đCriminal Taqueria, MedellĂn
After coffee at IMAGO, I went in search of food. The El Poblado area is filled with hotels, hostels, and restaurants. It's all walkable. Some streets are even closed off to car traffic. I did a lap and saw more coffee places and busy cafes. I was meeting friends soon so I wanted a snack more than a full meal.
On a blocked-off street, under a tent, and full of tables and chairs I saw Criminal Taqueria. Out of the 20 or so tables outside, only two had people seated. I never went inside so I have no idea what the layout is. I'm quite certain this is a place for tourists despite not having an English menu. They were playing Jay-Z and Alicia Keys's "Empire State of Mind", for example. Tourist places aren't necessarily places to avoid, it's just something to know.
The entrance and menu at Criminal Taqueria
It was just about noon and I saw breakfast tacos on the menu. I love breakfast tacos so I ordered them. The person took my order and went inside with it. A few minutes later I learned that they stopped serving breakfast tacos for the day. My beer came with this news. I quickly found other tacos on the regular menu to order.
BBC is a local craft brewery in MedellĂn. When I travel, I try to have local beers as much as possible. You drink what people from that city drink, it's connective. This is on the sweeter side with blonde roasted malts. The easy drinking and bouncy soft mouthfeel made this a good pairing for the tacos that were about to arrive.
Tacos at Criminal Taqueria
The tacos came in a basket with cut limes. These were cut with the center pith removed making it easier to spritz over the tacos. One Arrachera taco and one Al Pastor taco. Both tacos came with toasted corn tortillas that held together despite the juices from the meat and provided a little textural crunch to the fillings.
The Arrachera taco is a skirt steak taco. The steak was tender and juicy with a little bit of give. The flavors were classic with cumin and paprika. It came topped with a cooling guacamole that was leaning into the lime it had.
The Al Pastor was equally juicy and the pork was a little crispy. No doubt this comes from the way it's cooked on the Trompo, the Mexican version of a vertical rotisserie. The acid and sweetness from the pineapple came through to round out the flavors.
My brunch ended up being a snack but it's time to meet up with some friends and grab more coffee.
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