Steph C.
Yelp
I went to Tacos Don Juan for a taco snack before a lunch reservation one Monday a few weeks back. It was a noon snack of three tacos, so it was really more of a full first lunch--but hey, it was my last day in Mexico City. I'd actually made one prior attempt to snack at Don Juan, going so far as to walk to the storefront to find it closed during a Saturday stroll in La Condesa (I guess it closes sometime in the afternoon). I'm glad I made a point of going back. These tacos were ridiculous.
Tacos Don Juan is a hole in the wall where you order your tacos and eat them sitting or standing right outside, juices pouring down your face and wrists. Service is brisk and polite (the servers speak enough English that they defaulted to it with me, even though I swear one of the only things I can reliably do in Spanish is order tacos). There was a line when I went, but it moved fast enough that I barely had time to decide what to get by the time my turn was up. The tacos came on plastic-wrapped plates for easy clean-up. I think I paid after I ate.
I got three tacos: the suadero with longanisa sausage, the entomatado de res, and the carnitas. They were pretty big, with plenty of meat and choice of rice or beans, served on double layers of soft corn tortillas. There was a salsa bar with a great hot salsa and avocado salsa, as well as some roasted peppers and tiny limes. The suadero was my favorite of the meats. I'd never had this before, but it's apparently a thin cut of pork or beef (I don't know which they serve here) taken from between the belly and the leg--sounds a lot like groin or grundle to me, but whatever, it was delicious, as was the flavorful sausage. It came with onion and cilantro, and I opted for rice over beans. The entomatado de res was a stewy beef and tomato taco, which I got with beans. Rich, savory, and delightfully wet. The only disappointment was the carnitas taco, and only because I'm pretty sure it was not a carnitas taco. If it was, it was the most organy chewy carnitas I've ever had, but like, it was for sure from deep inside whatever animal it came from. Not bad, for organ meat, but not what I was expecting or in the mood for at that particular time. I only had a couple of bites, which was probably for the best, what with my huge second lunch coming in half an hour.
I spent five days in Mexico City, and I actually ended up having worse tacos, on average, than I do in L.A., where I know exactly where to go. I'm glad I tried Tacos Don Juan on my last day in town. It was outstanding, the suadero and longanisa one of the best tacos I've ever had. I'd come back again and again if I lived in CDMX.