The Dinner Files

The desire to cook is just not there. Instead, with my dashing husband out of town, Ernest and I headed over to El Metate, one of my two favorite taquerias in San Francisco.* El Metate is a favorite because the food is super fresh, the tacos are nice and small (in a good, Mexican-street-food way), the owner (Francisco) could not be nicer, it’s pretty and bright, and it’s walking distance from our house. It’s a taqueria where they put a fresh yellow tulip on each table (the tables are, themselves, painted royal blue with big, swirling sunflowers on them – how cheery!). Plus, I like how they put grilled veggies in their veggie offerings. The carnitas is great, as is the chile verde. Ernest is obsessed with their chicken tacos, and they have a filling called “chile colorado” that is stewed chunks of beef with potatoes in a red chile sauce that can really fit the bill on cold nights. Since yesterday was a Saturday, they were also serving up menudo (not my favorite – a bit too earthy, if you know what I mean) and posole (yum yum yum – stewed pork and chile and dried, hulled, reconstituted corn!).

While I wasn’t cooking I instead made my way through a review copy of I Loved, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti by Giulia Melucci, which comes out next month. First things first: how adorable is that cover? Why is a spaghetti noodle in the shape of a heart so winning? Perhaps a design-type can explain it to me. I got to meet the author last week who summed up the desire to write it – that she’d been telling these stories for years and friends finally convinced her to write them down. And it reads just like that. Like a good friend giving you the latest skinny on her love life and what she’s been cooking. It’s a chick-lit-style page-turner, perfect for beach or airplane or when you don’t feel like cooking or writing or working and just want to be entertained on a Saturday afternoon. The recipes sprinkled throughout the stories aren’t revolutionary, but they do sound tasty and are refreshingly geared towards the home cook not looking to make a fuss.  The hilarious recipe for “Kit’s Drunken Soup” is worth the price of admission alone.

* My other favorite is La Taqueria (or, as so many call it, “La Tac”) on Mission, just south of 24th. Those tacos are big and juicy and have a flavor so addictive it can haunt your dreams. A friend who visits from the East Coast likes to be taken there directly from the airport, no matter the time of day or night.

Please note: I am talking about tacos here, not burritos. I have no idea what the burritos are like at either of these places because when given a choice, I always go for tacos. I honestly cannot remember the last time I had a burrito because, in California, it seems like you always have a choice.

When my dashing husband and I first moved to San Francisco, lo these many years ago, one of the first things we did was take a little road trip down to L.A. He had lived there for a few years and his younger brother had just moved back after an unpleasant stint at grad school in upstate New York. I was going to meet his friends, meet a member of his family, and explore his old haunts. On the long drive down the coast many promises were made and delights proffered. Towards the top of the list was turkey tacos. There was this taco stand, my dashing husband told me, that made turkey tacos and they were amazing and unlike any other taco he’d ever had.

So one day for lunch we headed this taco place. We perused the menu posted above the counter while we waited to order, scanning it for turkey tacos. No such option was listed. In fact, no turkey was listed anywhere. We got to the counter and asked: “What happened to the turkey tacos?” No such tacos had ever been served there, we were told. There weren’t any other taco places nearby and we never did figure out what happened with that. Years later I think my dashing husband had salbutes, Yucatecan-style tostadas, traditionally made with, yes, turkey. They are topped with pickled onions, cabbage or greens, and super-duper hot sauce: right up his alley and, indeed, completely unlike other tacos. Where did he have it? We have no idea.

We were left, however, with a craving for these “turkey tacos.” I came up with this recipe and for years – years I tell you! – we ate these as often as once a week but at least once a month. I’ve passed the recipe to friends and family, I’ve even pitched it for easy weeknight dinner stories (no takers on that – whatever!), but somewhere along the line I stopped making them. I’m thinking it happened around the time I developed a salbutes recipe for Sunset and we ate a lot of turkey taco-like things for awhile. And, truth be told, salbutes are better and far more interesting than my rather pedestrian – yet still delicious! – turkey tacos.

Yesterday morning I casually asked if anyone had any ideas for dinner. “How about turkey tacos?” my dashing husband asked. How about indeed. Now we just can’t remember why we ever stopped eating them so often: they are delicious.

You can use your favorite guacamole – recipe or store-bought – but I really like this chile & cilantro guacamole I developed specifically for these tacos.