Sometimes if you search the walls of a taqueria squeezed into an older, low rent Baton Rouge strip mall, you will find an image or two of who they wish they could be. Tables set outside on a cobbled alley overlooking the blue, blue sea, the slightly lighter shade of blue, blue sky, the wonderful greenery dripping from the whitewashed adobe storefronts with the owners living above their shops in a neighborhood of laughter and goodwill. Tacos lengua, carnitas, y camerone is fast becoming my new mantra and there is really no better place to say that to a server than La Tienda on Siegen Lane. Their tacos truly are a bridge between the sign outside with the sombrero’d chili pepper and the cactus and maraca emojis and the dreamy Baja village on the Pacific in the lovely painting on the wall within the taqueria. There are many among the it is what it is crowd who will insist that food is fuel, but I expect more than that when I visit a storefront offering breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Or high tea, or hot dogs, or someone invites me over to eat or I take the time to cook for someone. Food, human food, is meant to be a bridge between where we are and where we want to be. Always has been, always will be.
