The Taco in the Rough

Photo of San Marcos by Brittani Gonzalez of BrittaniPhotography.com

If there is one thing a drunk monkey knows it is hangovers and with that comes the search for hangover cures. A commonly boasted quick fix to that dilemma in the Mexican American community is Menudo, the soup not the band, those prepubescent kids get me feeling more nauseous than any amount of drinks from the night before.  On my quest to cure my early Cinco de Mayo celebrations I went with the hair of the dog approach, but instead of battling beer with beer it was Mexican with Mexican. On the journey to find such a worthy warrior to tame this  tequila and tamales tortured tummy I found a mini food heaven that made me forget why I ventured out there in the first place.

San Marcos is a small Mexican American grocery store located close to the downtown area of Toledo, Ohio it doesn’t really stick out and if I wasn’t advised to check it out I probably would have simply passed it by and never known of it. If you are lucky and time it just right, you’ll walk in to the fresh scent of pan dulce – a Mexican sweet bread pastry that will get your mouth watering from first sniff. Alas, you need to push past the sweets because the real meal awaits and besides you can always grab some sweets to go on the way out.

I sat down at the booth with my Inca Kola and ordered up a meal of tacos, the likes of which no monkey has ever enjoyed before. I ordered up a mixture of six tacos with carne asada, barbacoa, pollo, al pastor and more what does all that mean I don’t know exactly but I think it has something to do with yummy. I also had some delicious menudo on the side which costs around $15 total and was plenty more than I needed and could eat in one day. I’m no Mexican food expert but I dare say this is the best Mexican food I’ve ever had in the US, and I’m not the only one to think this because this place was packed, a whole fire truck with about a dozen firefighters arrived as I was coming out.

This food reminded me of meals that I’ve enjoyed in Nuevo Progresso, Mexico which provided great street food that could match the best Mexican restaurants that I’ve eaten at in Las Angelas or Houston. If you find your way to this north west corner of Ohio I highly recommend that you make your way to San Marcos and check out this fantastic grocery store with it’s delicious food counter. As for the hangover, it gave way to a food coma in my failed attempt to eat the whole meal myself. Enjoy your Cinco de Mayo – I know I will, Ole!

San Marcos

Phone: (419) 244-2373

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