Characteristics of a taqueria

The majority of (American) taquerias that i have been to have a certain number of characteristics in common. They are in no particular order, and no one is a guarantee if quality, rather an indication of authenticity. If a recipe is to bear a traditional name than it should be carried out in the traditional manner, otherwise it is only being incorrectly renamed or falsely executed.

1) Television that is turned up too loud, sometimes reaching uncomfortable volumes. Most commonly showing Telemundo or something to that effect, news, sport (soccer), soaps, etc.

2)Radio that is turned up way too loud, sometimes in addition to the television.

3)Paint job is bright, clashing, and has a "do it yourself" feel to it. In fewer instances the paint job is more elaborate and quite nice, including murals or painted furniture; some regions have stronger painting cultures than others. In either case, colors are bright, plentiful, and brilliant.

4)Spanish speaking is always preferred for every reason, and i mean every one on staff.

5)On site production of key ingredients. A restaurant attached to a tienda may have access to a butcher, bakery, tortillaria, etc. Many places make their own tortillas though they are not tiendas; pay attention to what is produced on the spot; is the cream made fresh or is it out of a can? That stuff out of the can kind of scares me. Do they make their own chips? Grind the spices fresh? Make and then refry the beans? Produce more than the two standard salsas?

6)If the salsa is not hot then there aint much to talk about. I am not talking about blindly hot either because a good salsa does not have to be so, it drowns the flavor of the chile in many instances. On the other hand salsa should not taste like pasta sauce as it does at pretty much every main street gringo attraction, black pepper should not be the hottest ingredient. I always dig the salsa bar when there is one. Availability of chiles is the main limitation of this geography.

7)Family run, mom and pop plus other generations on hand is always comforting.

8)Decorations that could be considered a bit tacky. Too many objects on the walls perhaps. A beautiful mural with a corona add right on top of it maybe. Funny things like bunches of fake garlic or chiles strung about. The strange decor usually creates a cozy homelike atmosphere perhaps due to its imperfection. The occasional taqueria is the opposite, it will be well painted, walls and benches with murals and detail, a truly nice and colorful atmosphere.