ming street in ssu Br a ow un n n s a v il n le O Welcome to the TACO CAPITAL of Texas By JOSÉ R. it RALAT ’s o n ac ea t rl ad y im a b possible to eat 42 texashighways.com Photo: Robert Strickland SEPTEMBER 2019 43 and a hodgepodge of other businesses. It’s where you’ll find some of the best tacos in the state of Texas. “It’s a source of pride for us,” Vera says. ARMANDO VERA’S STOIC FACE I don’t make this claim lightly. I started writing about lights up with a smile when customers mention how tacos professionally 10 years ago. First at the Dallas Ob- far they’ve traveled to eat at his restaurant, Vera’s server, and then for my own website, thetacotrail.com. Backyard Bar-B-Que. Patrons make sojourns from In the last two years, I have traveled to 38 cities across Dallas, Austin, and even El Paso to order pounds of the country in the process of writing my book, Ameri- his barbacoa de cabeza de res a la leña en pozo— can Tacos: A History of the Taco Trail North of the Border beef-head barbacoa slow-cooked over mesquite in (out in early 2020 by The University of Texas Press). From an in-ground pit that’s 7 feet long and lined by bricks. my experience, no single geographical area in the Lone The restaurant was established by his father in 1955 Star State has tacos as uniformly excellent as La South- on Southmost Boulevard in Brownsville. Vera is tall most—and that includes Oak Cliff in Dallas, Airline Drive and blocky with a mustache that has yet to sprout in Houston, the East Side of Austin, and South Jackson gray hairs. He’s an imposing figure—even when he’s Road in Pharr. sitting at a table, readers perched on the bridge of his The tacos you’ll find on Southmost come in three va- nose beneath the brim of his mesh ball cap, reviewing receipts. He’ll scan the din- rieties: breakfast tacos, fried tacos, and beef tacos. Try- ing room filled with out-of-towners (locals tend to get barbacoa to go) sitting glee- ing them all is essential. Breakfast tacos go by the name fully over clumped threads of smoke-kissed meat. And they know the best way to tortillas de harina because of the 10-inch flour tortillas eat barbacoa is in a taco: wrapped in an aromatic corn tortilla and sprinkled with they’re served in. They’re typically filled with ingredi- chopped white onion and cilantro and a splash of red or green salsa. ents as familiar as chorizo and eggs, or as regionally spe- Vera’s is reason enough to travel to this corner of Brownsville locals call “La cific as weenies (sliced Vienna sausages or hot dogs) and Southmost.” The actual name of the nearly 4-mile road near the Rio Grande is Barbacoa from Vera’s eggs. Fried tacos, like tacos dorados (deep-fried folded Backyard Bar-B-Que. t t t t t t t t t t t t tt t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t tt t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t Southmost Boulevard. Here, dozens of Mexican restaurants, tortillerias, and taque- t t t corn tortillas) and flautas (rolled and fried), are also pop- rias are wedged between grocery stores, dentist offices, ice cream shops, churches, ular—some are drowned in salsa, earning the moniker ahogados. Most prevalent are the beef preparations like barbacoa, bistek (thinly sliced), fajita, and mollejas (sweet- breads). They’re generally smaller in size and served in or- ders of three to six—closer to what most Americans would recognize as “street tacos.” So start your fast: You’re going to need as much room and time as possible to get a true taste of Southmost. These seven taquerias—vetted from many days of repeat visits— are great places to start your grand tour of this South Texas taco haven. t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t The t t t t APPETIZER t t t Frijoles charros are indicative of t t Southmost and the greater Rio Grande t t Valley area. They are served ahead of t t meals in most taquerias and restaurants. t t t The soupy pinto bean-based appetizer t t t is swimming with soft shards of bacon, t t onion, cilantro, and whatever else t t the cook throws in. t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t 44 texashighways.com Illustration: Shaw Nielson Photos: Robert Strickland SEPTEMBER 2019 45 VERA’S BACKYARD EASY BAR-B-QUE TO GO TACOS #1 ARBECUE PILGRIMS TREK TO VERA’S because it’s the last of its kind—the only NE OF THE OLDEST TAQUERIAS ON restaurant in Texas where barbacoa is pre- B FROM LEFT: Armando Vera Southmost is Easy to Go Tacos #1, located pared in the traditional manner. They come to get a and the 7-foot pit used to make across the street from Vera’s. When Teo- glimpse of Vera working the counter, where he does barbacoa at Vera’s Backyard O das Martinez and her son-in-law Cipriano Mejia things the old-school way. And he’ll do so until the Bar-B-Que; bistek taco from Easy to Go Tacos #1. opened Easy to Go in the 1970s, Southmost was lit- very end. “I’ll probably die here,” Vera says, chuckling. tle more than a road squeezed by shotgun houses Other establishments that practiced the pit-cooking t and working-class bungalows. They saw a niche method have either gone out of business or shifted in the market that needed filling—there wasn’t a to cooking in large steamers or ovens in compli- neighborhood taco spot yet. ance with reformed health regulations. Neverthe- “Easy to Go Tacos was the first taco place on less, barbacoa remains a way of life here, a vestige of Southmost,” says co-owner Daniel Garces III. South Texas’ cattle-ranching heyday, when Mexican Garces’ mother, Maria, was a cook at Easy to Go ranch hands would cook discarded calf heads after and purchased the concept from the original own- a week’s hard labor. The prepared meat would then ers in 1992. “In essence, it started the boom,” he be taken home for family meals. Today, barbacoa is adds. In the nearly 30 years since the Garces fam- often eaten on Sundays. (Vera’s opens Friday through ily took over the business, Easy to Go has expanded Sunday and only for breakfast and lunch.) Businesses to six locations in Brownsville, Los Fresnos, and like Vera’s see a rush ahead of and immediately after Harlingen. “Now, there is a lot of competition,” the day’s church services. The restaurant offers bar- t says Daniel’s father, Daniel Garces Jr. And yet, the bacoa in several cuts: lengua (cow tongue), cachete restaurant endures. “Customers keep coming back (beef cheek), paladar (palate), ojo (cow’s eye, which because they claim they can’t find our unique fla- Vera calls “Mexican caviar”), surtida (general bits), vor in other locations, no matter how hard they try,” and mixta (the beef-head meat after the other parts the younger Garces says. That special flavor is ev- have been taken out). Go for the mixta. 2404 South- idenced in dishes like the flautas that come with a most Blvd. 956-546-4159 side of cueritos (pickled pig skin)—the snappy, sour t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t tt t t t t t t t t t t t tt t t brightness cuts through fierce salsa. 2344 South- most Blvd. 956-542-4592 t t t t t 46 texashighways.com Photos: Kenny Braun (opposite page, bottom); Robert Strickland (top) SEPTEMBER 2019 47 t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t The t t t t GARNISHES t t Almost all beef tacos come topped t t SYLVIA’S t t with a flurry of crumbled or grated white cheese t t and a wedge of soft avocado. “If you try to sell tacos RESTAURANT t t without avocado and cheese, people are not going t t to buy them,” says Armando Vera of Vera’s Backyard t t N THE FURTHEST NORTH PART Bar-B-Que. These garnishes are elemental t t of La Southmost, Sylvia’s Restau- t to the borderlands. They are as characteristic t rant is covered in Dallas Cowboys t t of Brownsville as they are of Brownsville’s sister O t memorabilia like autographed posters, t city, Matamoros, Mexico. Southmost is the t t Super Bowl championship flags, jerseys, center of the Venn diagram of what is t t and figurines. If it’s got a blue, silver, and t considered typical of two countries. t t t white star stamped on it, the super-fan t t owners have given it a home. Sylvia’s serves t t t t t t its barbacoa in a large, sweet, buttery flour t t t t t tortilla.