You're either in or you're out with menudo. The flavorful soup, usually only available on weekends, is a traditional Mexican hangover remedy. I can't speak to that, but I can tell you that it was what introduced me to tripe years and years ago. There are other flavors dancing around in menudo and perhaps that's what would ease the introduction, but for me, it was an immediate hit.
When I got back from Italy, I was ready for some Mexican food and found myself driving down Woodson Road. Taqueria La Pasadita it would be. My lengua taco was soft and tender, nice enough, but my taco with chicharrones was wonderful if deeply sinful, a smoky red sauce holding small pieces of skin that had been cooked, obviously, for hours and hours until they were nothing but soft succulence. The chopped onion gave a little different texture beyond the very slight chewiness of the meat. I thought that would be the high spot of the meal.
But no. It was the menudo. This is a fairly simple version, without an elaborate platter of various things to stir in as desired, just more of the chopped white onion and the ubiquitous lime wedges, plus hot corn tortillas so corny they were almost sweet. And it was hot enough. Menudo is always hot enough. Why is it that some cloth-napkin spots can't serve soup hot and this, uh, deeply casual spot in an old Taco Bell, as well as all its cousins, can?
Instead of small pieces of pork, there was a good-sized piece of pork knuckle in there. With marrow. And bits of marrow floating around in the menudo. Normally, the liquid in menudo is clear but far more rich than it gives visual evidence of. In this case, the richness exceeded known boundaries. This is the sort of dish that draws chefs on their days off. (The more so, now that they have a liquor license for beer.) It was so rich, I took half home, along with the bone to explore its depths further. Good stuff.
I didn't see it on the menu or on the handwritten signs by the counter, just asked if they had it, since it was a Saturday. Good guess.
Taqueria la Pasadita
2336 Woodson Rd., Overland
314-428-3832
Lunch & Dinner nightly
Credit cards: Yes
Wheelchair access: Poor