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In many ways, Tacos El Paisano is typical of the small, family-owned and operated restaurants in Tecate, and every other Mexican town, in that it is owned and operated by the Lopez family, it serves tacos... what else? ... tortillas are made on-site, and the restaurant is open to the street. That pretty well covers the basisc, but Tacos El Paisano breaks the mold as it features a large dining room with ample furniture, and its busy, busy and very busy serving delicious tacos to hungry local residents.
Photo: Busy Tacos El Paisano is situated at a family-friendly location and offers ample parking for its customers. Tacos El Paisano is located at the busy corner of Calle Esteban Cantu and Bvd. Benito Juarez, on the west side of town, just before Juarez takes a sharp curve to the south. In addition to being "main street" in Tecate, Bvd. Juarez serves as Mexico Highway 2, which is a very busy east-west route that handles the majority of vehicle traffic between the bustling cities of Tijuana and Mexicali. El Paisano is a champion eatery of the locals, but it gets it's share of business from highway traffic, as the restaurant is situated at a strategic location.
Photo: Marco cuts vegetables, as Martha places corn tortillas on the griddle. Martha has just removed a freshly-made corn tortilla from the open tortilla press. In keeping with Baja California protocol, the restaurant is open to the street, so you walk into the spacious dining room, approach the counter, and place your order with friendly Martha Lopez, who also makes tortillas, salsa, and helps cook the food. There is no printed menu posted anywhere, but if you noted the advertising painted to the facade of the building, you'll know that you have the choice of the following varieties of tacos: Carne asada, carne adobada, cabeza or tripa. No, they don't serve tortas, enchiladas, or anything else, as the focus of Tacos El Paisano is, like their name says: Tacos. Period. ¡No Problema! Of course when you place your order, you must inquire about the price of your taco, which also is "no problema," as the price of admission is only MEX $10.00 per copy, which puts me in taco heaven. For me, it was a no-brainier, so I ordered 2 tacos de tripa (tripe tacos.) ¡No Problema!
Photo: Martha makes a corn tortilla, por mano, on a tortilla press. Note the dough ball of masa harina, for more tacos, and the carne asada that is grilling on the grill. After I placed my order, I sat down at a spacious table to observe the action. On the day of my visit, Saturday, October 6, 2007, Martha was working the restaurant, along with her brother Marco and another gentleman who I didn't get to chat with, and they were quite busy, as I wasn't the only customer in the restaurant, around five, on a late Saturday afternoon. I noticed a tortilla press, and a stack of what appeared to be freshly-made corn tortillas, and Martha confirmed that she had just made the stack of tortillas, by hand, from fresh ingredients, as she promptly placed four tortillas from the stack on to the griddle, presumably for my meal. I attempted to ask a few more questions, but she and her brother were just too busy, slapping tortillas on the griddle, grilling meat, piling delicious "stuff" onto tortillas, and taking orders from customers. Things are quite sanitary at Tacos El Paisano, as the guy that I didn't get to interview acted as cashier, and when he wasn't taking money, he busied himself busing tables and sweeping the floor.
Photo: Marco applies creamy guacamole to a taco that I'm just about ready to eat. Note the fact that it contains two corn tortillas an the fact that Marco doesn't use any sort of sanitary protection. This photo would be decimated north of the border, but this practice is the norm in Tecate. I enjoyed my delicious tacos! I ordered my tripe tacos "con todo," which in Mexican Spanish, translates into the fact that I want every condiment they offer to be layered onto my taco. Meanwhile... after Martha placed four CD-sized corn tortillas on the griddle, she reached into a pot, pulled out a couple pieces of mystery meat, and placed them on the grill, which is located just behind the griddle, and is fired by propane, but uses mesquite chunks to add a "Tecate aroma" to the flavor of the meat. She toasted the tortillas on the griddle for a minute or so, flipped them over, and toasted them on the other side for a few seconds. She removed them from the griddle, placed them on a paper plate, and handed them to Marco, who was waiting to her right. When I say "waiting," he wasn't just standing around, goofing off, as while he was "waiting," he was in the process of cutting up onions and cilantro... Two minutes later, the tripe was grilled; with a spatula, Martha removed the meat from the hot grill, handed it to her brother, and he placed it on a cutting board and with a few deft strokes from a sharp cleaver, the grilled tripe was rendered into bite-size pieces, ready for the taco. The chopped meat was placed on top of two tortillas, and "con todo" condiments were applied to the tacos in the following order: Diced white onions, chopped cilantro, runny, red salsa, and creamy guacamole. The completed tacos were wrapped in white paper, placed on a paper plate, and handed to me to enjoy.
Photo: Delicious tacos are made, not born, as Marco wraps my taco, decked-out with the finest condiments. Oh yes! There is nothing better than a tripe taco grilled over mesquite, wrapped around a couple of freshly-made corn tortillas, and loaded with fresh condiments, especially creamy guacamole. Tacos El Paisano creates an excellent tripe taco, and at only MEX $10.00 each, you can afford to enjoy as many as you want. Highly recommended!
Tacos
El Paisano Copyright(c) 2008 eRench Productions, Inc. All rights reserved. This site has been on the web since January 19, 2005. Web page design has been created by eRench Productions, Inc., custom photography for any occasion...
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