Besito: A taco is a taco is a taco

The new lunch menu at Besito in Roslyn and Huntington has caused a taxonomic taco crisis here at Feed Me.

The document features a new section devoted to “taquitos” described, by Besito, as “three soft tortillas.” The four selections—beef short rib with salsa molcajete, chipotle-marinated shrimp with tomatillo salsa, adobo chicken with grilled tomato-chipotle salsa, red snapper with pickled red onion—sound terrific. They also sounded to me like tacos. Taquitos, I always thought, were corn tortillas wrapped around a filling and then deep fried.

As for tacos, the term is already in use on Besito’s lunch menu to describe the “crispy street tacos” in which fillings are cradled in deep-fried corn tortilla shells.

I put this to Besito's owner, John Tunney, and he explained that in Mexico, these terms are used in different regions to connote different preparations—though all are based on the corn tortilla. At Besito, "taquito" is meant to distinguish the new lunch item from Besito's dinner tacos, which are larger and require some assembly on the diner's part.

Oh what a tangled taco web we weave. Nonetheless, this all sounds delicious, and the prices are right: Lunch tacos and taquitos all hover around $12. Another new item, gorditas de chorizo y queso (gorditas are fat tortillas and these come with spicy chorizo sausage, Chihuahua cheese, lettuce, pico de gallo, jicama and lime) is $10.

Besito is at 1516 Old Northern Blvd., Roslyn, 516-484-3001, and 402 New York Ave., Huntington, 631-549-0100.

Classic tacos de lengua (tongue tacos) at El Paso Taco Grill in Farmingdale