Kirsten Henri looks back at some of her favorite dishes of 2007 and offers some wishes for 2008.

It was a weird, off-key year for the restaurant scene. Nothing blew our minds—or stomachs. There were few restaurants that we felt really came together in every department—food and beverage, service and atmosphere.

And while many restaurants opened up on the pricey end of the spectrum, we didn’t find much in the way of cheap-but-tasty joints, although we loved the tacos al pastor from Los Taquitos de Puebla (1149 S. Ninth St. 215.334.0664).

Eat Beat: Loved It in ’07! Need It in ’08! [Philadelphia Weekly]

This week’s The Bite gives you plenty of tips on where to pick up some fabulously popular tacos as well as leaks the menu of a new South Street restaurant and previews a couple of upcoming spots. Yum.

Tacos, tapas and Tex-Mex, oh my [Metropolis]

The Bite appears every Wednesday in the Metro and is written by Foobooz editor Arthur Etchells

Rick Nichols strolls the stalls at the Headhouse Square Farmers Market on a recent Sunday taking in the sights, sounds and tastes.

“Great cities deserve great markets,” recites Nicky Uy, the laid-back, on-site manager for the Food Trust, the market’s nonprofit sponsor.

And so as farmers displayed cascades of heirloom tomatoes and polished onions, and the scent of toasting corn tortillas rose from Los Taquitos de Puebla portable griddle, there were palpable resonances of San Francisco’s Ferry Plaza farmers’ market, and (as chef Marcie Turney and her partner, Valerie Safran, shopped for greens for the Head House Square Farmers’ Market Salad they’re running as a weekly special at Lolita) of the Union Square greenmarket in Manhattan, which inspires menus at cafes on its flank.

On the Side | In Head House, hearing market echoes [Philadelphia Inquirer]

The PhillyFoodGuys visit one of the smaller taquerias along 9th Street in South Philadelphia. However Los Taquitos de Puebla is becoming known for its tacos al Pastor.

The pork was spicy and flavorful, while lacking that oily quality that often accompanies pork. Wrapped in corn tortillas, the filling included onions, cilantro and pineapple, which gave the tacos a uniquely sweet twang. In addition to the side of condiments featuring radish, marinated radish, sliced lime wedges and cucumber, there were tasty red and a green salsas ready to be generously applied.

Los Taquitos de Puebla: Under the Radar? [PhillyFoodGuys]

We couldn’t agree with Kirsten Henri more regarding her “Eat It!” note in her Eat Beat column this week. We also discovered the tacos al pastor at Los Taquitos de Puebla during the Italian Market Festival and have been craving them since.

There are tacos and there are tacos and then there are tacos al pastor—tangy marinated pork bits tucked into a tortilla with warm pineapple and onion. A swing by last month’s Italian Market Festival brought to my attention the tacos al pastor at Los Taquitos de Puebla, a tiny taqueria tucked into the quieter, increasingly Latino end of the Ninth Street market. From a distance it’s easy to mistake the taco stand for a shawarma stand, since the luscious pork is shaved off a standing rotisserie much like a gyro or doner kabob.

Eat Beat [Philadelphia Weekly]

Craig LaBan heads out on a scary culinary adventure looking for an unusual meal and finds “restaurants are using every part of the animal but the oink, the moo or the cluck.”

This is no tall Halloween tale. This is about finding parts on a plate you thought you’d never touch, but are just waiting out there for the seeking. It’s the kind of food that watches you back. Literally. From inside the folds of a steaming hot taco.

Welcome to Philadelphia’s golden age of offal, where innards are “in,” whether at authentic ethnic haunts or high-end kitchens, and chefs such as David Ansill are truly putting the gore in gourmet.

LaBan even details his face to face meeting with eyeball tacos at Los Taquitos de Puebla.

Trick or meat [Philadelphia Inquirer]