Is Taqueria del Sol a contemporary Southern diner, or a glorified taco stand? Customers are apt to tell you it’s somewhere in between — with favorite menu items that straddle both sides of the border and illustrate the collaborative process between chef Eddie Hernandez of Monterrey, Mexico, and manager Mike Klank of Memphis, Tenn.
Here we have adapted one of those recipes for the home kitchen, with excellent results.
(Got a hankering for their famous chile-spiked turnip greens? You can find that recipe - Eddie's Turnip Greens - as well, at www.eveningedge.com).

This ketchup-based sauce gets heat from pickled jalapeños and chile de arbol, a dried chile pepper that can be ground in the food processor. If you can’t find it, use cayenne or red pepper flakes. Don’t substitute a different chile -- you’re looking for heat, not smoke or other flavor. (An earlier version of this recipe called for a shot of tequila, which certainly wouldn’t hurt.)
When sautéing aromatics, Hernandez goes for the less expensive fat, such as margarine, and uses butter when flavor counts.