![]() This one brought back the rich flavors of our favorite tormenta from Baja. Our favorite salsa was described simply as salsa naranjada (orange salsa), a spicy blend of toasted chiles, onions, tomatoes, garlic, a touch of soy oil, sour cream and apple cider vinegar. What sets Los Pericos apart is their beautiful and well-stocked salsa bar and warm house-made chips. I’m not a fan of tilapia, so we skipped the fish. You can choose from pork done five ways (carnitas, al pastor, chorizo, chile verde and buche or stomach), grilled chicken, carne asada, beef tongue, beef tripe or fish. Underneath several neon beer signs and a lone ceiling fan, we dove into some of the most delicious chicken, carne asada and barbecue pork tacos I’ve had - in the U.S. I was worried that we wouldn’t get a table, but somehow by the time it was our turn to order, three spots opened up at the long counter that runs the entire length of the tiny restaurant. ![]() Slick digital menus displaying live video of one of their chefs making El Molcajete, a delicious looking seafood stew, offer a stark contrast with the worn floor and paint job. The décor is classic taqueria, with an assortment of metal chairs, worn Formica tables, Mexican music that turns to hip-hop and back again every so often, and a fuzzy big-screen television showing soccer on mute. Two men in painters’ pants regularly grab large family-style combination plates of enchiladas and wet burritos on their way home from work. One woman comes in for the Pericos Burritos three times a week, and a young student tells me that he lives on the California Burrito, filled with meat, French fries and chipotle. Could a simple taqueria possibly help the yearning we felt for everything Mexico and ease us back into the carpools and cold nights? Parking wasn’t easy, but it gave me time to circle the block and watch the line grow out the door around to Bulkhead Street - an eclectic crowd of students, Latino families, hipsters with man-buns, pods of businesspeople, and moms and dads picking up take-out burritos.Īs I waited in line for my friends, I spoke with everyone around me and found that they were all regulars. This time, I pull up to the unassuming, low-profile brick building embossed with a wagon wheel from one of its past lives. Taqueria Los Pericos sits on the corner of River and Water streets in downtown Santa Cruz, and for an evening I revisited the pleasure of eating simple, delicious food, Mexico style. The tacos were delicious, cheap, and a perfect pairing with ice cold Negra Modelos or glass-bottled Coca-Cola, It’s no wonder the place was packed with locals on their lunch breaks in the heart of downtown.įast forward a few days and I’ve found probably the closest rendition of this Baja taqueria right here in my hometown, complete with a giant open grill, where cooks in white chef coats make everything from huevos rancheros to sautéed onions to crispy al pastor. They were served with an assortment of tasty salsas - from mild to painful - with whole radishes, and pickled onions on the side. Cooks stood over an enormous open-air grill cranking out simple tacos - al pastor, lengua, chicken, fish, prawns, cabeza - on double hot corn tortillas, topped with chopped cilantro and onions. One of my favorite meals of the trip (and there were many) was at a hot pink street-side taco stand in downtown Cabo. Only two days before, our afternoons were marked not by hours, but by plates of crispy fresh fish tacos and baskets of corn chips dipped in a rich, fiery salsa called tormenta, “the storm.” By comales of fresh guacamole, local prawns a la parilla and, of course, endless iterations of the margarita. ![]() On a recent spring evening, still mourning the end of a particularly delicious trip to Baja, Mexico, several girlfriends and I set out to slip back into the life we left south of the border.
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