Back in the 70s it was easy to order your Mexican food from Don Jose, it came down to two choices: chicken or beef?

But today you can stop by any whole-in-the-wall mexican restaurant and expect enough choices to keep you busy for at least a few minutes. Based on a recent informal poll, I’d say the most popular choices for meat are:

• Carne Asada
• Carnitas
• Al Pastor
• Fish
• Chicken (some things never change)

And while you can snag the occasional tacos with cabeza, chicharron, or even lengua, there is one style of meat I rarely see on a menu, and that should change.

The barbacoa taco at La Puerta in Brea  (located just east of the 57 and between Imperial HWY and Lambert Street) is just the latest example of barbacoa being a challenger for best taco filling.

Somewhere between the almost too moist guisado, and the almost too chewy carne asada, lies the something smells good and has been cooking for hours barbacoa. The version at La Puerta is smoky, spicy, and offset perfectly by a fresh salsa verde.

Barbacoa… let’s all dream of a future with this wonderful choice on every menu.