First Mexican Taco Stand Ever to Win a Michelin Star Proves Sometimes Less is Mas

First Mexican Taco Stand Ever to Win a Michelin Star Proves Sometimes Less is Mas

In cooking, less is often more, and no instance of such a maxim could better prove its veracity than a tiny Mexican taco stand being awarded a coveted Michelin Star.

With just 4 items on the menu, and room inside for just 11 people to eat shoulder-to-shoulder, Taquería El Califa de Leon in the Colonia San Rafael neighborhood of Mexico City has thousands of competitor across the city.

But in the first Michelin guide of Mexico ever published, Chef Arturo Rivera Martínez proved that quality surpasses quantity, and becomes the first taco stand owner to receive the Michelin Star, which indicates “high quality, worth a stop.”

“The secret is the simplicity of our taco,” Rivera Martínez told the Associated Press. “It has only a tortilla, red or green sauce, and that’s it. That, and the quality of the meat.”

Much like pizza and its dough, the quality of a taco starts with the quality of the tortilla, which the Michelin guide claims to be “excellent… elemental, and pure.”

“This taqueria may be bare bones with just enough room for a handful of diners to stand at the counter but its creation, the Gaonera taco, is exceptional,” reads a statement on the Michelin Guide website.

The taco is supposedly named after a famous Mexican bullfighter, Rodolfo Gaonera.

Beyond the tortilla and the thinly sliced meat, seasoned only with salt and lime, the two home-made sauces were described by the Michelin guide as “almost unnecessary” in comparison to the flavor of the other two components.

Mexico has firmly established itself among the pantheon of great food nations. Possessing a variety of traditional and immigrant cultures, often happily blended, and a variety of biomes that permit the cultivation of a wide-variety of produce, it has all the elements needed to create gastro-gold.

SIMILAR STORIES: Playful Competition Brings Together Muslims and Non-Muslims Over Street Vendor’s Ramadan Snack

“What a joy it is to honor the uniqueness of the Mexican gastronomic landscape in Mexico City,” Gwendal Poullennec, International Director of the Michelin Guides, said in a statement.

MEXICO IS AWESOME: No Alcohol, No Cover, No Judging: Inside Mexico City’s Free Dance Parties

“The first and very promising selection is an an illustration of how the country is showcasing its regions, with their cultures and traditions that are as distinctive as they are distinguishable.”