El Globo Restaurante: Wtf is a corn smut?

Om Nomz Hero note to Self: Sometimes, things lost in translation turn out perfectly fine.

In my recent taco adventure into Queens, after getting my Al pastor fix from Tortilleria Nixtamal, I will still craving tacos. Sure 2 tacos maybe enough for some people, but I am not like most people. I remember back in day when I went to summer camp, we had a stay late and the dinner the one time was tacos. I remember at the tender (fat) age of 13 I devoured 10 tacos. So two tacos were not going to hold me over and right around the corner from the Tortilleria was El Globo Restaurante. 

El Globo does not look like a place that you would think would have great tacos, based solely on appearance; it looks more like a place that I can pick up a dime bag and a case of Hep B. I went there around noon and the inside was dark, dank and industrial cans of Goya beans lined the one wall. Walking in, I was given the stare down by the other clientele, all of Latin descent. It was not a hostile look, it was more like, “you look lost, Flushing is at least 5 more stops down” kind of look. Most that walk in here would immediately turn around and walks away but that would be a mistake on their part. Those that do turn and walk out must have missed the delicious cauldron, a holding tank of miscellaneous cuts and bits of meat. 

Cauldron of various meats

After taking a seat at the end at one of their 3 long communal tables I immediately started ordering. I cannot stress enough how bad my Spanish is. It is survivable Spanish that I learned in High School which in real world application, means jack shit. However, as bad as my Spanish is, I do know some useful Spanish, specifically food and animal anatomy, concentration on pig anatomy. After much bantering between me and the waitress, which only spoke Spanish, I did not even attempt any English; I ended up with two tacos and a quesadilla. 

Tacos and Corn Smut after jump!

 I knew basically what I wanted and I knew I needed to get the barbacoa, which is stewed goat meat. Although I was trying to get a tongue taco, (lengua) or tripe (tripa) they did not have any of these that day so after much discussion, only about maybe a little over 50% closer to 60% I clearly understood, I settle on oreja (ear). According to her, this was a lot of food but I confidently told her,”tengo hambre” so she giggled and put my tacos and got started on my tacos and quesadilla. Another reason why El Globo is a not miss eatery is that they are also making their tortillas fresh as well, taking balls of masa, giving it a treatment in the tortilla press and griddling it. 

Barbacoa

The first to come out were the tacos and they came out one at a time. The first was the barbacoa which is slow roasted goat. The goat was moist and bits of fat aided the moistness factor. The flavors of the goat were not lost by any means and had a nice gamey taste to them. Due to a slight language barrier/translation error/straight up mistake I did not get an oreja taco. Instead, I was surprised with a cuerito taco or pork skin. The skin is not like crackling rather it is stewed and braised until the skin is tender. The texture of the skin is slightly squishy and gelatinous but it is remarkable of how much pork flavor comes through. Most right now are thinking that this is a stint of Bizarre Foods but this is not bizarre at all and really good. The texture of skin throws people off but I do not think it is any weirder than eating say jello. Heck, at least the color is natural in skin.

Pig skin taco!

The tacos were hefty; they were not like the cheapo tacos with a scoop of filling and a salad on top. These tacos were minimally dressed and packed with meat goodness. Following suit was the quesadilla which I got with huitlacoche. Huitlacoche is a corn fungus that grows on the ears of corn and I realize this does not sound appetizing at all, just think of it as corn mushroom. The result of a huitlacoche quesadilla was a crispy tortilla packed with a deep purple mush that had some cojita cheese. Biting into this quesadilla I instantly realized why huitlacoche is considered a delicacy. The huitlacoche had the fungal, earthiness taste that you get when eating a fresh mushroom but had a underlying sweetness of corn adding to the complexity of flavors. The addition of caramelized onions added a savory depth to the quesadilla. The texture was similar to mushrooms and reminds me of the Chinese white mushrooms or tree ear mushrooms in which they had a slight bite, a bit of a crunch to them. 

Huge Quesadilla filled with Huitlacoche

Inside of the quesadilla

I want to say something cliché like this is a true authentic Mexican taco but I have never been to Mexico. El Globo has “normal” foods like steak, chicken and chorizo but I would suggest trying the offal cuts. Although sometimes it seems like eating offal cuts seems like a hipster-daredevil coolness merit badge, I truly like eating the offal cuts because first off for the simple fact that it taste good and being Asian, a lot of these cuts are ones that I have grown up with and I find them tasty. I do not have an elitist demeanor and scoff at the fact that one does not enjoy sweetbreads, tongue and other bits, I only ask to keep an open mind and try these cuts. Also anybody can cook and grill chicken and steak right with half a brain and make it taste good cooking barbacoa and the other cuts to tender perfection and coaxing out amazing flavors takes care and skill. 

Overworked tortilla press- good sign

El Globo Restaurante
2-13 102 Street
Corona Queens, NY 11368