I must say, I’ve kinda had my fill of hipster tacos for now and I just wanted some decent tacos. And I recalled in the comments on my post for Bello’s, that Instagrammer chriseatsitall mentioned that El Panson has good crispy tripas. Man, Tacos el Panson……when was the last time I’d been there? Looking at the “Big List” it said February of 2006! Over 20 years ago! Man how time flies, right? And who was even reading this blog back then?
So, I decided to head on over.
I found some street parking and walked over. Went to the counter and ordered the Tripas and an Taco de Adobada…since that meat on the trompo was calling to me. Tacos here are $3.50 very reasonable for these days. Though if you really want to feel bad…..tacos were just $1.50 when I visited way back then.
I went and took a seat in the bright yellow dining room.
And soon enough, the very nice young man brought out my tacos. These were very generously sized tacos. I’m glad I only ordered two.
And I went to the salsa bar to get some lime and some salsa rojo for my tacos.
The tortillas here seemed a bit thicker than usual, which of course meant they held up real well for the entire meal. The maizey flavor seemed a bit on the lighter side though.
Like chriseatsitall said, the Tripas were nice and crispy, the savoriness with some mild funk coming thru nicely.
Really enjoyed the pungent onions, the cilantro helping to cut the richness. I really enjoyed these.
As for the Adobada? Well, since it was cut off the trompo, I expected some crispness, but that wasn’t happening. The meat was on the chewy side.
Very mild in flavor….though there was a hint of fruity sweetness, this seemed a bit bland. I’ll pass on these next time.
Heck, I should probably get some cabeza, right?
Overall, these were decent tacos, though nowhere near the stuff we’ve had in say…..CDMX….man, am I missing the Al Pastor from El Califa. Where we got to check out El Tizoncito which claims to be the first restaurant to serve Al Pastor in current form; made with pork. Fun times……
Tacos El Panson
4433 El Cajon Blvd
San Diego, CA 92115
Current Hours:
Sun-Thurs 930am – 10pm
Fri – Sat 930am – 11pm
Thanks for the recommendation Chris!