Maxwell's Rubi’s and Manolo’s: What’s the Difference?
Rubi’s and Manolo’s share conjoined tents at Maxwell Street: Rubi’s to the south, Manolo’s to the north. They both make their tortillas on-the-spot and they both grill their meat in what seems to be the same way. Their menus are virtually the same. Here’s Rubi’s (with all pix, click to enlarge):
And here’s Manolo’s.
For the sharp of eye, you can see that Manolo’s is less expensive by a considerable factor: for instance, $1.50 for a carne asada taco vs. $2.50.
So today, The Wife and I did a back-to-back tasting. Wouldn’t you know it, the cheaper Manolo’s came out ahead by a hair (“Better seasoning,” quipped The Wife, “though it could be just more salt.”)
Anyhow, the comparison is so close, that for the foreseeable future, my choice will be Manolo’s, which also has the signal advantage of being home to the Masa Madonna (I could not snap Her image, her countenance was fierce, her holiness inviolate, her concentration focused on but one thing: the perfection of the tortilla, hecho a mano).
Incidentally, the strawberry tamales at Oaxaca Tamal are using a different forumulation (much less synthetic and containing chunks of strawberry).
Big bargains on the street today: 11 pounds of Peruvian asparagus for $5.00 and 40 Fuji apples for $7.00 at the spread-out place just north of Roosevelt:
The Wife also bought some smoked paprika (about 4 bucks for 4 ounces) from The Spice Lady, who today was accompanied by Son of Spice:
For bargain tamales, and really very good ones at that, I recommend the nameless place between Taylor and Roosevelt, usually on the east side of the street, in hoc signo vinces:
Never a market so real…and today was transcendental (or maybe I was still hallucinating from an earlier 10K run).
"Don't you ever underestimate the power of a female." Bootsy Collins