A dish I never had before moving to South Minneapolis is tacos al pastor (Google image search results). It's a specialty of the place up on Lake Street where we always get our Mexican carryout when the tribe comes over: Taqueria La Hacienda, 334 E Lake Street. We send Chris to fetch it because he's the only one who speaks any Spanish, and he likes the practice.
Tacos al pastor look a little bit like Greek gyros. The meat is spiced, pressed, and stacked on a vertical spit, then slow roasted and shaved off onto corn tortillas. It's usually served with cilantro, onions, and pineapple; the Taqueria also does a plattered version where they top it with bacon, onions, red and green peppers, and cheese and run it under a broiler or something.
So I find out today from the tcfoodies blog that tacos al pastor looks like gyros for a reason! It's actually descended from Lebanese shawirma:
…at least according to Wikipedia, the al pastor taco is a Mexican adaptation of shawirma, introduced to Mexico by Lebanese immigrants.
Nice adaptation. Very nice.
So often we think of fusion cuisine as a peculiarly American melting-pot sort of thing… it's good to be reminded that it happens other places too. Well, if you ever see tacos al pastor on a menu, be sure to order it — it's kind of rare to see it outside Mexico City, I'm told. Lucky South Minneapolis!
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