If you live in Austin and you haven't been to Taqueria La Canaria, stop what you're doing and go there now. This is probably my favorite Mexican restaurant in Austin.
To describe Taqueria La Canaria as unassuming would be an overstatement. It's a janky little trailer painted bright yellow, green, and red in the parking lot of an off-brand convenience store at the corner of Airport and 51st.
Before you head over there you may want to brush up on your Spanish or at least have an idea of what to order since it's a toss up whether the lady in charge on a given day will speak English or not. The menu is almost entirely in Spanish with the exception of the "breakfas" menu. (Adorbs)
The cuisine claims to be from the Tierra Caliente region of Southern Mexico. I'm no expert on regional Mexican food, but my tastebuds are experts when it comes to identifying total amazingness.
The process: order your food at the counter, pay approximately $3, go inside the convenience store and buy a Topo Chico or Mexican Coke, come back out and find yourself a seat at the perfectly adequate outdoor seating area.
Sorry, were you expecting table cloths?
While you wait, some remarkable women are hard at work making your gorditas or tortillas FROM SCRATCH. I'll say it again in case you missed it, this little trailer produces handmade, made to order, gorditas and tacos.
Meaning "little fat one," a gordita could be described as a Mexican version of pita. It's a thick tortilla-like cake made of masa harina, a corn or hominy based dough also used to make tamales and tortillas. It's fried or baked in a cast iron skillet and then split open and stuffed with all sorts of ingredients.
At Taqueria La Canaria your gordita will be thick, fluffy, crispy on the outside and still moist and slightly gooey on the inside, overflowing with chunky, porky, perfectly spiced refried beans, crisp shredded lettuce, fresh tomato slices, ample avocado, melted cheese, and the meat of your choice. I alternate between the picadillo and barbacoa, but the pollo (and I suspect everything else) is also amazing. I normally don't care too much for ground beef, but the picadillo is to die for. Picadillo is a stewed ground beef with mixed vegetables, and fall-apart-in-your-mouth cubed potatoes. Barbacoa is tender, slow-cooked, beef cheek. Taqueria la Canaria serves up some of the best of both that I've found.
My favorite thing about the gorditas at Taqueria La Canaria is that the masa is still a bit uncooked inside the gordita. Not enough for it to taste raw, but just enough so that the masa mingles with the beans and the rest to make all the ingredients come together. Be warned though, I have only once finished one of these delicacies without it falling apart into my tin foil. That's okay though, just put some more spicy, bright red salsa on it and eat the left-overs with a fork (or your hands, they're all messy anyway.)
But wait there's more! Taqueria La Canaria is right next to Casey's New Orleans Snowballs. So since you've only spent about $5 on yummy gorditas or tacos, walk on over and grab a cold dessert to round out your delicious and cheap lunch. How could a Mexican meal in Texas get any better?
www.yelp.com/biz/taqueria-la-canaria-austin
Taqueria La Canaria - E 51st St and Airport Blvd
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