taco heard round the world

Durham taco culture is booming:

New York Times, "36 Hours in Research Triangle Park"
(See Item 6)

La Vaquita was also featured in Gourmet magazine a year or so ago. The mole is to die for; I've heard raves about the pollo de crema and the flan. I hope all that publicity means they will never close. Little known fact: you can call your order in.


Photo credit: Lisa Brockmeier

I still mourn the de facto end of El Paraiso, on Alston Ave., which used to be run by that lady and her daughters who appear to have moved on. In the kitchen, she always had a giant bowl of masa dough from which she crafted all her various delicacies by hand. I've never had an empañada that was so light and crisp, so absent of dull, residual grease despite being fried. Heaven.

Last I was there, an interloper was selling only tacos, and those made with store-bought tortillas. Pirata! Someone has told me since that the wonderful, random murals on the bunker-like concrete structure have been painted over; no more floating Corona bottles on an electric lime-green background. I guess it's really over.

So, what's missing from your "36 Hours" list?

Heavy: Chano

Today is a heavy anniversary: 60 years to the day of the murder of Chano Pozo, the Cuban conguero who molded Dizzy Gillespie's Afro-Cuban jazz style with landmark tunes like "Manteca." Chano was shot down over a drug dispute in a New York bar, El Rio, on Dec. 2, 1948. He was 33, and dancing to music on the jukebox at the time.

Local factoid: Chano's drums were once stolen on a tour stopover in Raleigh, NC! As a Cuban poet friend of mine once commented, maybe they are still echoing around here somewhere...



Above: clip from the 1991 documentary Routes of Rhythm, narrated by Harry Belafonte, that features Dizzy telling how he met up with Chano, and some background on Chano's biography.

More Backstory: Chano Pozo entry with biographical facts and discography at AllAboutJazz.com.

Thanks for the history tip to DJ Arturo "Marcané" Gomez at KUVO-Denver, where you can hear him regularly host jazz and Latin jazz programming, and yes, even dish up his favorite paella recipes.