Charlie's Tacos (Okinawa)
I have time on my hands, so I am seeking to satisfy my own taste for stuff. This means that I am after iconic foods from where I have been. An iconic food is food that you go for, before you do anything else, when you arrive in a city.
In 1975, I spent some great times in Okinawa (Kadena AFB), working on the SR-71 (Habu baby!). Just outside of gate 2, there was an iconic taco joint that had been there since the mid-50s, Charlie's Tacos. This place was the place to go, for everyone. Charlie made these wonderful, tiny tacos, that each person would eat, 10-15 at a sitting. The walls were papered with hand-made boasts, as to how many tacos, and how many Orion beers were consumed, by how many people. Charlie supplied the paper and colored pencils for the boasts. I still get a taste for those tacos, even unto today. I decided to see what I could do to replicate them, since I will not likely get back to Okinawa any time soon.
Charlie's taco shells were made from rice tortillas. I found some brown rice tortillas at Trader Joe's that fill the bill nicely, but I have to cut 3 tortillas out of each large size one (for authenticity).
The filling is pretty much traditional Tex-Mex, that has been Japan-ized just a bit. You know what? It took a few iterations, but I have gotten very close to the real thing. The traditional Tex-Mex (I'm from El Paso) filling components: onion, garlic, red chile powder, cumin powder, ground beef, tomato paste, salt, pepper. The elements that make it delectable to the Japanese palette: mirin, sake, and soy sauce.
Traditional supplements apply: lettuce, tomato chunks, cheese, etc.
Charlie's filling was appropriated by others, to make another, even more iconic Okinawan dish: Takorisu (Taco Rice), which is like an Okinawan Loco Moco: the filling I mentioned, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, on a nice bed of Japanese rice. This is enjoyed throughout Japan, these days. I know where it came from, and now, so do you.
Please note that there are 5 tacos in this plate, and I ate 5 more in this one sitting. I used to be good for more, but I am older now.
I have more iconic foods to come, such as Chico's Tacos, from El Paso, Texas, and the Lincoln Grill Loco Moco, from Hilo, Hawaii, Pat's Chili Dogs, from Tucson, Arizona...
Enjoy,
Rich P