Do your dining tastes gravitate toward push-cart vendors when you're visiting Tijuana? Do you DARE to try something different? Do you desire to go to a place where no other Americans dare to dine? Tacos Barios could be your street taco vendor of choice.
My visit actually happened in December, 2017, and I'm just getting around to posting my review on Yelp.
Tacos Barios is a small, push-cart vendor taco operation, owned and operated by a woman named Marica, who lives in the nearby Hotel Campaniento, and makes her living selling tacos from her taco cart. She has "cut" a deal with the owners of the hotel, and they allow her to set up her taco cart in the parking garage of the hotel, during weekday afternoons and early evenings, to sell her delicious tacos.
Tacos Barios, is a small, low-budget operation, as it's owned and operated by Marcia, and dining accommodations are spartan, e.g. two stools! The menu is also spartan, as she only offers tacos de birria, lengua, or carne asada. Condiments are on the small-side as well, and consist only of diced purple onions, and what I thought to be diced tomatoes; more on that later. Her operation is open in time for lunch, and she closes it in the early evening, or when she runs out of food.
I sat down at one of the stools and ordered a taco de birria, for the small price of only MEX $10.00 each. In Spanish, the word "birria" loosely translates to something like "mess," but in Tijuana, birria is a sort of stew, made from chopped goat meat, marinated in a mix of chili peppers, cumin, oregano, and other fine ingredients.
How does Marcia make tacos? First and foremost, your taco includes two CD-sized, steamed corn tortillas, that are kept warm and moist, thanks to the propane heater. She sets the tortillas on a plate, and then reaches into one of the stainless steel containers, and grabs a large spoonful of runny refried beans over the tortillas. Next, reaches into another container, and spoons a layer of brown, Tijuana-style rice over the beans. Then, it's time for the birria, as she spoons birria from another container over the tortilla/beans/rice, and places the taco on a little styrafoam plate, and hands the taco to you. The condiments are on the small counter of the taco cart, and you have the choice of purple onions, or tomatoes (really?) which are co-located in the same plastic container. Being the condiment-sort-of guy that I am, I loaded up my taco with onion slices, and diced tomatoes, or so I thought... and took a bite into birria heaven.
Oh boy, was the taco ever good, as the juice just oozed from the meat, and the beans and rice made it taste sort of like a burrito, yet it tasted all taco, the onions were fresh and sweet, but the tomato slices... Time to take another bite of taco joy. Marcia's tacos are big, very big, and each taco could almost be a full meal. But after munching on the second bite, I noticed that the diced tomatoes weren't really tomatoes at all, actually they were slices of habanero peppers, which are about has hot as it gets. My tongue, eyes, mouth and nose immediately let me know that I wasn't eating tomatoes, as my nose and eyes started running, and my mouth felt like it was on fire. But, like any good trooper who has a mission to accomplish, I simply picked out the remaining 'tomato" slices, dumped them into the nearby trash can, and finished my delicious taco. The taco was delicious, and I devoured it, despite the fact that my face felt like it was on fire. I'm glad that she keeps plenty of napkins available!
I soon recovered from the heat, and I knew that I just had to order another taco, so I asked for a taco de lengua. As before, Marcia repeated the same process, with the exception that she reached into another pot, and spooned juicy lengua onto my taco, and placed in onto a little styrafoam plate. This time around, I opted to enjoy my taco sans condiments, as I had enough heat, and I didn't even feel like eating mild, purple onion slices. The lengua was moist, juicy and delicious, not at all spicy, and the rice and beans on the corn tortillas really brought out the flavor.
Tacos are the de facto standard street food in Tijuana, and Tacos Barios delivers moist, juicy, delicious, and very innovative tacos, at a price that you can't afford to pass on. During my visit to the Zona Norte, I noted that Marcia enjoyed a constant stream of local customers, and one of my main taco rules is to dine where the locals dine, as they know what is the best. My only suggestion to Marcia would be to add more condiments, such as chopped tomatoes, cilantro and lettuce, and some of that creamy, runny guacamole that is commonly found at many street food vendor carts in Tijuana. I made the suggestion her, she giggled and her mouth broke into a shallow, shy grin, but her only reply was, "Pus, quizás maña..." read more