:The:Mission:Taco:Chapter:5:Belmar "La Gallinita" Meat Market:

Dear Taco Lovers,

I must apologize for my brief blogging stint. I know its been a little while, but let me explain:

For the last month or so, I was fasting for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. During this month, one is supposed to abstain from eating and drinking while the sun is up. I've been doing this since I was 8, and it's really not as difficult as it sounds.

In an attempt to really test my willpower, I created my own list of things that I enjoy on an almost daily basis which I would attempt to entirely refrain from during the month:

• tacos
  
• smoking
• sex
• drugs (alcohol)
• Phil'z coffee

I lasted 2 days before I had a taco, and 5 days until I succumbed to forces of the others. So much for that.

What I did manage to do, however, was keep up with my actual fasting. In order to stay true to :The:Mission:Taco:, it was also necessary for me to stop reviewing tacos. You see, when you haven't eaten shit all day, the first thing that enters your mouth is by default outstandingly orgasmic. To then write a review of these automatically awesome, undeniably ¡Oh Dios Mios! tacos would be a falsity not only to :The:Mission:, but to myself and my readers as well.

With my stomach and taste buds back to regular taco schedule, I'm ready to tell you a bit about the taco stand at Belmar "La Gallinita" Meat Market (http://www.yelp.com/biz/belmar-la-gallinita-meat-market-san-francisco#hrid:Peto9IxlPA4XATPQqGcKQg/query:belmar).

Firstly, I must say that my expectations for this place were high. The taco stand is only open on the weekends, and is literally in the corner of a freaking carniceria. I'm pretty sure the meat can't get much fresher than that lest you have a farm of cows on 24th. The carne asada should be TOP quality--flavor wise and texture wise. La Gallinita just didn't cut it on this front.

Maybe it was because taco man was having an off day:

Sad taco man is sad T.T

But c'mon, give them tacos some love! It was quite peculiar--the carne asada tasted like someone literally tossed pepper on top of it. The quality of the meat was probably above average, but it was as if I sprinkled it with a pepper packet instead of a salt packet.

The corn tortillas: nothing to rave about, nothing to complain about. They were just average, and did the trick.

Two notable things: 1) You can construct the rest of your taco (onions, cilantro, and choice of salsa [don't you dare choose another color but red!]), and 2) the salsa roja is remarkably spicy and delicious. It's probably one of the spiciest salsa rojas I've ever had in life. Just take a look at the picture below and you can see the actual seeds from the red peppers sprinkled throughout:

No, this is not where "rooster sauce" comes from.

But with the exception of the red sauce, this taco just doesn't say much. Maybe I'll come back another day when taco man isn't so blue, but for now, I consider these tacos asi asi :|