TLDR: Go to the corner of Sebastopol Rd and Burbank Ave in Santa Rosa for the best cochinita pibil the world!
...This all started over a decade ago, when Abbey and I were living in west Santa Rosa. There was a little taqueria in the work/live area between Corporate Center Parkway and Wright Road. They served something I had never heard of before: cochinita pibil. A slow roasted/stewed pork dish originating from the Yucatan region in Mexico. The flavor was out of this world and I fell in love.
Then, one day, out of the blue, the Taqueria was gone, and with it my cochinita pibil. I actually started to see it here and there on other menus around Sonoma County, but nothing else came close.
Then, a few years ago I found a taco truck, Buns y Garnachas in Santa Rosa, near the corner of Dutton and College. They had cochinita pibil... and it tasted EXACTLY like what I had lost. I was elated, and after talking with the truck proprietor, I learned that the Yucatan taqueria where I had first experienced cochinita was opened by his father. Same recipe! I was over the moon.
Then, one day... that truck was gone! I tried to find him on Facebook, Yelp, whatever... he was gone. Even the phone number on his business card was no longer in service. My beloved tacos were lost again.
Then, just a week or two back, I was driving with the family to one of Bryce's basketball games in Roseland, and out of the corner of my eye, through the dark, I thought I saw it: a red taco truck with a cartoon drawing of a man and his bald father (Pelon means bald/hairless). It was Tacos Pelon, not Buns y Garnachas... but could it be?!?
Well, I went and did some recon today over lunch and... behold! The Cochinita Pibil is back in my life again! It's the same man, cooking the same flippin' bomb-diggity cochinita pibil, this time with his daughter. Amazing how this dish has woven itself in and out of my life - and IT'S BACK!
So, do yourself a favor and go check them out. The food is amazing! There are a load of options on Sebastopol Rd in Santa Rosa, but NO ONE does cochinita pibil like this. GO! read more