Spinning Meat, Bring The Heat!

Officially trompo means "spinning top", you know like what kids play with. But in the case of Polo's Taqueria (918 W. Prince RD) it means a rotating meat girth of awesome.

The owner, the restaurant's namesake (and no it's not pronounced pollo like 'chicken' but Polo, like the game, or clothing line or Marco's last name), is from Mexico City where this style of cooking meat is totally normal. We are used to seeing beef and such cooked on a slowly rotating spit in Mediterranean or Greek restaurants, but here the flavored goodness that gets sliced up nice and thin right from the dripping tower of carne gets put on tortillas instead of pita. And believe us, this is the real deal.

So ready to get down with this mess.

A fresh slab gearing to get tasty

It's a pretty inconspicuous place, in fact when we drove by it we, well...almost drove right by it. Located in a shopping strip, Polo's rests next to a laundry facility and if it wasn't for the big yellow banner out front with the words "HOT DOGS" written on it we probably would have kept on driving.

Once inside you are treated to an extremely casual environment with a tight menu over the register area and festive music playing to get you in the chow down mood. Polo's has all kinds of yummy offerings such as burritos, tacos, sopes, tortas, caldos and even a hamburger...like all good taquerias do and should. To the left you get to witness to the slow spinning beef mash that is topped with a half pineapple with an onion base. El Trompo!

We almost got down on our knees to worship at the altar of revolving splendor.

Almost.

It was that glorious.

Al pastor tacos in all of their glory

The prices are what you would expect, like almost 2 bucks for a taco, but it is the care and quality that you are paying for and these looked like they are fawned over with loving grace. Plus our orders came out fairly quick, so that was good, because we were plenty hungry and ready to dive into the al pastor that was cut fresh right in front of us.

So stoked.

Full salsa bar at your disposal

Polo's has the requisite toppings and salsa bar and the lady running the front counter even came out and suggested how we festoon each item. That was really cool even though her English was almost as bad as our Spanish, but we got the gist.

Not too sure if they were having refrigeration issues that day but the salsas and lettuce were way too cold and were a bit wilty. That is our only critique. Better that than being too warm and going all gush and limp. Whatever. We are survivors.

After we got all of the tacos, burros and sopes in check it was time to sit down and go for it.

The sopes were kind of the best thing ever

The al pastor was amazing. Really juicy and thanks to the fruit and onion infusion it took on a citrusy and savory whimsy. Everything was fresh and all of it, the chicken, the carne, the cabeza, the frijoles, etc, was delicious.

Our favorite though had to be the sopes, which are basically mini taco salads made with a thick tortilla and filled with all sorts of wonder. These things ruled. Maybe its because you can get a good taco or burro almost anywhere here in Tucson but a tasty sope is a bit of a treasure hunt. We struck gold here folks. Best thing is they are kind of heavy so when you eat one, or twelve, you know you are going to get filled up. We did not leave there hungry.

Next time we visit Polo's we are definitely going to try the Cubano torta and a caldo which is a hearty soup filled with thick veggies and rustic cuts of meat. Can't wait.

Now you know kids. Just keep your eyes open because you don't wanna miss the Mexico City radness of this place even though you need to kind of look for it. And everyone was friendly too. That is always a plus and seems to make things even tastier.

Cheers!

Thank you Polo's Taqueria!

Camera, Typing and Eating
"Metal" Mark Whittaker
The First Time In Almost A Month, 2017

Metal Influence:

MAD BUTCHER

"Burn It Down"

Salvation Came In The Form Of A Food Stand

"The day after Thanksgiving and all you can think about is eating more food?"

Um...yes.

Duh.

Ordering up the Maico goodness

You see, Thanksgiving is full of American tradition, as far as the spread is concerned.

There's the the turkey, usually, the stuffing/dressing, cranberry sauce (typically in the cylindrical form of the can is spawned from, with ridges still in the gelatinous glop), some potatoes, some green bean casserole, some drinks, some vaguely racist comment from your weird uncle, more drinks, more debates on who won the election, even more drinks, the dog gets into the pecan pie, you loudly slur to your mom and ask her why she never loved you, quick run to the booze store for more alcohol, grandma wont stop farting and the football team you bet on to win just lost. But there's gravy!

This is America. This is what most of us do on the third Thursday in November. It's a very bizarre right of passage but we do it anyway. Why?

Yeah we don't know either.

But the next day when you wake up devastated from the holiday's overdose of gluttony and grandpa's strangely dirty jokes, you need a serious pick me up. We know we did.

So on the third Friday in November, we drove over to a little food shed on 22nd Street to regroup and above all, recoup.

And we were glad we did.

Sort of like nachos but...not really

Maico Mexican Food is a funky little stand on 22nd between Park and South Tyndall Avenue. We have been meaning to come here for quite some time and after the debacle of the goings on the day previous we really needed some cold beer and good food.

Not that mom's cooking is bad it's just, well...she didn't make tacos did she?

Just a touch of citrus to the ceviche tostada

It was a really warm day. No, scratch that....it was pretty hot. Like high 80s/low 90s hot. Unseasonably toasty for being late November. You even tried to convince your conspiracy theory cousin of yours that global warming is in full effect and all they did was shrug it off and blame the current president. Whatever. It was time to order up and set our post Thanksgiving blues on the stoop and forget about it all for a while.

At that time, Maico was our only friend.

Why wasn't this mentioned on Food Wars?

At Maico you order at the window then take a seat in their picnic-esque area to the side. It's all outdoor seating, which is great, but we were burned out and the sun was really beating on us. Luckily we found a fairly shady spot and took solace in its brief shelter and ice cold sodas from Mexico.

No beer here, that was a bit of a let down, but the fizz and caffeine from the caramel colored drink did perk us up a bit. Something about cola from across the border; it has a different taste to it, less sweet, more depth. Not too sure. We just prefer the bottled sodas from Mexico.

And here is a secret: They are not listed on the menu. But if you ask they will provide.

Beer will have to wait till later.

And we desperately wanted one. Or two. 

The Arizona burrito in all of its glory

We started off with just some chips and salsa. They were good. Not too sure if the chips are homemade but the salsa they have on the tables in red plastic ketchup squeezers was tangy and full of flavor. They come almost "nacho style", topped with cheese and a house pico de gallo, which helped get the stomach ball rolling as we knew some welcomed food sanctuary was about to be delivered.

The smiling and loud laughing guy that took our orders was also the one bringing the goods. As he plopped down our rather ambitious order all he could do was chuckle and say:

"All this stuff for just you three? I love it!"

You know what? We love him now.

The cabeza taco, so cheeky

At a place like Maico, if they offer a Sonoran hot dog, you get a Sonoran hot dog.

Kind of confused as to why theirs isn't in the competitive ring along with BK and El Guero Canelo, this sloppy meat log was divine. A good soft bun, the dog was cooked perfect and wrapped in thick bacon, with a smooth slather of various sauces, their version of that Tucson OG is right up there with some of the greats. Highly recommended.

The Arizona burrito was chock full of beef and potatoes and even after eating three different styles of potato at yesterday's dinner we were stoked to be trying Maico's version. Tender, full of vibrant life and heavy in the hand, their burritos made us forget that we were craving beer and made us food drunk instead.

All of the proteins, the chicken, pork and carne asada, were all cooked wonderfully and were seasoned correctly. Even if you have a not so decent cut of meat, it is always important to finesse what you got with skill and care. The guys at Maico did just that.

We also got their ceviche tostada, a specialty of the house apparently. Awesome. So bright and full of personality, the seafood was as un-fishy as you can get then finished with ripe avocados, we can see now why the dude at the window recommended it.

Thank you dude at the window.

We love you even more now.

The California burrito almost took us out...almost

Like most successful Mexican food stands Maico started out as a cart. Through time, test and tribulation, they finally got themselves a proper place right across the street from some tactical weapons outlet. So as you watch beefy dudes getting ready to pop off some rounds, you can chow down on some beefy tacos and burritos and leave the macho posturing to the guys not eating amazing food.

Maico is awesome and we will definitely be back for more. We highly suggest you try one of each because everything that we got was delicious and made us forget about the savage ravage aunt Myrtle gave to that turkey leg. It was quite violent and oddly erotic.

Thank you Maico Mexican Food! You now have the Tucson Homeskillet's badge of approval.

Wait...do we have such a badge? We don't. Oh...nevermind.

Then we're just going to have to give you a sincere Metal horns salute. That's about the same...right?

Cheers!

The lil' cart where it all began

Camera, Typing and Eating
"Metal" Mark Whittaker
The Last Friday in November, 2016

Metal Influence: 

TRANSMETAL

"Muerto En La Cruz"