Welcome to Matt Talks Tacos--an on-going romance with the world's greatest street food

Good evening friends, and welcome to Matt Talks Tacos!

My name is Matt Plughoff and I live in Phoenix, Arizona. Moved here a few years ago (work, relo) from Seattle. Now Seattle is a fine city--one of the nicest in my opinion. It's one of those cities that, were you a martian paying a quick visit, and were you to land, say, near Lake Union on a beautiful summer day, you'd immediately decide it was time to set the ship down and begin global domination. Never mind the fact that it rains terrifically much, or that fleece and wool are always in style, that The Sartorialist has it on his "worst of the worst" places to never visit, and that you're more or less destined to live a clammy, trapped existence--never mind all of that.

It's a taco wasteland.

This isn't to say that Seattle doesn't have great food. It really does. There was a time when you couldn't turn a corner without running into a really excellent Thai place, or Indian place. When the artisan pizza craze hit the country Seattle was right there (you betcha), with a couple pizza places that I'd stack up against Bianco (you know the story: years of dedication, an oven transported "brick by brick" from the mother country, a thin, wispy fella called "guisseppi" or "frank" slapping hand pressed dough and wielding his peel with dangerous precision). Seattle has Tom Douglas--local hero. It has a whole host of Asian/Fusion places that are also top notch. The Pike Place Market--world class--you have to give it that. But when it comes to the taco, well that's another story.

So Phoenix, here I am. At first I was pretty excited about the Mexican food opportunities. After all, Arizona is, like, closer to Mexico than Washington. Proximity counts for something, right? So in a rather gringo-esque manner began to scour the city looking for "authentic" Mexican food. But what did that mean? Macayos has been in Phoenix for fifty years--is THAT authentic enough? The Tee Pee has the same story. Does that count? Both places are great, and both places service the iconic melted cheese plate that I was looking to avoid. I wanted something more "street" than a historic chain. Something that captured some form of culinary populism that I expected to find. It was tough to put my finger on it for a very long time. So long, in fact, that I nearly gave up. But like most hero journeys, there is a turn of events along the way, some form of eye opening awareness.

It was Marisco Chihuahua. A run down, faded little seafood shack. I'd driven past it a hundred times. Assumed it was condemned. How pompous! But Carina was hungry and had a hankering for a seafood stew. And IT was the moment--cold seafood stew, perfectly spiced, piles of squid, oysters, shrimp. Stacks of crackers and lemon and lime wedges. Super cold beer. How had I missed this place? How had I overlooked something three blocks from my house? Arrogance? Skepticism? Both, actually. And as we slurped down the last of the broth, it dawned on me--the places, taco specific, were not "on the grid." They were being run in places that I wouldn't expect, but that were more than likely right in front of my face.

So the taco search began. Why the taco? Simple. I think it's the best representation of street food in my city. I think it also reflects a cost-effective ingenuity that's worth paying attention to. Lastly, there's a tremendous amount of variety--believe it or not, a taco is not just a taco.

Matt Talks Tacos is born out of this basic love of, and search for, the perfect street taco. I'll start in Phoenix--there's a huge variety of taco places to work from. And branch out from there. In all cases, I'll be considering the taco's finer points, talking with as many taco artists as I can, and building up a nice little taco recipe catalog along the way. I travel for work quite a bit, so I'll also get into some taco stands in and around other major cities.

Time to pay tribute to the world's greatest streetfood...!