Sabor de Mexico: Get Your Tongue On

Just like Denver's many other anonymous taco trucks, El Sabor de Mexico sits patiently in a parking lot waiting for you to stumble upon it. There is really no telling if it will be good or bad. Hungry, I stopped in to see for myself while wandering home late on a Friday evening, after a way-too-long day of taking it from the man.

El Sabor de Mexico (The Taste of Mexico) has been around for no more than a few months on the corner of Montview and Clinton in Aurora. It takes the place of the taco void left by Taco Truck Los Dos Hermanos, which used to park across the street, and was a favorite of mine. Sabor de Mexico sits in an old gas station lot under the roof where the pumps once were; complete with a picnic table and chairs for your dining comfort and convenience. Like Los Dos Hermanos, the owners hail from Zacatecas, Mexico. Also like Los Dos Hermanos they make a tongue taco that is worth driving across town for. The main difference is that Sabor also has a full menu of tacos, tortas, sopes, huaraches and weekend specialties like Menudo, carnitas and Barbacoa.

But back to the tongue taco. The tongue here is melt-in-your-mouth soft. The flavor is also wonderfully prominent, not getting lost under the onion, cilantro, salsa and the shredded beef I think they mix in. It is likely that you would push aside your own mother to get at one of these tacos. Or likewise, in the common quandary of this taco and your mother hanging from the side of a cliff and you having only one hand to save one of them--you would certainly choose your mother-- but only because you would know that the taco would survive the fall and you could just climb down the cliff, blow off the dirt and eat it anyway. It is pretty much that good, and though I have been known to exaggerate (see what I said about this chicken liver mousse), if you are a tongue fan like me, I recommend eating here as soon as possible.

Asada, carnitas, pastor, tongue

I've been back now several times and I've found that the barbacoa is just as good. Barbacoa can be many things: cows head, a whole sheep or goat. The idea is that is slow cooked, like its north of the border counterpart, barbecue. At Sabor de Mexico it is lamb. Fatty, juicy pieces of lamb shredded on a taco; tender and richly flavored. The best results will be on the weekends when it is fresh made.

Also fresh most Saturday mornings about 10 am are the carnitas. By Tuesday and all week long they are a little dry--but the good flavor is there, and doused in either the very good red or green salsa, it is still a good taco de carnitas. Fresh made, it is one of the better tacos de carnitas I've had in Denver.

The tostada with tinga (pulled chicken bathed in a chipotle sauce) is also excellent. All the ingredients---beans, cream, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, salsa-- are laid on thick and tasted fresh. The asada is average, and probably not worth getting with all the other great options. The pastor is a joke. Literally, they might have been playing a joke on me: un-marinated and dry pork bits grilled with pineapple and chipotles. But even with this grave misrepresentation of what pastor is, the tongue and barbacoa are so good that this truck still comes highly recommended.

There are quite a few menu items painted on the side of the truck that are not available as the husband and wife team are just beginning to see what sells and what doesn't. Apparently the pata (feet) are no longer an option (much to my wife's dismay) because no one actually ever ordered it (except for my wife). And the pozole is no longer there. They were also out of adobada when I last visited. And my precious lengua (tongue) seems to run out more often than not, but the pattern seems to be that it is fresh and ready to go at the end of the week and into the weekend.

If you are coming from across town give a call first, 720-206-7291, but mostly they seem to be consistent everyday sometime in the afternoon until about 8pm. Tacos are large, come with two tortillas and cost $1.25.