Dining Pick of the Week: Tacos Los Toritos

PICK OF THE WEEK:

TACOS LOS TORITOS

861 N. Nellis Blvd. at East Washington Avenue, 702-438-2255

Tacos headline here with soft or hard shells filled with beef, chicken, cabeza (beef cheek), fried pork, beef tongue, chorizo or beef tripe. There are fish tacos, veggie burritos, tostadas, nachos and combo plates (quesadilla with taco, burritos with taco) served with rice, beans and salad. However, the real specialty here is soup: caldo de res served daily; pozole on Friday, Saturday and Sunday; and menudo on Saturday and Sunday. Pozole is made from pork (pig’s head, backbone, pork shoulder) and cooked with hominy or dried corn kernels and topped with slices of lime, diced radishes, tortillas, chopped onion and shredded cabbage. Caldo de res is a Mexican beef soup/stew made with beef, bones and vegetables that’s hearty enough to be a main meal. It can also be made with chicken or fish. Menudo is a spicy traditional Mexican soup (popular cure for a hangover) with recipes handed down for generations. The secret is that tripe and calf’s foot or pig’s feet are simmered with corn and red chile sauce. Among the ice-cold fruit juices are lemon, orange, pineapple and mango. Tacos start at $1.35, and combo plates begin at $5.99. Tacos Los Toritos is open daily from 8 a.m. to midnight.

— Jack Bulavsky