As you may know, I’m on a quest to find all the great taquerias of Birmingham – see also my post on Taqueria La Herrudura. Tonight: Gordos.
Gordos was the first taqueria I visited after moving to Birmingham. It’s on Valley Avenue in Homewood, in a strip mall. It has 3 parts-a grocery store, a bakery, and of course, the restaurant.
The restaurant serves tacos, tamales, gorditas, burritos, and quesadillas. Vegetarians beware-there is meat EVERYWHERE you look – a giant piece of meat hangs next to the register, which we are told is what carnitas looks like before it gets into your taco.
I decided to start with 2 tacos. Of course, my friend and I were taking awhile to decide-carnitas? Chicken? Lamb?
Our friend behind the counter took pity on us and decided to let us taste test all the meats. Wow. I had only had carnitas at Gordos previously, as that is my go to – shredded pork perfectly spiced. But EVERYTHING was amazing-and the chicken was in a stew-type sauce, spicy, and moist, so much better than the ultra-dry taco chicken I’ve suffered through in the past. So, I asked for one chicken and one carnitas:
These are the more authentic Mexican street tacos, with delicious homemade corn tortillas.
Don’t they look naked? Don’t worry friends, there’s the topping bar, with onions, cilantro, 4 kinds of salsa, and more:
Amazing. I doused mine in onions and cilantro, but went more gingerly with the salsa-one was mild but the others blew my head off, in a friendly sinus clearing way:
As I devoured my delicious tacos I looked with jealousy at my friend’s meal- 2 gorditas, one chicken and one carnitas. These are made from fried dough stuffed with meat and other goodness, served with perfectly ripe avocados:
So worth every fried, greasy calorie. Wow, just wow.
So of course, I had to get my own:
We closed the place down, but luckily, the bakery was still open. My friend got this piece of “cheesecake.” I intensely dislike the traditional American cheesecakes, but this was totally different. Crusty and flaky on the outside with a layer of light cheese on the inside, absolutely delicious:
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