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Though I don’t mind because after one bite I’m back in that little restaurant on Navigation where the beef is juicy, the tortillas are soft and the green sauce is plentiful. So yes, technically these aren’t true tacos al carbon (they’re more like tacos a la plancha, which means tacos of the griddle). But if I get my cast-iron skillet hot enough and then slide my steak under the broiler, I get a nice charred crust that’s almost as good as what I could get on a grill. Now, I live in a small apartment without any outdoor space so there’s no cooking over coal for me. (Or perhaps I prefer tacos al carbon because when I was a waitress in college, I burned myself on the sizzling fajita skillet one too many times!) But no matter how you serve it, it’s hard to resist a fresh flour tortilla wrapped around succulent beef so flavorful you can eat the two together unadorned. Sure, fajitas are quite the spectacle, but sometimes you crave a more refined presentation. Small differences aside, I still prefer tacos al carbon to fajitas. While I believe this is the main difference, but even for me, it’s a bit of a semantic stretch. And unlike fajitas, the tacos are already made instead of being a do-it-yourself affair. Tacos al carbon, however, can be made with any type of meat, not just the traditional skirt steak. And yes, you can make fajitas, the dish, out of shrimp or chicken, but since the word itself refers to the cut of beef, technically those renditions should be called something else. The meat is often marinated and then grilled or griddled, and it’s served with a prescribed array of condiments such as guacamole, pico de gallo, sour cream, and a stack of flour tortillas, all used to roll your own tacos. Fajitas, which translates to little belts, are traditionally made with the tough diaphragm cut of beef known as skirt steak, which is long and narrow, indeed like a belt (though not so much like a skirt, strangely enough). As I understand it, the difference between fajitas and tacos al carbon is very little. But in Texas tacos al carbon came to mean one thing: cuts of grilled beef, nestled in a fluffy flour tortilla.īut wait, isn’t that a fajita? Now, this is where it gets confusing. If you have tacos al carbon in Mexico, you will indeed find a variety of meats wrapped in either corn or flour tortillas depending on where you are geographically. The term al carbon is the Spanish phrase for cooking over coal, so you should expect grilled meats inside a tortilla. Tacos al carbon became a defining characteristic of Houston Tex-Mex Ninfa Laurenzo-of the eponymous Ninfa’s-made them her signature dish and as with her green sauce, many Houston Mexican restaurants soon added these tacos to their menus as well. If you were in Houston in the 1980s, it was hard to escape the ubiquitous tacos al carbon. Make sure to follow them on instagram vist their website at. You can’t go wrong with Don Carbon! Ciao for now! All of this for only $10! Most of us could feed two with this plate. It was well presented with cute little dixie cups with the salsa and they had SQUARE tortillas! Very unique and very eye catching. It was like a mini parrillada (spanish for a grilled dish). And the portion size…O-M-G! I couldn’t finish the plate by myself.

Let me just say, DELICIOUS! The steak was tender and juicy, not too salty, the charros (beans for those of you not in the know) had the right amount of onions, and the baked potato was baked to perfection! I personally hate when parts of the ‘baked’ potato are still raw. My only complaint, because this is a review after all, is that the cashier needed to smile. They grabbed some brooms and made sure the outside was just as presentable as the inside. I enjoyed that the employees take pride in their restaurant. That should tell you how good this place is. By this time the restaurant had died down but the drive thru was insane! At one point there were 6 cars waiting. They were moderately busy and I stayed for roughly 45 minutes. What a clever name! I went around 3ish on a Thursday. Only place I’ve seen with square tortillas.Īccessibility: Super easy place to find right off of I-10.ĭon Carbon, yes, C-A-R-B-O-N. Salsa roja was not too hot just the right amount. Charro beans were not too salty which is good and has a spicy kick to it which I love.

Taste: Taste- potato baked to perfection, not undercooked.