About 12 years ago I stumbled upon this small, kinda crappy looking Taquiera down in Mexican Town, called Taqueria Lupitas. At that point in my life I had been to Mexico a few times. Now when I say Mexico, I should clarify. I had been to what I call Disney Mexico. That is Cancun and all the fake silliness that goes with it. On the few occasions we veered away from Senior Frogs or the "Stupid Gringo, we really don' t serve monster burritos in Mexico" Restaurant, I really dug what seemed to be real Mexican food. It's been 10 years since I last ate at Lupitas and I've gained much more Mexican food experience. I've traversed the country and have eaten off of street carts in every city. I've fed my bean hole from every Economica Corrida I could find and I've swallowed Tacos al Pastor from Nuevo Laredo down to Palenque. I'm not claiming to be an expert, but I know Mexican food as well as I know any other cuisine. It was time to go back to Lupitas and see how they measure up.
As I entered it was clear some things had change. Now there was silly faux stones on the wall and a monstrous ceiling light fixture which looked lost and out of place hanging from the dirty, stained and broken ceiling tiles. In some ways it reminded me of Mexico. Outside of your tourist areas, restaurants and business' are often cobbled together in a quaint schizophrenic way. A quick glance at the picture menu board put me at ease. Of the dozen or so items only one, the burrito, is the only one I've never seen in real Mexico. Things, like Caldo de Res, Ceviche Tostadas or the before mentioned Tacos al Pastor are very familiar to me. One other thing had changed as well, there were more white people (Guapos) getting their fill of authentic tacos. Nice to see this wasn't a Taco Bell or Chli's crowd.
The main menu brought back a lot of memories. Cabeza tacos in Guanajauto. Carnitas Tacos in Ciuad Mexico. Cocktail de Camaron in Vera Cruz. Or just about everything brought back some kind of food memory. Some people have memories of sights or what they bought when they travel, mine are almost exclusively memories of food. My gut is my souvenir.
Our waitress brought chips and four colorful salsas to the table. A tradition that is only found in the states. They are available but you have to ask and pay for Totopos y salsa. Tradition or not, each salsa was right on the money. Pico de Gallo, limey with an actual bite from the jalpenos, smokey dried chile salsa, creamy avocado salsa and a blended salsa which for some reason was my fav that day.
Hoping to relive those memories I order the Al Pastor dinner and two Ceviche Tostadas, which came out first. If you're not in the know, ceviche is any raw seafood marinated in citrus. The citrus actually cooks the seafood. Lupitas ceviche is made with mild white fish, lime juice and a little Pico. First bite, hooray!!!! Delicious! I've eaten these on both the Gulf and Pacific coasts and these are yummy.
My main meal came to the table with a mound of seasoned, roasted pork, charro beans, rice, corn tortillas (the only way to eat Mexican food) and condiments. So I don't bore you with a detailed description and the hyperbole I'm known for, let just say everything on my plate was delish and spot on. If I closed my eyes I might think that I was South of the Border. Even the Spanish spoken at most of the tables would lead me to that conclusion. Throw in blaring TVs and the odd stray dog and I'd feel right at home.
Lupitas is the real deal. You may find the odd Tex Mex thing on the menu but please avoid those. Go for the real thing. Eat your tacos with corn tortillas, eschew cheese and for the love of god, do not ask for extra sour cream!
Soon fall and winter will force me into pants and jackets and I'll move from tacos to caldo (soup), specifically caldo de res or caldo posole. When I do I'll let you know. Between now and then, I'll be rediscovering my city, one bite and one drink at a time. digesting detroit es divertido y delicioso!
Taqueria Lupita Map
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