Norristown-Style Mexican Hot Dog - Or Not

For years I've been meaning to check out Montgomery Lunch, an old school luncheonette and "Texas" style hot dog joint in Norristown that's been around since 1940.


In the last couple years the place was bought out by some mexican cooks who fused it into a sort of "texas lunch tacqueria" keeping the american classics on the menu (hot dogs, burgers, breakfast, cheesesteaks, hoagies, zeps) along with tacos, tortas, sopes, carnitas, and supposedly a "secret" menu of mash-ups like a chorizo hoagie and, in my dreams, some sort of MIND BLOWING, never before seen "norristown style mexican hot dog".


So imagine my hot dog dreams shattered before my eyes seeing the place empty, with a big "uninhabitable" sticker slapped on the door. Apparently there was some sort of explosion under the restaurant earlier this year, and it looks like they actually closed a few weeks before that.


I'm bummed to have never tried this one-of-a-kind place, although on the bright side my visions of jalapeno-hotdog-greek chili-cheesesteak-gordita fusion will never be tarnished by what in reality might have just been a sad, weird diner in a run down neighborhood.

Or more likely, a great spot for mexican food with OK hot dogs. Anyway, if anyone out there has more photos of this place, especially the food, I'd love to see them... I think the first time of heard of this place was a comment right here on drawing for food.

•Montgomery Lunch Menu at allmenus.com
•More photos including interior at norristown patch
•Montgomery Hot Lunch at alleewillis.com

Torta Cubana

Awesome "Cuban" Torta from Los Gallos. (10th & Wolf)
Breaded beef, shredded pork, ham, refried beans, mayonnaise, avocado, pickled peppers, mexican cheese, etc.
This thing is HUGE.. enough to feed about 2 or 3 people.

Since writing about them a few weeks ago I order from this place at least once a week. Always fantastic plus they deliver.

Los Gallos
10th & Wolf
215 551 1245

Los Gallos

Tipped off by some friends, we stopped here on the way to the Phillies game this weekend. A few tables in the back of a Mexican grocery that opened recently. Clean place, great service, and some of the best authentic tacos I've had in south philly.


Super affordable at 5.50 for three, plain or with cheese (soft mexican white cheese - no tex-mex cheddar nonsense) with the red and creamy (avocados?) green salsa on the side and a roasted jalapeno.


We also tried the huitlacoche quesadilla which was terrific. Great place to check out the "mexican truffle" without breaking the bank. If you want to spend the big bucks, for 10 dollars you can get a bit more exotic with tacos a la plancha with your choice of meats including smoked pork and short ribs, cactus and avacado on the side.

They do tortas as well which I'll have to check out soon. If this place served beer it would be perfect, although this pineapple cider was awesome.



Los Gallos
10th & Wolf
Philadelphia

East Oakland/ Fruitvale/ 4 Caminos

We went to visit my old printmaking professor and good friend Jack Ford. We kind of surprised Jack before he had lunch, so we tagged along for his lunch routine. Which is a quick drive to East Oakland, to 4 Caminos, where he get's the "Jack Special". Or as the waitresses who know him well, call him, "Hack" or "Hackie!". The Jack Special turns out to be what he get's for lunch quite often, just one shrimp taco and one carnitas taco. The tortillas are fresh handmade corn tortillas which were fluffy and the shrimp was only dressed in limes onions and cilantro. It was amazing. The carnitas were salty and had a few crunchy bits thrown in with the soft parts. They came with a side of fresh spicy pickled vegetables.

Super Awesome, just like Jack.





4 Caminos
3800 San Leandro St
(between 38th Ave & 39th Ave)
Oakland, CA 94601
(510) 533-4441

Savoy Flower Shop - Torta Milanesa

I wrote about Savoy Flower shop's surprisingly good tacos a while back, and realized that I never posted the incredible sandwich I grabbed from there in December while walking home from Rittenhouse with 45 bags of Christmas presents. Breaded chicken on a mexican roll. Lettuce, tomato, refried beans, roasted hot peppers, avocado, cheese, maybe some mayo in there too.

Savoy looks like every other slightly dilapidated flower shop slash grocery in center city, except for the hand lettered signs for tacos and tortas. It's a one man kitchen in the back, and honestly I always expect my food to be sketchy because it doesn't seem like anyone else ever goes in there for anything. But it's always fresh and delicious and I'm blown away. According to the sign they also do hot dogs and cheesesteaks. Don't know if they are doing tijuana / sonarans but I'm sure I could just say "give me a hot dog with all the stuff on it". The lone cook is very friendly and happy to oblige your requests. Apparently they also have Tamales on the weekends.

I've actually noticed a lot of the south philly taquerias doing cheesesteaks / burgers / etc.. wondering if they are just american style or ?? My imagination sees steak sandwiches overflowing with pico de gallo, roasted jalepenos, queso fresco and sriracha...

Savoy Flower Shop
262 S 18th st

Tijuana dog

Latest hot dog painting & post over at Serious Eats. If you missed last week I did a post about Flo's in Maine, and crowned it the country's best hot dog which got a bunch of people angry.

Mexican hot dogs are really, really good and I haven't seen them anywhere in Philly other than SPTR. There's gotta be someone cranking them out of a tacqueria somewhere, or at least there should be.

In Los Angeles they've been shutting down and arresting mexican hot dog vendors, even putting them in jail, because apparently cooking the dog with raw bacon wrapped around it (the bacon gets fully cooked with the dog on the grill) violates health code. Sounds more to me like an excuse to round up mexicans. Watch this video about the controversy featuring Drew Carey.

Sunday Night Carnitas

Chipotle Cinnamon Carnitas Tostada
Saffron Parsnip Puree
Yellow Rice and Pigeon Peas with Fresh Avocado

I had been craving some really stellar slowly braised pork carnitas. So why not make it myself?

I de-boned a small pork shoulder and roughly cut up the pieces. In a heavy cast iron pot I braised it with bay leaf, onion, garlic, cinnamon sticks, fresh chipotle in adobo, and the bone from the shoulder. After about 2 hours I was left with tender delicious meet and a thick sauce. I separated the meat and reduced the porky chipotle sauce while skimming away the fat layer. I added more onion and a heaping amount of chopped scallions.

I fried up the meat to make it crispy and the poured the reduced sauce over it.

For my sides I boiled parsnips with vegetable stock and saffron, then pureed them.
The rice was a box mix of spanish rice and pigeon peas. I added more fresh green peas into the mix.

To plate, I took a small tortilla and toasted it in a pan with some oil and added jalapeno queso on top. I layered the carnitas and sprinkled freshly chopped cilantro.

You can see the final result. The carnitas were amazing, spicy and sweet from the cinnamon. The fresh avocado was actually a really nice combination with the saffron parsnip puree.

tacos at savoy flower shop

I've been noticing for at least 6 months the Savoy Deli & Produce Market on 18th st. below Rittenhouse square has had a board out advertising "mexican tacos, tortas, burritos, hoagies".

Now I stopped there once and uh.. it was sort of scary. The produce was in pretty bad shape and the place is always sort of dark and empty. Their main business seems to be selling flowers which look better than the brown rotting lettuce. And there's really no reason to go there as Sue's produce (one of the best in the city, love it) is 5 minutes away.

But I just couldn't ignore that sign. And good thing I didn't. My fear was at first reaffirmed as I walked in around lunchtime and it was empty again. The meats in the deli case looked kind of sketchy. I was presented with a crumpled menu and ordered 1 carnitas and 1 chorizo taco. The mexican gentleman who had been trimming flowers and unpacking carrots smiled and hurried to the back to whip up my tacos.

And wow, the food was much better than I expected.. all of the ingredients were fresh, the tacos were packed with meat, nice fresh tomatillo salsa- why aren't people lined up around the corner? I mean they weren't mind blowing, but as good as your average south philly taqueria, and it seems to be just the one guy that makes the food so it's probably consistent.

Don't be scared. Take out is the way to go.. rittenhouse square is right there so there's your dining room.

Savoy
262 S 18th st
Philadelphia

Alert: Southern California Style Tacos Found in Brooklyn!

Since I've moved from back from San Diego to New York I have been trying to find a place that serves the kind of Mexican food that I have become accustomed to on the West Coast.  After a little over a year  of searching I was ready to throw in the towel and call it a day.    

I live in a neighborhood that is brimming with Mexican restaurants.  Tortas, cemitas, and huaraches are everywhere but somehow they just aren't the same.  I really wanted the perfect, simple tacos that I had gotten so used to living ten minutes from the Tijuana border.  These tacos are nothing more than fantastically grilled meat on tiny (4-5-inch) tortillas, chopped cilantro and onions accompanied by some really great salsas.  

I'm overjoyed to say that today I found the tacos of my dreams.  

Tacos Ricos at 51st Street and 5th Avenue in Sunset Park serves the best tacos that I've eaten outside of Southern California. I had a feeling that it was going to be good and I ordered six tacos - al pastor, bisctec, pollo, enchilada, arabes and orientales.

All of the tacos were amazing. The al pastor, pollo and bistec are pretty standard, enchilada is just another term for spicy meat but the arabes and orientales are not that common. They are the Mexican version of shawarma, spit-roasted and spectacular, just the right ratio of meat to fat with the best smokey-sweet-spicy chile sauce. Everything was served with big wedges of lime, sliced radishes and the best Mexican Cokes.

Tacos Ricos
505 51st St.
Brooklyn, NY 11220

Cemita

From El Jorocho- mentioned below in "best of 2008". Carnitas (braised pork) with lettuce, tomato, cheese, jalepenos, avacado, an unknown cilantro-esque herb and mayonnaise on a sesame seed bun. Not unlike a taco/roast pork/cheesesteak hybrid and should be the new official sandwich of philadelphia. Delicious.

Also Los Taquitos De Puebla is rumoured to have amazing Cemitas, including the "Cabeza de res" made with "beef head meat". Nice.

El Jorocho - 13th & Ellsworth
Taquitos De Puebla - 1114 S 9th St.

Cafe Con Chocolate

Here are the pictures of our delicious mexican breakfast! See below post for the info!

Cafe Con Chocolate

I regret that I forgot my camera, so these pics are off there website, but I will return for pictures!
This place was awesome! Cafe Con Chocolate is a family owned super sweet breakfast lunch place. Not expensive and everything is made there. I had Chiliquiles ( fried tortillas covered in mole....YUM!) and an Omelette and it was delicious! They serve Mexican and Japanese and our waitress Michelle told us her family was from Mexico and her grandfather is Japanese and her grandmother is French. It was the warmest service and everyone in there was great. Oh the tres leche cake is highly recommended.

If you live in South Philly and don't want to wait in line go to this cute place!


Cafe Con Chocolate
On Snyder between 21st and 22nd on Norwood

Rodeo Breakfast

I have to scan in the Rodeo Menu because it's pretty amazing. But untill then this is where we had our Mexican breakfast in Echo Park. Yummy Carnitas and Carne Asada Sopas and the yummiest beef soup thing. Oh and fresh tortillas of course and a cute lady walking around trying to convince me to get some tres leches cake. I should've gotten it.

Potacos

Back from L.A., and there was good eating. But before I pass out and attempt to make it to work the next day I had to put a picture up of these potato tacos. It was after the opening, my good friend's Ako and Emi decided that they would take off and meet us back at the house. They arrive with 25 deep fried potato tacos covered in cheese and guacamole. The homemade green and red sauce was delicious and the deep friedness went well with our drunken whiskey state.

I have no idea where they came from, I didn't ask questions I just ate them before they got cold. I've decided I think this was the best thing I had ever had.

Tamale Undergound

Every saturday afternoon a car pulls up in the alley behind where I work, and all the dishwashers and cooks race to the back door to get in line for some of the best tamales around. Everything is served out of the trunk of a car, kept warm or cold using various ingenious methods.

Also available are tacos, quesadillas, mexican soda and a strange super milky sweet hot chocolate type beverage that's not for everyone.

Saturday is a super busy day too - I've definitely burned somebody's $800 lunch while waiting in line for tamales, but it's worth it.