Mexico City is so vast that there are food places that can reach legendary status and still manage to remain unknown to most people. Take the case of Carnitas El Azul in Colonia Juárez.
We had heard rumors about a place so good, Enrique Olvera – a Mexican chef who has also reached legendary status – unreservedly recommended it. However, when we asked around about it, nobody knew where it was or if it even existed. Only one friend, an expert eater, knew the hidden location of this mysterious jewel. “It’s really hard to find,” he said, promising to take us there.
The day finally arrived. We met at the Insurgentes roundabout and walked towards the northwest exit. A few dozen meters off the roundabout, on Chapultepec Avenue, hidden between street vendors and crowds of people in a hurry, was a shabby looking establishment. We had passed it before, but had never even considered stopping by.
We were greeted by a taquero at the front who was chopping up meat using a large cleaver. On the counter there was the unmistakable glass case that displayed the deep-fried pork that you can find at any respectable carnitas taqueria.
We took a seat at the back of the venue, and in a few moments a rough-looking waiter came to take our order. The place looked coarse and unkempt. Off to the side, a giant cauldron of hot oil was bubbling away, awaiting its next payload of pork. The whole scene reminded us of something out of Tolkien’s Middle Earth.
However, in a few minutes our initial impression of the place quickly changed. The taquero at the entrance was Rubén Martínez, the owner. He and his wife, Rosa Martínez, started the business 37 years ago. Despite the venue’s rough and somehow uninviting looks, Martínez and his staff turned out to be some of the nicest people we’ve met in the food business.
Originally from Veracruz, Martínez learned how to make carnitas as a young man. “I was a globetrotter,” he said, as he listed some of the many jobs he held in his youth. “I started making carnitas with my wife, and that’s what we have been doing every day for many years.” He’s a fan of Mexico’s Cruz Azul top division soccer team, and so his establishment proudly displays the team’s name and pictures of some of its most famous players on the walls.
Over the years Martínez and his wife have perfected their carnitas recipe to the point where their establishment is always busy, with carnitas fiends descending on their little joint as soon as they open at 9 a.m. for a porkified eye-opener. They prepare the meat in Michoacán style, marinating it first in orange juice and then simmering it in lard. Martínez isn’t trying to keep the place under wraps; it’s just hard to find. But still, “many chefs and people from all over the world come to my restaurant all the time,” Martínez said. “There’s even a paragraph in [the book] Tacopedia about us.” With so many places selling luscious slow-cooked pork in the city, that is quite a distinction.
After trying a taco de falda (tenderloin), we were sold. The meat was so juicy and tender that it felt like it melted in our mouths. We also tried costilla (rib), maciza (lean meat) and surtida (a little bit of every part of the pig) tacos, all of which were tender and juicy and had a slight citrus tang. Taquería El Azul only does one thing – carnitas tacos – but it does it so well that it doesn’t need any other item on its menu.
Mystery solved.
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