Cazadores, 927 Rittiman Road

On a recent visit to Cazadores, a taqueria on Rittiman Road near Fort Sam Houston, the salsas saved the morning.

This happens a lot when you eat randomly at taquerias throughout San Antonio, as I’ve chosen to do on this blog with great sacrifice. Most taquerias aren’t going to wow you, and most aren’t going to give you intestinal difficulties.

Most are right down the middle, and San Antonio’s right-down-the-middle is better than the best in most cities. This stays true, I would assume, if you’re a soldier from nearby Fort Sam who might be trying Tex-Mex breakfast tacos for the first time.

For us breakfast taco experts, sometimes ho hum tacos require the hot sauce. And this is what really distinguishes Cazadores, where the tacos became conduits for the sauces.

The green was a tangy tomatillo sauce, which has been rare in S.A. to my surprise. The greens are usually grounded in serrano or jalapeno peppers. The red sauce here was a chile de arbol-based sauce that was vinegary and very good.

I kept reaching for these sauces in part because they were good, but also because the tacos were indeed right down the middle in terms of quality.

My favorite was the machacado and egg with its salty and well-seasoned dried meat. The meat was so strong that it powered through the egg and pico de gallo, which ended up being there for texture more than for additional flavor.

The egg in all of the egg tacos — I realize now that we may have gone overboard with egg-based tacos — were overcooked. But no biggie.

The egg a la Mexicana on corn was simple egg and pico. There was something store-bought about the tortilla because of its perfect shape and the way it delivered a flat flavor.

The carne guisada was dry, but tasty; simply put together in a basic stew. The bean and cheese was good beans topped with white cheese. The chorizo and papas was more mashed potatoes and dry chorizo, which is actually an indication that they’re using higher grade chorizo and not the cheap greasy stuff.

Although Cazadores was about as average as taquerias get in San Antonio, the experience did get me thinking about the role of salsas in taquerias. Should S.A. tacos be like Lockhart barbecue, where the sauce ruins the purity of the taco? Or should the sauces play an integral role in the taco like they do in Mexico? I guess it depends on the taco.