chili sofrito braised chicken street tacos + honey chipotle sauce + citrus red cabbage slaw
This past weekend was Valentine’s Day, and while most people were thinking of filet mignon, lobster or sushi for their romantic meal, I was dreaming of tacos. Not just any tacos. The best ones I’ve ever made. Like most folks in the southeast, I grew up on tacos served in an oft stale, crunchy shell. Stuffed with ground beef and heaped with shredded cheddar, sour cream, iceberg lettuce and tomatoes, they were all we knew and we were glad to have them. Don’t get me wrong, some people love that style of taco and that’s awesome; I myself have heartily delighted in gobbling up my share. I had no idea that tacos could be anything other than that until one fateful day when I stopped to have lunch in Homestead, FL on my way down to The Florida Keys.
My friends and I were heading down for the world-famous Bartenders Bash, where professional party hosts become the partiers just once a year. It was a debaucherous bacchanalia of binge drinking, depravity and fun in the sun. On our way, we stopped at this little authentic Mexican joint that served house-made fare to hungry travelers out of a shack in the farmlands of deep South Florida where legions of migrant workers looking for a better life toiled under the hot sun. This was to be our one last meal before spending three days sustaining ourselves on bounteous amounts of alcohol. After glancing at a menu, I ordered the house-special “street tacos” without giving it a second thought. When they arrived I was like, “WTF is this?!” On my plate there were simply two soft corn tortillas filled with braised meat and topped with chopped onions, cilantro and fresh salsa. That was it. I wasn’t even sure I had ordered the right thing, but I knew I didn’t want to wait for something else, or worse, look like the doofus that didn’t know what he wants. So I snatched one up and took a big bite. Bang! Zoom! Something happened in my brain. It was like I woke up from the dead!
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