Recently, I had to make a drive down to Chula Vista. I don't get down there often these days, so I thought I'd grab a bite on the way home. Of course, my usual favorite stop, De Cabeza came to mind, but the weather just seemed too hot. I had thoughts of trying out the new and super hyped location of Tacos el Franc that has opened in Plaza Bonita, but I really didn't want to deal with lines and crowds…I'll wait a bit until things settle down a bit.
Instead, I made a detour to Imperial Avenue….man, I hadn't been around here in a while. There was a taco shop that I'd heard about who served a specialty from Mazatlan in Sinaloa, that's not seafood, rather it's Cochito (piglet) Tatemado (roasted), named El Pariente that opened back in May.
The place resides next to the newish location of Antojitos Colombianos. The parking lot is tiny, so I had an interesting time finding parking. I finally found a spot on L Street. I walked the couple of blocks over; it was a Sunday, just a few ticks past 830. Other than a young man, who smiled and greeted me as I entered who was waiting for a takeout order, I was the only customer.
I walked to the counter and placed my order with the very sweet woman working.
There's a nice range of breakfast items and asada, cochito, and adobada tacos. I got two Tacos de Cochito ($3.99 each) and mentioned I'd be dining in.
I took a seat at one of the tables and soon the woman arrived with some crunchy, glistening tortilla chips….they were still rather warm and the three salsas and lime. She told me that this would be a "nice way of tasting our salsas for your tacos!"
I really liked the Salsa Serrano (middle) and the Salsa Roja which had some nice smoky heat.
So, when my tacos arrived, the scent of porky goodness wafting up to my snout, I was ready to go!
These were lovely specimens indeed. The tortillas had been nicely heated on the comal and were glistening with…well, something mighty tasty.
There was shredded/chopped cabbage and chicharrons for textural contrast…and those chicharrons…well, one cannot get enough pork, right?
The pork was so moist and tender, not overly seasoned, but quite swiney! Very porky! And quite rich and filling. In fact, that lime was a required item.
As for the salsas; the roja seemed spicier and smokier; while the salsa serrano had a nice acidity. They both had their place!And totally worth the $3.99 each to me! I'll be back once my arteries recover!
El Pariente
2150 Imperial Ave.
San Diego, CA 92102
Current Hours:
Daily 8am – 7pm
Postscript: In case you're wondering, I took more photos than these. However, as I was working on this post on Saturday, the capability to upload photos in Typepad suddenly failed. And as of 430pm today it will be 48 hours without a solution. So, I thought I'd just get this post done and hopefully; once the insert images is fixed, I'll go ahead and upload those. Until then….well, hopefully this won't be the last post for a while!