Parking Lot Perfection - Tacos Al Pastor in Pennsylvania's Mushroom Capital.
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It looked like a small, local grocery store with a cluttered parking lot on the outskirts of the tiny town of Kennett Square. The kind of place unnoticed by all but the people who live in the area and use it to grab what they need without a trek to one of the chains or big boxes on the weekend. We would have sped right by it but for the little cardboard sign by the edge of the road. It was small, unadorned and printed by hand -- could just as easily have said “Yard Sale” and gone unseen. But the four words on that simple sign caught our eyes but took a moment longer to register: “Tacos Al Pastor Today.” It was probably fifty yards down the narrow country road before our brains caught up with our vision and and we blurted out in unison “Whoa!” I yanked a precarious U-turn in the middle of a train crossing and raced back to the place we barely even noticed, but now never will forget. It was Deanna's Market.
There is not much to remember about this plain little Latino market. It doesn’t even have the cachet of being in the lovely hamlet of Kennett Square — regarded as the mushroom capital of America. It’s a little too far down the road and off the beaten path to qualify as a place where mushroom aficionados and tourists would wander. No, it’s only there for one reason: to serve the basic needs of those who live in this rural area. And in a mushroom capital that means mostly migrant workers from Mexico and Central America. Which translates, of course, into great food.
Saturdays are a special day at Deanna’s, or rather outside in it’s parking lot. There one can find a tiny stall where Mexican food is cooked on the spot and sold to a steady stream of Spanish speaking neighbors throughout the day. The stall consists of 2 rolling carts connected to form an “L”. On one end is a glass-cased steam counter and a fold-up table where you order and collect your food. The other end is a large griddle, filled with meat, golden red with spices and carefully tended to by a guy who probably spends the rest of the week tending to mushrooms. He speaks only spanish and is a man of few words, preferring to focus on his cooking while nervously avoiding the camera pointed at him. In the corner joining the two stalls is a large, vertical flame burner grilling a skewered rod of chunky marinated pork, crowned with a glistening pineapple whose juices drip down onto the meat. If the vision of porcine beauty doesn’t take your breath away the aroma surely will because, c’mon, few things smell more alluring than heavily spiced pork grilling on a vertical spit.
There is no menu at this nameless stall outside of that obscure little market. That’s because they were making just one thing: marinated pork, slow-cooked in spices, citrus and its own juices. Some cooks argue that the best dishes never have more than five ingredients in them and this place fits that rule: bread, meat, onions, spices, and garnish. Oh yeah, and an all-important sixth ingredient...immediately apparent upon the first bite: love.
For many who think of tacos as just fast food from ubiquitous chains and mall food courts, they haven’t had the pleasure of a taco al pastor in its unadulterated magnificence. It’s simple yet complex — think chunky pork marinated in a slurry of Guajillo chiles, achiote, brown sugar, vinegar, cumin, oregano and citrus juice. The meat is concurrently infused with the heat of the chiles, the sweetness of the citrus and the sourness of the acids, and deepend with garlic and earthy spices, all resulting in a depth of flavor that exceeds expectation. It’s stacked tightly and grilled slowly on a vertical spit, Lebanese style, with the fresh rendered juice of a pineapple dribbling down its layers and into its crevices where the sugars intensify and char. The grilled flesh of the pineapple is later chopped and mixed in with the pork and given a quick, final toss on the griddle. From there it can be stuffed, folded or rolled, doused with chile sauce, squeezed lemon, cilantro and crispy radish. Maybe even a dollop of queso fresco. It’s ridiculous.
Of course, cooked meat this good requires the perfect delivery system and at this place it was simple: tacos and gorditas. Thin corn tortillas were grilled on a dry griddle to form perfect tacos. Beside them piled high sat plump gorditas -- those Mexican arepa-like discs of cornmeal. They glowed golden yellow, crisped to perfection and waiting to be stuffed into Carnitas, like a Salvadoran pupusa or Lebanese gyro. It was impossible for us to miss either of them, so the decision was quickly made to have both.
It’s hard not to salivate when thinking about the cacophony of flavors married together in this seemingly simple Mexican street food found by accident. The thick pocket of gordita was moist and enveloped the meat in succulent half moons. The tacos were doubled and folded, harnessing the flavors in their gentle embrace. Which version of al pastor was better was a total toss-up. But one thing was for sure: making that U-turn across the tracks a few minutes before was the best decision of the day. ¡Gracias a Dios!
Deanna’s Market, 1185 Newark Rd, Toughkenamon, PA 19374
