day.

Cristina Martinez is a bit of a rock star in the Philly food scene. She is an undocumented immigrant; but rather than hide, she works and is an activist for restaurant workers’ rights. She is a James Beard Award winner. There is even an episode of Chef’s Table about her (which I highly recommend.) In short, she is pretty badass.

So I’m ashamed that I had not gone to South Philly Barbacoa before but like so many things in life, I figured better late than never. Now the entrance to the restaurant is not fancy. The inside is not fancy. But it is a place that doesn’t want to be fancy. It just wants to serve a small menu of excellent barbacoa and a few other things. It wants to bring a bit of home for people who might be far from it.