Ryan B.
Yelp
Continuing my pursuit of finding Portland's greatest tacos al pastor I had to give Tight Tacos a fair shake. One look at their Instagram page and it is clear that these guys know what they are doing and have a passion for tacos and Mexicali style street food.
The main picture Tight Tacos posted some time ago that sucked me in and guaranteed that I would patronize their establishment was a picture of a trompo (or spit) of al pastor. I am only aware of a few taquerias in the area who use a trompo for making pastor, but alas I was a little sad to learn that they only use their trompo on rare occasion.
I'll start with what I enjoyed most about the taco. Perhaps the best part of these tacos was the hand made tortillas they came served on. They held together nicely, had a great flavor and texture. Not enough taquerias utilize hand making tortillas but it is one thing that clearly separates the best taquerias from the basic ones. The tortilla from Tight Tacos merits 5 stars.
The taco came topped with freshly diced white onions and a conservative portion of cilantro (I love cilantro and would have personally loved much more, but to each their own).
Lastly for toppings was the piña- a must for legit tacos al pastor! While I was very happy the tacos came with pineapple, it was kind of disappointing that they chose to use canned pineapple. It made me think, if you're going to go through the labor of love to make tortillas by hand, why not make the extra effort to use fresh pineapple? It could make a world of difference to these tacos in my opinion.
Now to the meat of it: the pastor. The pork was quite a bit more spicy/hot than most of the pastor I am accustomed to. I didn't mind the level of heat, but I was not expecting it. So if you have a low threshold for heat, this might not be the pastor you are looking for. I did enjoy it however. There was a very generous portion of meat on every taco, bordering on too much meat. The pork itself was good but a little on the chewy side. I love my pastor a touch more crunchy. The flavor of the pastor marinade came across as a little smoky like ancho chile. I'd give the pastor meat and marinade a solid 3.5 stars.
The salsas that came with the tacos were quite tasty, one cup of salsa verde, and one cup of salsa roja. They were both quite tasty with my preference leaning towards the roja, which is odd because I typically prefer verde.
All in all, I think there is a lot of potential here. I'd love to try their al pastor prepared on a trompo. I'm not sure however that the al pastor is Tight Tacos crown jewel. Based on their photos, their carnitas looks like they might be the star of the menu. I'll have to give them a shot next time. Portland is very much a carnitas town but I wish more taco carts specialized in al pastor. As far as al pastor in Portland is concerned, Tight Tacos makes a pretty solid offering, but has some work to do to meet the standard I've become accustomed to in Salt Lake City, Southern California, and obviously...Mexico.
Lastly, I will say, that while the ingredients were fresh, the tortillas stellar, and the size of the tacos great...$4 per taco is a little steep even for a brick and mortar joint. I'd be a lot more inclined to patronize this taqueria more frequently if the prices were a little more in line with other taquerias in town of equal quality.