La Hacienda Market

After leaving AZ I’ve been craving real Mexican food not Tex mex and I have found the place for al pastor!
My heart is so very happy to finally have some legit street tacos.

Rhttp://www.yelp.com/biz/its-a-grind-austin-2http://www.yelp.com/biz/its-a-grind-austin-2

I come here at least once a week and Im absolutely in love with this place. Great meat market in the back and the best place to shop for Mexican groceries. But what I can’t get enough of is the stand in the front, pupusas, gorditas, tortas, tacos, menudo, I just can get enough of it. The barbacoa was quite dry this morning but everything is usually off the chain.

Driving home after a nice swim, it’s 8:30p and I’m famished. I call a friend who tells me she just had some awesome lamb tacos w/​avocado at La Hacienda for lunch today, and it cost her a buck fifty each. OMG — a buck fifty for a lamb taco w/​a slice of avocado? Detour executed and I’m there.
As soon as I get out of the car I am immediately approached by a lady who wants to sell me her tamales. She speaks no English, I speak no Spanish, so we’re lost in translation. «I’m here for lamb tacos» I say, yet taking the Energizer Bunny route she keeps trying to push me to buy her tamales. «I’m GOING THERE TO BUY LAMB TACOS!!» as I pointed in the opposite direction. I finally tell her I’ll be back, and she obliges. Whew!
I walk in and the process looks familiar — go around to register first and put in your order and pay, then head to the food area and they’ll make your order. The layout and flow is convoluted, the food bar is there when you walk in but you have to walk all the way around because it’s blocked off. That’s the 2^nd barrier I’ve had to deal with so far and I don’t need another barrier to get to lamb, the Tamale Parking Lot Lady was enough already.
I ask if they have lamb and here’s barrier #3, we are again lost in translation. At this point I proceed to slap myself in the face and think «WTF did you take 2 yrs of French in HS and end up in TX where it’s 50% Spanish speaking??». Qué idiota! Luckily a nice bilingual Security Guard is present and helps facilitate w/​the communication. I pay $ 3.25 and my journey continues.
$ 3.25 for 2 lamb tacos w/​cliantro + onion on corn tortillas. She gave me plenty of lamb, then handed me the plate w/​o any avocado. No more speaking or lost in translation, I’m resorting to hand signals now, so I point to the avocado. She cuts it open and slices a generous portion for each taco. Wow — — so now I’m thinking if this store was in a different neighborhood w/​people who spoke perfect English, I would have likely been up-​charged at least $ 0.50 for each avocado slice. But in this case, it’s all good in the La Hacienda hood, I thank her and take a seat.
But alas, as I get ready to take a bite I hear «excuse me, sir?». Oh geez, now what, is this Tamale Parking Lot Lady’s husband??. No — it’s barrier #4, the handyman. He’s on a ladder close by and up in the ceiling. He says I should probably move because he doesn’t want ceiling insulation to fall into my food. Um, yeah, insulation sprinkled on my tacos is not a good combination — muchas gracias!
I get up and walk all the way around to the other seating area and I find 3 sauces there: dark red is pungent but very tasty; light red is hot, and a lovely green salsa that’s so damn good. I finally take a bite and they were awesome, the lamb was on the salty side but still flavorful. My appetite is satisfied for $ 3.25. WTF is this, 1995?
I call my Spanish speaking friend and ask her for some translation assistance, I hang up and tell the cook: «Sus tacos son deliciosos!!». She responds w/​half a smile and gives me this «crazy-stupid-white-man-we-close-in-20-min-I’m-damn-busy-look». Oh well, I think she got the point, I was happy. I walk out to my car ready to do another bilingual battle but to no avail, the Tamale Parking Lot Lady had disappeared. Cool beans!
Oh what a night.

Simple place. Good choice of Mexican vegetables and products. I went to this particular Mexican market for one reason: the fajitas marinadas. I had heard that they were exceptional. It’s true. I took the beautiful red, dry-​marinated skirt meat home and grilled it up. It was so tender and flavorful.
If you are doing fajitas at home and want to ensure deliciousness, head to the meat counter at La Hacienda.

La Hacienda– this little place although smaller than its competition La Michoacana across the street; it does a great job of holding its own. The meat department there is a little small but they still have a pretty decent selection and the guys there are really good at getting your meat needs met– they also have a number dispenser to avoid any issues– yay! Tuesdays are great at this place because almost all of their produce is on sale-(martes de tiangis) great prices! They have a better selection with more variety and quality. La hacienda is a little darker and smaller but its very reminiscent of «fruterias» (little grocery markets) on the border. You can also find the little tiny tortillas for Mexican style tacos– they’re awesome! They have a good food counter there as well and they have a system that runs slightly different from its competition. This place gets extra points for the roasted corn stand right outside the door!