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| Cochinta tacos at R&R Taqueria |
Tom Sietsema meet Alberto A. Flores -- the reason why you can enjoy the Mexican food at R&R Taqueria.
Sietsema published his Fall Dining Guide yesterday. He picked 40 restaurants where he would want to be a regular, and one was the taqueria in the Shell station at the Jessup/Elkridge line. Let me summarize part of the list:
- CityZen, Washington DC
- Black Salt, Washington DC
- Woodberry Kitchen, Baltimore
- R&R Taqueria, Elkridge
This is one my proudest days as a minor food blogger. Two years ago tomorrow, Flores dropped a comment on one of my posts, and that sparked my repeated posts reporting on R&R offerings like tacos, agua fresca, horchata and huarache. That even got my wife to eat in a gas station.
As far as I can tell, my drumbeats got picked up in February when a Wall Street Journal writer researched a five-state roundup of "tacos in gas stations." That sparked a run of blog posts from Tyler Cowen, Todd Kliman and others. I wrote before about how much I appreciate the new media innovation of giving credit about where you first heard about something. I can only assume Sietsema read one of those bloggers and ended up sampling the chicken tacos, the lamb soup, and pollo Mexicano stew. That food chain of small fish to medium fish ends up with the big fish reviewing the food in a Howard County gas station:
If there's an upside to a sour economy, it's this pint-size eatery with a mere eight stools, which offers the chance to eat tacos every bit as swell as those in Mexico City, the owner's birthplace.
You have to go try R&R now, right? I have it in my draft "Best Of" list for 2011, but Sietsema was picking places from Fairfax to Baltimore. Trust him that R&R is something special. Trust me that all the time invested in a hobby blog becomes worthwhile when I find something delicious and help pass the news into the big-time. If nothing else, start with the cochinta tacos above -- new to me last month and absolutely scrumptious with a citrus flavor to the pork.
And thank Alberto A. Flores when you love the food.
And thank Alberto A. Flores when you love the food.
NICE! I love R&R. Finally got the huareche a few weeks back and it was amazing.
ReplyDeleteHave they changed Management in the past couple months? I haven't seen the shorter guy who used to run the place in months and there is a different guy running it now. the food hasn't changed at all though its still as great as ever.
ReplyDeleteI get lunch from there every Friday. I look forward to it every week, and it makes that long final day of the week go so much faster when I know that I have something amazing to look forward to for lunch. I was introduced to it by one of my co-workers - who is from Central America - and I have been in love ever since.
ReplyDeleteMatt - I saw Rodrigo about a month ago, and I asked him where he had been. He simply said "busy." The other guy has always been a part owner, I believe, but has been around a lot more recently.
Matt,
ReplyDeleteRodrigo (the owner) has been busy these last few months trying to get another location off the ground. I'm not sure if he's ready to announce the location yet, but when he opens, I'll post something here.
You have finally convinced me to go there!!
ReplyDeleteI would love to try some more of the exotic tacos but I find it nearly impossible to steer away from the deliciously marinated Al Pastor pork. I would recommend that on pretty much anything.
ReplyDeleteSo excited to have come across your site! I am a fellow HoCo blogger (running niche) and will follow loyally!
ReplyDeleteWent back today - the tacos are still amazing, especially for the price (2 tacos + great soup: $5)
ReplyDeleteThey've started posting the "specials of the day" on the wall, but it's like 20 items - it's more of a daily menu.
It was pretty crowded today - I guess the effect of the Post article.