A Tale of Two Tacos

By Massiel Bobadilla

The war for the city’s best Mexican food is currently being fought by literally dozens of restaurants throughout Baldwin Park, all vying for a place of honor among the mouths and bellies of locals. With so many options, it is all too easy for hungry diners to get overwhelmed and for many, the choice ends up being a showdown between two of the city’s most iconic eateries.

In one corner you have Guadalajara Grill, the recently renovated restaurant that is impossible to miss. Anyone who has ever driven along the stretch of the 10 Freeway knows its sign, and many more Baldwin Park natives have spent a Sunday or two enjoying brunch and a mariachi serenade.

In the other corner, you have El Taco Nazo No. 3. Drive too fast along Ramona Boulevard and you may just miss the unassuming façade and humble signage advertising their signature fish tacos.

Both of these restaurants are trying to bring in their fair share of customers, yet they are each going about doing it in decidedly different ways. Ambiance is one of these ways. For example, Guadalajara Grill, a sprawling building of bright yellow stucco and elaborately carved iron, prides itself on its rustic yet elegant décor. The walls are painted with detailed murals of scenic haciendas and the tables are all adorned with colorful tiles.

Across town, El Taco Nazo sits tucked away into the far back corner of a neon-clad strip mall, with a barber shop on its right and at least three other Mexican restaurants less than 500 feet away. The interior is awash in green and orange paint, with framed photos of Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata lining one wall and dozens of miniature vintage cars lining the other.

Based on appearances alone, it would be all too easy to assume that the food at each of these restaurants matched their respective setting. That is where the average eater would be making a mistake.

At Guadalajara Grill, where the buffets are what they’re best known for, the food struggles to meet the standard of the surroundings. The very nature of a buffet makes it so that the various dishes suffer from having been prepared in advance. Sopes are more soggy than they should be and the fajitas don’t stay warm long enough for you to make it back to your table. The mole lacks that home-cooked taste, and instead is more watery than is to be desired. The two things that were memorable were the caldo de res and the tres leches cake, both of which warranted second servings where few other things did.

Meanwhile, at El Taco Nazo, delicious tacos were the order of the day. Claims from locals that these are the best fish tacos in the city were totally verified. The simple fact that their famed fish tacos arrive being too hot to eat is the best testament to food that was made fresh just for you. Fried to perfection and topped with a delectable cream sauce, the only thing that could make these things better was a sizable helping of the smoky salsa served at the condiment bar.

Not to be assumed as biased, this writer fully concedes that El Taco Nazo may not be the best place to take your abuelita to brunch, just like Guadalajara Grill may not be your first choice is you want finger-licking food. As it turns out, these Baldwin Park landmarks certainly have their work cut out for them.

(*Note: a version of this story appeared on Dec. 16, 2011 on Baldwin Park Patch)

Comfort in the Uncomfortably Cliché

Stand-out Meal of the Day: Two Chicken Soft Tacos (no sauce, no cheese) and a Small order of Fries
Source: Del Taco

Let’s be straight about one thing: Del Taco is not Mexican food. Wrapping something in a tortilla and adding an errant accent somewhere in the title does not automatically bestow Mexi-status on something (dear Del Taco, don’t think that I didn’t notice your incorrect punctuation when you tried to pass of your mole tacos as being spelled “móle“).

But, for what it is –beautifully predictable and heart-warmingly nostalgic tasty chicken and crinkle cut fries for about $3– my meal today proved to be all that I hoped it would be.

That’s the trick with food. Rarely is it ever just conveniently edible, nondescript paste we shovel into our mouths just to survive. Food, when it comes right down to is, is one of the best indicators of our true selves. Our choices -whether we are aware of it or not- reflect our mood, our position in life, our hopes, our fears, everything we try so hard to control.

We may put on a front from time to time, but food will always give us away.

So! What do my chicken soft tacos say about me? That I’m a creature of habit. That I will always return to the convenient comforts of that which has already proven itself safe and non-threatening in the past. That I rarely order red meat. That I’m on a budget because I’m about to enter into ridiculous debt just to send myself through graduate school. That I have a love affair with the potato. And most importantly? That I hate sauces and condiments of any kind.

Today, after having spent most of my time helping my mother unpack her classroom, I returned home drained (more from the unbearable heat outside than from actual physical exhaustion) and without any sort of drive or motivation to cook for myself. Del Taco, as it has been many times in my past, presented itself as a happy, shiny beacon of convenient love. I was drawn like a lazy moth to a fast-food flame.