Que es el mejor plato sin la carne

Man do I love Mexican food, but I don't like meat (I love seafood though). When I go to Frontera, Topolobampo, Chilpancingo et al. it's not an issue. They've got tons of stuff on the menu to make me happy (oh huitlacoche, where've you been all my life?). When I go to my favorite tacquerias, I'm stuck with -well- tacos and their ilk like sopes and gorditas. Avocado tacos, chile relleno tacos, frijolle tacos are all great, but repetitive.

So, I'm hoping LTH can break me out of my taco rut. What are your favorite tacqueria dishes sin carne, and where do you like to get them?

vegmojo

Two places come to mind, assuming you are vegetarian and not vegan:

1. Taqueria Tayahua
Check out Antonius' post; their quesadillas are really interesting, with such fillings as huitlacoche and squash blossoms. I found them a bit on the greasy side.

2. Taqueria Moran (California & Milwaukee)
I like their chilaquiles with red sauce and a scrambled egg mixed in. I also like their tortilla soup, but that one might contain chicken broth.

vegmojo:

I have this problem every year for the better part of seven weeks... 40 days to be exact... Here's a place that I visited a couple of times during lent for some good vegetarian, masa based delights (especially the tlacoyo de requesón), El Nuevo Kappy's:

http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=25309#25309

Also very tasty vegetarian quesadillas (especially the flor de calabaza) are to be found at Taqueria Tayahua:

http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=30132#30132

But in the basic joints, let's face it, the focus is usually meat, unless it's on seafood. See the recent thread on Islas Marias. There are also several seafood specialists in La Villita and across the street from Nuevo Leon is the seafood restaurant Playa Azul (I haven't been there in more than a decade so can offer no opinion).

Antonius

Take a look at some of the mariscos offerings at La Oaxaqueña

I'm particularly partial to the pulpo y ajo appetizer and they have plenty of nice shrimp dishes (a very spicy and smoky chipotle Camarones Diablo comes to mind).

I've also enjoyed the ceviche and the whole snapper at El Barco, but opinions are widely varied at El Barco. It does not have as wide of a community support as La Oax.

(Taqueria) La Oaxaqueña
3382 N. Milwaukee
773-545-858

El Barco
1035 N Ashland Ave
Chicago, IL 60622
773-486-6850

Best,
Michael / EC

Taqueria El Gallo on about Montrose and Drake serves up a pretty tasty cactus and potato gordita. I think it was annieb who first pointed out this particular offering. I'm not sure how widely available such a dish is around town.

Recent discussions of La Oaxaquena have mentioned their seafood:

http://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.ph ... =oaxaquena

They also have a few vegetarian options including a monstrous salad with cactus and cheese enchiladas with either mole or a green salsa (both of which are very good).

Taqueria Puebla of the much lauded cemita offers a cheese cemita and perhaps another vegetarian option or two in their inimitable atmosphere of walls collaged with images of mexican wrestlers, buxom swimsuit models, and soccer stars.

Dona Lois on North Clark has a handful of vegetarian options including I believe three different quessadillas - mushroom (maybe with potato ... I can't recall), squash blossom, and huitlacoche. There is an ostioneria, Playa Azul, next door for some seafood options.

Islas Maria has much too offer in the seafood category.

I also highly recommend the vans parked on Washtenaw at the intersection with Milwaukee every saturday and sunday morning. They have several options that would fit the bill - potato sopes (not really sopes ... I think they're called pinchos), excellent ceviche tacos, several interesting corn based soups/beverages, and several tamales (one with jalapenos and cheese and a sweet variety). Try one of everything you can and it'll only set you back $5 -$10.

Out_

rien

If you go to Taqueria el Gallo, try also the salad that I think they call pico de gallo. It's not like what you usually think of as pico de gallo, but more of a salad with I think avocado on top and fresh chopped peppers. It's HOT, but good hot.

Also in the Mexican vein, pupusas made without meat (beans, cheese, etc) at various places around town are a good route. A friend who lived in Guatemala has taken me to a place that I can only vaguely place, somewhere in the diversey-fullerton-pulaski area that was excellent. PM me and I'll find more details.

There's kinda one sticky point - lard.

I can't really verify that some of the things below don't really contain lard, and to be honest, I don't really want to know

See, my wife's veggie, but more of the don't ask don't tell variety, and I'd rather not be in the ethical quandary of witholding pork based information

that being said, a number of her favorite places have been mentioned: AnnieB's find of the potato gordita at el gallo

My wife really, really enjoyed the enchiladas potosinos at kappy's (thanks A&A), since then I've been told by that they ealso make a tlacayo de habas (fava beans)

Oaxaquena, but since she doesn't include seafood in her repertoire for their chile relleno, which are ancho chiles

huaraches de rajas and sope de hongos at quesadillas dona lolis

and some of the picaditas from the vans near marianao

Wow!

Thanks to you, LTHForum, I'll be eating high on the hog ( , yeah that was bad) from now on. I can't wait to try all of these places.

Thanks to everyone who's helping me get out of shape in time for summer.

vegmojo

This is my only experience with cuitlacoche...page all the way down for the details, but the rest is mighty entertaining, if I do say so myself.

http://www.thesneeze.com/mt-archives/ca ... eat_it.php

Glad you got some good references!

Christine