TACOS JALISCO - ORANGE, CA

I went to see Eric Webb for a haircut and the timing was perfect... because ffter I got my world class hair cut by my homey, we were both starving. I hopped into Eric's chopper parts chaser to cruise his old hood in Orange, CA, which is the same spot our very own CantStayJose grew up as well. Did you know that Eric and Danny have known each other since kindergarten? Jose met those two just shortly after that.

I had heard about this place no less than 202 times from Jose. This spot has been here ever since they could remember. I'm also told that Tacos Jalisco expanded over the years and have always been consistent with their food.

We sat down and was quickly served chips and salsa.

When you get salsa that tastes better than your average salsa, that's a good sign at a new (to me) restaurant. With so many Mexican restaurants and taquerias in Southern CA, you would figure that they would all be on top of their game. I mean, there's some serious competition to serve good Mexicano delights... so I don't know why we ran into so many mediocre spots with mediocre salsa. Who knows. 

So yeah, the salsa here is good. I was looking forward to finding out what all the hype was with the rest of the food here.

Check out the torta de milanesa Eric got. When Eric is not looking for cheap chopper parts that he turns into gems with a little elbow grease, he is eating TORTAS! I know this photo makes it look even bigger but it was pretty big to begin with. Milanesa, in case you didn't know, is a cutlet (beef in this case). And of course the torta is a sandwich.

And for me - you got it! I needed to check out the tacos. I thought a ground beef hard shell taco seemed kinda unusual so I got one of those. Fun appetizer.

Backed up that gringo hard shell with a carnitas on the left and a taco de cabeza (head meat) on the right. The carnitas, to me, was just OK. Nothing to really report there. Cabeza was tasty and fatty as usual. Had to try them to check it out.

And juuust in case this place had the bomb tripas, I ordered two taco de tripas. Yes, these are small intestine from a cow. And my guess was right... I'm glad I got two of them because they were pretty good. Personally, I think they're better than La Puente's tripas even when they were at their best. Very perfectly crisp & crunchy with no intestine-y funny aftertaste. Like bacon, but not bacon. Pair of heavenly taco delights. Jose mentioned they were too crispy for his tastes though.

As you can see, I mopped it up. Eric got full after eating half of his... but that half was as big as a normal sized sandwich anyway. If you haven't checked this place out before, do so. It's 5 minutes from the Orange Circle and Circle City Barbers and worth the trip. 

480 North Tustin Street
Orange, CA 92867
(714) 771-5819