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[pmcd9]

I never liked the taco reference for the no no zone either.

I had tacos for lunch today inspired by this thread. I didn't, however, take a photograph of my tacos.  I will tell you that they were quite good. 

I guess technically they were tostatas as was pointed out earlier in the thread.  Although, I dispute this because I always believed that the  main distinction between a crunchy taco and a tostata is the tostata is filled with beans and the taco with meat.

[CortJstr]

I didn't, however, take a photograph of my tacos. 

Who are you and what have you done with Paul?

[side_show]

Paul has boundaries about showing his taco in public.

[wombat]

Although, I dispute this because I always believed that the  main distinction between a crunchy taco and a tostata is the tostata is filled with beans and the taco with meat.

Paul, respectfully, you totally made that up.

I always thought if the tortilla was fried and flat, it's a tostada, and if it's fried and folded, it's a bastard American taco, and I find this interpretation to be consistent with what Choop reports from Mexicans.

[jay-ell]

Technically, since I use un-fried soft flour tortillas, mine aren't tacos so much as fajitas, right?

When my mother-in-law came here from Argentina, she was appalled that we eat "tacos." In Buenos Aires, that word apparently connotes the heel of the foot.

[pmcd9]

Paul, respectfully, you totally made that up.

Yes, because obviously living in Houston Texas I have little access to Mexicans or Mexican food.

[wombat]

And they really never put beans in a taco? Come on, don't make me go through the online menus of all the restaurants in that link.

[jay-ell]

In Paul's defense, I think he meant "meat and other stuff, including perhaps beans," and "beans in the place of meat."

That sounds reasonable to me, at least.

[theinevitable]

I didn't realize until really recently, because I had never thought about it, that when my mom says she's making "quesadillas" for dinner, we're actually eating soft tacos.

As a kid I didn't know there was a difference, and then I learned and never thought about what those things she makes actually are.

Pork loin, her INCREDIBLE salsa, cheddar. So fuck*ng good.

Now I'm confused. Maybe we always just said "we're having tortillas?"

Anyway, pork loin. Damn those things are good.

[robot_god]

You say tomato, I say tomato, lets just go to McDonalds.

[pmcd9]

I checked the wiki on tostadas and their definition fits with mine except they claim that tostadas are usually topped by meat of some sort.  In my vast experience eating Mexican food in restaurants this hasn't been the case.

For a start, the tostada is never the main feature of the meal.  That is to say, I've never seen a tostada plate.  It's always just served as one of the list of items included on a combination plate along with an enchilada and a taco, some guacamole, rice and beans.  Maybe a tamale.  I've had some variation of this meal in literally hundreds of restaurants.  And the tostada is always the same.  The flat round tortilla with a layer of refried beans topped with lettuce, tomatoes and cheese.  No meat.  If I'm wrong, I'm wrong, but so are hundreds of Mexican restaurants in Houston and many other places.

As for tacos, it's common to find refried beans in a breakfast taco, but we are talking about crispy tacos.  And by the way, this is not entirely an American invention.  The preformed and packaged taco shell is, but the idea of a deep friend crispy tortilla shell on a taco is as traditional as can be.  And I've seen tacos filled with beans too, but it was for some vegetarians that special ordered it.  I've been to many many taquerias in my lifetime and they typically have a board listing what meats they use to fill the tacos.  The list includes some offbeat choices like Lengua (tongue) (delicious btw), de cabeza (brain) (not what I was expecting, but not something I would ever want again) and tripas (tripe) (no thank you) along with the more usual choices of barbacoa, fajita, chicken, etc.  In all my experience I've never seen frijoles on the list.

But again, we are talking about crispy tex-mex tacos and I've never seen one that was filled with beans and I have been served hundreds of them.  They are almost always filled with seasoned ground beef.  Sometime In the last two decades a chicken variety has appeared.  Topped with lettuce, tomatoes and cheese. 

So really, other than the bend in the tortilla the only difference is that a taco has meat and a tostata has beans.  Again, if I'm wrong I'm wrong, but so are many many restaurants.  I believe I've surveyed a large enough cross section to say this is a universal fact.

[wombat]

You know just to throw another monkey wrench into the tortilla, the best tacos I ever had anywhere had neither meat nor beans. Just onions, cheese and peppers. There is one place in Santa Barbara that has two different tacos with fillings of onion, cheese and peppers and they don't taste the same. I don't know how they do it.

[Choop]

never had a giraffe taco, paul? you're heck of missing out.

"taco" designates as much a form factor as a range of dishes, like how the difference between a burrito and a chimichanga is in the frying. there absolutely are vegetarian tacos, available in mexico, with guacamole or refritos as the main ingredient. but you're going to have to search far and wide outside resort restaurants to find crispy tacos in mexico.

[pmcd9]

never had a giraffe taco, paul? you're heck of missing out.

I've had plenty of tacos de pescado, but never in a crispy shell.

[pmcd9]

like how the difference between a burrito and a chimichanga is in the frying.

Exactly.  A taco with beans on it or a tostada with meat on it is like calling a chimichanga a burrito.