Speed Round – Taqueria Monte Alban

On our way home from our Buffalo experiences Saturday over Labor Day weekend we made a stop off in Medina to try one of the very few true taquerias in the WNY area. Taqueria Monte Alban is located on Rt 31 in a permanent trailer next to the affiliated Mexican grocery store and they specialize in tacos and tortas instead of the typical Mexican American fare. There are a few tables outside and a nice seating area on the side of the store with a TV trained on a Spanish station and drink cooler full of Mexican Coke and Jarritos bottles floating in ice. We ended up eating our meal in there since all the tables outside were occupied by people during the post work dinner rush.

That day they had chicken, beef, al pastor and chorizo meats available and we got 6 total tacos to split between the two of us along with a Tamarindo Jarritos pop from the cooler. From what I read on the Nittany Epicurean blog out of Buffalo, they often have some of the more exotic meats like lengua and cabeza but the day we were there were only those four selections. The meats were loaded on small single wrapped corn tortillas that were a bit on the tough/dense side for us and topped with fresh white onions and cilantro which is exactly how I like them. All the meats were well salted and cooked well done although lacking some of those high end browned flavors and crispness I look for in the best tacos.

My personal favorite was the chorizo which was spicy and chock full of paprika followed closely by the al pastor that was just a touch sweet and in reasonable sized chunks. Both the beef and chicken needed the supplied tomatillo salsa verde and lime squeeze to accent the meat. Even with the faults I mentioned, we really enjoyed our tacos and you can’t beat $9 for 6 tacos and a drink!

We also made a quick stop into the store to see what they had and although the store was pretty large, the selection was a bit less than Lorenzo’s Mexican Products in Brockport. They did still have a bunch of hot sauces and a large chill cases with tortillas, cheeses and a good variety of packaged meats.

We’ll be coming back again to try one of their tortas and hope that the have some tongue and head meat on the menu next time.

P.S. We also noticed another smaller taco stand a little bit up the road (didn’t get their name though) toward Rochester so we might double dip next time to try them both!