San Francisco Food Blog

California Taco Trucks

Three dozen taco-lovin' riders descended on Fruitvale last month.

​Call it critical mass for lengua lovers. California Taco Trucks blogger and NPR tech contributor Cyrus Farivar is organizing a second free bike tour of Oakland taco trucks this Sunday. Last month, Farivar led some some three dozen taco aficionados through Fruitvale. For Taco Truck Tour Numéro Dos, Farivar is asking riders to meet up at 12:30 p.m. at Lake Merritt BART (800 Madison at Ninth St., Oakland). For the next three hours, you'll hit up five trucks along Foothill Boulevard, Fruitvale's eastern boundary (see the loncheria list here). Farivar suggests packing $10-$15, a helmet, and possibly a camera. RSVP to Cyrus@CaliforniaTacoTrucks.com, and type "Fruitvale taco truck bike tour" in the subject line.

sirgious/Flickr

Gas up and go.

​Now that the bridge is open, reacquaint your Hyundai with the span by taking a little road trip to Oakland tomorrow: Take a late lunch (or leave work early, we dare you!) and hit Taco Tuesdays at The Dock at the Lake Chalet Restaurant (1520 Lakeside at 17th St.), in Oakland tomorrow. Tacos are $2.50, draft pints of Lady of the Lake, Lake Merritt IPA, and Regatta Red beers are $3, and tequila-lime-agave margaritas are half off, ringing in at $4.50. Taco selections include blackened fish with corn salsa, carne asada with white cheddar, or seasonal veggie and black beans with queso fresco. The Taco Tuesday promotion is special enough to warrant opening The Dock space two hours early, starting at 2 p.m. Plan accordingly -- but then, after nearly a week of bridge closures, you got used to that.

J. Birdsall

Display plates behind the sneeze guard.

​Shouldn't every micro-neighborhood have its own Mission-style burrito place? The kind with a sneeze guard, pump tortilla steamer, and lady burrito makers with a flair for creative cosmetology? It's arguable.

Today saw the launch of The Iron Cactus (683 Fourth St. at Townsend), a taco-burrito joint adjacent to The Creamery, and from the same owners. We toughed out the opening-day line for a spicy chicken soft taco (the kind that comes with beans and rice, like a little open-face burrito -- $3.50) and carnitas burrito ($6.95). Solid eating, nothing we haven't scarfed before, hunched over, at Pancho Villa, site of the chef's last gig.

For nearby condo dwellers, office workers, and Academy of Art students sick of the limited offerings at the nearby Tacos Goza Goza truck, Iron Cactus is probably a blessing. But you probably won't be taking a cab here from the Marina for the nachos.

hypermodern/Flickr

And you thought we were exaggerating.

Choosing Mexican food usually means heading to the Mission, where the choices are plenty and the competition is stiff. For residents in Ingleside and the Sunset, the choices aren't as many, but there are a few taqueria standouts. One of these is Ocean Taqueria, a hole-in-the-wall on Ocean Avenue that serves good, fresh Mexican food. The meal of choice here is the burrito, which comes in many different forms, shapes, and sizes. You can order the Baby Burrito ($5 -- no distinction in size or shape from a standard burrito), or go all out with the Jumbo Burrito ($10.50), which is about the length of a grown man's forearm.

Ocean offers different types of tortillas, including flour, corn, spinach, and tomato, as well as a variety of meats. Stick to the carne asada or grilled chicken, which are grilled to order, making it into the burrito hot and fresh off the fire. If you like, the cooks will grill the meat with red and green peppers and onions, a nice option most taquerias don't offer.

Ocean also lets you customize your burrito exactly as you want it, rather than defaulting to a regular set of ingredients. You get to choose from different types of beans, rice, lettuce, salsas, sour cream, cheese, guacamole, cilantro, onions, and jalapeños. Ocean Taqueria is a little gem tucked away on Ocean Avenue, a nice alternative to the Mission for people in Ingleside and the Sunset.

Ocean Taqueria 1941 Ocean (at Keystone Way), 586-7013

Random Taco Crawl Generator

Feel the excitement.

A new Web site seeks to make it easier to organize neighborhood-specific carne asada explorations. The Random Taco Crawl Generator lets you enter a 'hood and decide how many places you want to hit. Click the Andale! button, and the Generator reveals a custom pig-out itinerary.

Devised by Lindsay Tabas, it works with Yelp, linking to taqueria listings on the user review site. We gave the Generator an easy task: Design a five-joint crawl through the Mission. It delivered a list shrouded in Magic 8-Ball-style randomness -- El Castillo, El Taco Loco 2, Los Coyotes, Cancun, and La Cumbre.

Tell the Generator you want to crawl Chinatown and it tells you not to be such a dick, but nicely: "If you're planning a trip to Chinatown, you probably shouldn't be looking for tacos. Why don't you try some of the dim sum and bakeries on Grant and Stockton?" And it gives you a random list of dim sum joints.

If you're already familiar with a neighborhood, the Generator's probably of limited value. But if you want to find out where to score carnitas in, say, Miraloma (um, anyone know where that is?) it might be useful. Except when we asked it to chart a Miraloma crawl, here's what we got: "Bummer! Miraloma does not have one taqueria listed on Yelp! If you know of one, you should consider adding it there." Wise ass.

ModCloth

Fill it with pork rinds and antacids.

Behold the Nacho Wallet ($7.99), a zip clutch that's the spittin' image of a hard-shell taco stuffed with orange cheese and shredded iceberg. It's available online from vintage-inspired Web retailer ModCloth. Next time you hit the Mission for a comida crawl, stock it with Wet Naps, salsa packets, chicharrones, Tums -- totally up to you. And, because we know you're dying to tell us, the reference to nachos is way off base. (Blame the Israeli designer, Anat Safran -- we figure she probably doesn't eat a lot of tacos, carnitas or otherwise. Her pita wallet, on the other hand, is totally lived.)

Thanks to our homies at the Austin blog Taco Journalism for turning us on to this tasty accessory.

Mando Rayo

The holy trinity at Taqueria Pancho Villa.

Austin, Tex., taco blogger Mando Rayo (aka El Mundo de Mando of TacoJournalism) was in Cali this week, getting his first-ever taste of S.F. flavor. How did the Mission stack up to taco culture in Central Texas? Read on, homie.

Ahh, San Francisco: What a great city. You are home to Journey, Rice-A-Roni, trolleys, and most important ... tacos! I was told that tacos would be hard to find in the city by the bay but, alas, I have found you, your moms, your tias y tus cousins right in the heart of a gentri-barrio, the Mission. A place where you can start with a greasy torta de lengua, hacer hambre in an old-school cantina, top it off with a taco todo organico and finish it con un café con los hipsters, hippies, and one Taco Journalist with a sí, se puede attitude!

My goal was to get a good taste of the taco scene in San Francisco, and I think I got a pretty good start with the help of my taco-eating compadres: Lindsey Simon from dishola, Angela, Ruthie, and Ixchel. Not only did we eat tacos, we explored the Mission, its beautiful murals, and good coffee. We even ventured into Central America. Nice!

Mando Rayo

La Taqueria's off-menu carnitas taco dorado.

We started at La Taqueria (2889 Mission at 25th St.). We actually pounced on the doors 'cuz we were hungry and we heard that they made a mean taco dorado (which isn't on the menu). I ordered the carnitas taco dorado -- it's a taco with a soft corn tortilla on top of a fried corn tortilla with melted cheese in between, stuffed with your favorite carne, frijoles de la hoya/ranchero style, fresh salsa, avocado slices y crema. Just for looks, this taco got a 5 taco rating -- that's tops on the TacoJournalism system! Once I got that sucka into my mouth, I was in heaven. The carnitas were really tasty, reminded me of the times back home when we used to make carnitas fresh off the pig, diqueada style. The combination of the soft and hard tortillas, the messiness of the crema and salsa, the richness of the beans and the goodness of the carnitas took me back in time living between borders, to a place called El Paso/Juarez (don't laugh!). Ay, que rico!

Mando Rayo: Which one roolz?

Austin, Tex., taco blogger Mando Rayo (aka El Mundo de Mando of TacoJournalism) is in Cali this week, getting his first-ever taste of Bay Area-style flavor. We've asked him for a blog-by-blog account of his findings in the MIssion and beyond. Got a tip for Mando? Leave a comment, homie.

When I started my in-depth taco inquiry in the Bay Area this week, everyone I met kept telling me, "Try the burritos -- it's California, man!" But being a taco lover I said no guay Jose! Now don't get me wrong, I do love a good burrito. But tacos, well they just rule ... or do they? Let's compare the two:

Burritos
Pros:

Just one can feed toda la familia

Loads of extra fillings (lechuga, crema, chile y mas)

Flour tortillas (muy popular among Americanos -- they practically beat out white bread in the U.S.)

Cons:

One choice: flour -- have you ever eaten a burrito made with a corn tortilla?

Mostly one carne option per serving

The Burrito Bowl -- don't call it a burrito if it's not wrapped in a tortilla!

Ugh, Taco Bell!

Mando Rayo: The mask helps hide the salsa burns.

If you see this man around the Mission, promise you'll be nice. And offer him a Tums.

Austin, Tex., taco evangelist Mando Rayo is engaged in an epic taco crawl through the Bay Area, and he'll be reporting his findings here. At TacoJournalism, a blog of tacos and taco culture, Rayo collaborates with taco homies Jarod Neece, Cornbiter Deluxe, and The Commish. They've been featured in the Austin American-Statesman and at Austin360.com, in the "Best of Austin Chronicles," and as part of Austin PBS affiliate KLRU's Docubloggers project, chronicling life in Central Texas.

How will the Mission's monster blunt burritos sit with El Mundo de Mando? Will La Taqueria's mix of hipsters and Marina cuties seem totally lame? Stay screwed in right here. Check out the TacoJournalism blog, and pay a neighborly visit on Facebook and Twitter. Don't be shy: Let Rayo know what to scarf next.