Taco Bout It San Diego, California

This is my second post about great taco spots in California. My first post focused on delicious tacos in the Bay Area. This post takes us south to San Diego, which is reputed to have some of the best tacos in the state.

Puesto

Puesto is an award-winning restaurant, owned and operated by a first-generation Mexican-American family that describes themselves as having been "immersed in authentic, Mexican cooking since childhood." Their passion and skill in making Mexican-style tacos comes through in every one of the 11, creative tacos on their regular menu, plus more on their secret menu.

Puesto's Michelin-rated, original location opened in La Jolla, California in 2012 and since then, Puesto has sold over 20 million tacos and given over $1 million of its proceeds to charities. If you are in La Jolla, stop by the original location, and if not, Puesto has other locations throughout California.

Chicharrones

I recommend starting with the chicharrones. These little bites are crackling pork magic, sprinkled with chili and lime.

Lobster Taco

The tacos come in so many varieties that you are sure to find one, many or all to your liking. The lobster tacos comes with crispy onions, jalapeño pico, serrano and cilantro crema.

Spring Lamb Barbacoa

The lamb taco is made with shredded, braised leg of lamb, mint avocado salsa and nopales pico.

Baja Fish

The beer-battered, local line-caught fish in the Baja fish taco is excellent. It is served with shredded cabbage, classic guacamole, crema, and morita salsa.

Ribeye The marinated ribeye in the steak taco is made with quality meat and cooked to your liking. The chef suggested a medium rare, which I found perfect. The taco comes topped with asada pico, tomatillo-árbol salsa, and queso fresco.

California Burrito Taco

Don't forget to ask about the secret menu at Puesto. There you will find the California burrito taco made with crispy, melted cheese, filet mignon, guacamole, salsa quemada, jalapeño pico, baja crema, crispy potatoes, and cilantro.

Oscar's Mexican Seafood

Oscar's Mexican Seafood's original location is in San Diego's, Pacific Beach neighborhood. This hole-in-the-wall restaurant is located near a smoke shop and a dive bar, just blocks from the beach. The portions are big, the prices are low and the food is excellent.

With frequently large crowds, you are lucky to get a seat at the counter. Getting the food to go is always an option, or you can visit Oscar's other San Diego locations which have larger dining areas. The ceviche, tortas and burritos all get glowing reviews, but tacos take center stage at Oscar's.

Smoked Fish Taco

I will admit that I was dubious about a smoked fish taco. All I could envision was smoked salmon in a tortilla. I am so glad I overcame my hesitancy and trusted my cousin, who assured me that this taco is a must-try.

Not only do I agree, but this is my favorite taco at Oscar's. The pink fish is packed with flavor that reminds me of the smokey-ness and sea spray smell of campfires on the beach. It is topped with cabbage, avocado, cheese and a drizzle of their exquisite spicy salsa.

Grilled Octopus Taco

The grilled octopus taco is another favorite. The tender meat is accompanied by crunchy cabbage, onion, tomato, cilantro, avocado and melted cheese.

Spicy Shrimp Taco

Be sure to also give the spicy shrimp taco a try. Oscar's does not skimp on the shrimp, which are large and succulent and topped with cabbage, onion, tomato, cilantro, creamy avocado and cheese.

Lola 55

Lola 55

This Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurant is located in downtown San Diego. The restaurant is owned and run by Tijuana-born, former, professional soccer player, Frank Vizcarra. Vizcarra studied taco culture by visiting restaurants in California, Texas, New York and Mexico.

While he found great tacos, he noted that "nobody was doing high quality at a reasonable price,” which is what he set out to accomplish by opening Lola 55. I would argue that he succeeded. The tacos are great, and all under $6.

Smoked Carnitas

I tried the smoked carnitas taco made with pork shoulder confit. The pork in this taco is smoked for four days before being placed in the warm, corn tortilla along with crisped maciza, shaved tomatillo, avocado mousse, pickled red onion and cilantro.

Baja Fish

Equally good is the Baja fish taco served with local fish, remoulade, chorizo-tomato vinaigrette, pickled serrano, frisée, and purple basil.

¡Salud Tacos!

Last, but certainly not least, is ¡Salud Tacos!, located in the heart of San Diego's Barrio Logan neighborhood, about 20 minutes from the Mexican border. The restaurant was opened by Ernie Becerra who describes his family, who settled in Barrio Logan almost 125 years ago, as “old-school Chicano.” As a restauranteur, he started humbly with a taco cart that served fish and birria tacos. Those two tacos, and more, are on the menu at ¡Salud!, which he opened in 2015.

The restaurant is not just serving up great tacos, like these five, described in detail below. They also showcase work by local artists.

Fish

The beer-battered, white fish taco is served on a handmade, corn tortilla with mixed cabbage, topped with cotija cheese, pico de gallo and house-made chipotle crema.

Shrimp Diabla

The grilled shrimp in the shrimp diabla taco is marinated in ¡Salud's! famous red, "clasica" sauce and served in a corn tortilla that's toasted with melted cheese. To that is added, sliced avocado, crema and a touch of cabbage.

Taco de Barrio and Birria Taco

The next two tacos we tried were the taco de barrio and the birria taco. The taco de barrio was made with carne guisada (beef braised with bell pepper, onions, and potato) topped with frijol, nopal and crema, wrapped in a flour tortilla.

Prior to this experience, I had relegated pinto beans to burritos, bell peppers to fajitas, and potatoes to breakfast tacos in Mexican cuisine. This combination, stuffed inside a flour tortilla was genius. This was (unexpectedly) my favorite taco at ¡Salud!

The birria taco was also unexpected in that it was made with shredded pork, as opposed to the traditional goat or beef preparation to which I was accustomed. The pork was braised in dried chiles and Mexican spices and placed in a flash-fried corn tortilla, topped with lettuce, onions, cilantro and cotija cheese.

Azteca Tlahco

Our final taco at ¡Salud! was the azteca tlahco, a seared, asada steak taco topped with seared nopal, a jalapeño spear, sliced onion, tomato and avocado.

That's it for this taco post. I will definitely "taco bout it" again, in a post highlighting another area of California, serving more great tacos.