Category: Taco Shops

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!

I had passed Birrieria Enriquez several times while driving east on University. It's right past the Georgia Street Bridge, where Philly Grill used to be. I'd been wanting some birria and really didn't want to head down South, so I decided to give the place a try. It was a bit of an effort trying to find parking, but I knew that based on previous visits to businesses in the location.

After being blessed with finding parking on Landis and Mississippi I walked on over.

The interior is a bright white with a simple counter; there's one outdoor table.

The sign says "Sonoran style birria", so I knew it was going to be birria de res all the way. There was one gentleman working, you order at the counter and he sets to work. I ordered and had a seat at the counter at the window.

Soon enough my order was ready. I was also provided a fairly picante red salsa for what I got. Which was a Birria Taco, a Cabeza Taco, and of course some Consomme. The tacos were fairly loaded with meat.

The Consomme smelled and tasted wonderful; it was much richer than I'm used to and actually had birria in it!

A squeeze of lime just balanced things out. Man, a bit of spice, some beefiness, smokiness, this might be the best consomme I've had in a while! It was definitely the highlight of the meal for me.

As for the tacos, as I mentioned, they were pretty "stuffed".

  My favorite of the two I ordered was the Cabeza. It was tender, beefy, with a side of "funk". Nicely seasoned and cooked, so very juicy. A squirt of lime to cut the richness, cilantro and onion to add pungency, and it was darn good. The tortillas were fine; they were doubled with some queso in between to hold it together.

The tortillas for the birria taco had been doused in consomme before placing on the comal which contributed to the flavor and texture. The beef smoky, with a nice amount of pungent-acidic-beefy tones, good cumin-spice. It was a bit chewier and stringy, but the flavor was nice. It sure beats the hipster-faddish versions that now proliferate San Diego.

I enjoyed this meal; especially that consomme.

As I was finishing my meal and young lady came in and ordered 6 fish tacos? At a birria shop? I guess she saw the look on my face, smiled and said "the fish tacos here are the bomb, better than the food trucks around here." Hmmm…… Well, that gave me a good reason to return.

And of course I ordered the consomme. Not feeling too hungry, I just decided to try the fish taco. I again had a seat on the counter by the window, but I took notice of the small dining area at the side of the restaurant.

This time I was provided with three different salsas.

I figured that the two creamy ones were for the fish tacos.

Speaking of the fish taco.

  The piece of battered and fried fish was quite large. But the batter was soggy and the flesh of the pescado was slimy-fishy-muddy, not my favorite flavors and textures when it comes to fish. Not even the lime and the salsas….I preferred the verde (green), which had a bit more acidity and herbaceousness, but I really didn't enjoy this.

As for the consomme….well, it was just as good this time around.

Well, teach me to order a Taco de Pescado at a birria place, right?

As for Birrieria Enriquez, well, I'll definitely return for the consomme and the cabeza. They also have Sonoran style Menudo, but were out on both of my visits. I'll keep trying to get that for the Missus. And with that one outdoor table….who knows, maybe I'll bring JJ along!

Birrieria Enriquez
2041 University Ave.
San Diego, CA 92104
Current Hours:
Tues – Thurs 10am – 8pm
Fri – Sun        9am – 9pm
Closed on Monday

While picking out my photos from our visit to Las 9 Esquinas, I (obviously) got a hankering for some birria or barbacoa. A few weeks earlier, I had been wondering what was going on with the former location of Emily's in Spring Valley, which was an awesome recommendation from "FOY" Kenneth! Sadly, Emily's had closed and gone to doing catering only in Chula Vista. While doing my search I found that the location now housed a restaurant named El Taller De La Barbacoa…hmmm…..barbacoa "workshop/factory" eh? 

So, on a recent Sunday, I decided to make the 20 mile drive to Spring Valley. It was still quite early, like 845 am when I arrived, one source said the place opened at 9am, while Google said 8am. The little parking lot still had open stalls and the signage said they open at 8am.

I could make out the fragrance of birria in the air from the parking lot. A good sign!

And the interior is now quite colorful!

Not quite knowing the drill, I walked up to the counter. The gentleman working, I'm thinking he's the owner looked very serious, but was quite friendly and the young woman working was very nice and said I could just have a seat. Though I just went ahead and placed my order for a Taco de Barbacoa de Borrego, a Birria de Res, and a small Consomme de Borrego.

The salsas were soon delivered to my table.

That salsa roja had a nice kick and bit of smokiness.

Soon enough my order arrived. I was surprised to see how hefty the tacos were. I was surprised at how much consomme was provided. This was going to be quite a filling breakfast.

 The consomme was aromatic and  slightly rich without having that greasy "tongue feel" that I don't like. It was just slightly gamey, but not bland, and you knew there was some "chivo" swimming around here. It wasn't very salty and really needed the lime to help things out. I prefer my consomme having a bit more goatiness, but this was decent.

As for the two tacos……

  I preferred the Barbacoa, which was moist and more tender than the Birria, which was on the chewier side of things. The birria did well with a dip into the consomme, some salsa, and a squeeze of lime. While it was a level above what I have nearby, in terms of the smokiness – spice – complexity – beefiness, it's still not as good as what I've had at Fernandez, though it's been a while.

As for the Barbacoa, it looked chewy, but was fairly tender, milder in seasoning which actually brought out the rich – gaminess more. It also did nicely with a dip into the consomme.

The tacos were enrobed in double tortillas which held up well and provided some nice maize tones.

When I went to the counter to pay my bill, I was shocked at the price – $13.47! I definitely expected it to be more. The portion sizes were quite generous and the service very nice. I thought this was a decent meal though I really do miss Emily's.

El Taller de la Barbacoa
1015 Grand Ave
Spring Valley, CA 91977

Speaking of Emily's, I'm wondering if Kenneth who recommended Emily's to me has had a chance to check this place out?

On a recent Sunday morning the Missus was in a well, "offal" (pun intended) mood. And She was thinking about how enjoyable the Lengua, Tripas, and Maciza was on our last visit to De Cabeza/El Único. Yes, we are regulars for the Cabeza en su Jugo (head soup) there, but that's usually during cooler weather. She had really enjoyed the "offal three", so we decided to head down to Chula Vista for our version of "Sunday brunch". We usually get there a bit earlier, but this time arrived at 1030 and the place was pretty busy.

We were heartily greeted by Jesus, the boss man, who always seems so happy to see us.

We had a seat and this time, really looked at the menu more carefully. And my goodness, they have Mollejas (sweetbreads)! The Missus enjoy the Alambres here and ordered the version with Lengua (tongue) and Maciza (head meat). The Missus really wanted to try the Sesos (brain) and since She wasn't ordering the Tripas (intestine), I ordered one each of the tacos. And, we also ordered the Mollejas. The young lady waiting on us was very nice and serious, but it was interesting watching her eyebrows go up and down as we ordered…….

 Love the tortillas here, full of maize goodness, heated on the comal with drippings, it is always up to the task. The tripas have a nice mild crunch with beefy goodness. I bet you'd never figure out what it was if you were served one of these.

The sesos was somewhat mushy-soft and there was a metallic tinge to the flavor which the Missus wasn't fond of. I personally thought this did fine with the Salsa Verde which had enough sour-acidity to balance things out.

The lengua here is so beefy and tender, and combined with the bacon in the Alambres it's quite a treat.

Combines with the Maciza; this is beefy heaven. Though I think the combo of tripas with the beefy crunch and the bovine wonderfulness of the lengua might be the perfect combo.

And then it arrived.

   My goodness; this was even better than we thought! Fried to a light crispness, the interior was light, creamy, and almost fluffy. There have been times when we've had a iodine like aftertaste when having mollejas, but this was mild with a slight offal-nutty-buttery-sweetness. We actually didn't need salsa, lime, or heck, even the wonderful tortillas.

I think we have yet another go-to dish here! This turned out to be an "offaly good" (yes, I know…) meal. Man, if only De Cabeza/El Único was closer!

De Cabeza/El Único
1043 Broadway
Chula Vista, CA 91911
Current Hours:
Open Daily 8am – 9pm