Best of 2001: Best Cow's Lips

El Poblanito/El Imperio del Supertaco
549 25th Street (at Market), Downtown
619-239-9379

You may as well reconcile yourself: everyone you tell will come out with "Urgh! You kissed a cow??" Just invite them to try some anyway: Cow's lips. In Mexico, they're a delicacy. For a couple of bucks, "The Empire of the Supertaco" will give you a plateload of five double taquitos stuffed with little chunks of the lips plus cilantro and onions and radish slices. Add some green salsa and bite in. When you squish into it, you'll think you're eating tongue. But tongue it ain't. It's the lips, all right, and extra-nutritious they are too, according to Ricardo, who runs the place. He gets lots of people from central and southern Mexico come in here just for this, as well as for the national dish, mole poblano.