Strictly California Mexican Food

hard pass on Tex-mex

Sometimes people bring up Mexican food around me and I say, “Oh - I’m from LA… sooo…”

There’s no denying I can be a snob when it comes to Mexican food. In my hometown, there was a small family-owned restaurant called El Indio. It was on the way between school and home and one day a group of us walkers went in there for lunch. We ordered cokes and tacos and somehow it became our “spot”. The group got smaller, and when I was in high school, me and my 3 sometimes 4 closest friends would go every single Friday. One would always get the crunchy chicken tacos. One would get the enchiladas. We always got cokes and extra salsa. I would switch up my order between the taquitos and some sort of taco/enchilada combo. The waitresses knew us. I practiced my Spanish speaking with them. They gave us extra chips free of charge.

Ownership changed a couple of years after we graduated. It wasn’t quite the same, but we would still go - not as often as friends drift apart sometimes, but El Indio was where we would meet up again like we were pre-teens; my Spanish wasn’t any more advanced.

Everyone who grew up near a beach in southern California has their own version of El Indio. The place that has the best breakfast burritos before surfing. The place that has homemade tamales. The place that has the best salsa.

I missed California for almost two years. So when I finally got to go back last week I expected to eat Mexican food 90% of the time.

I like my street tacos simple. Meat (carne asada, al pastor), cilantro, onions, salsa verde, lime. No cheese.

If I want cheese I’ll go for Tito’s, which is famously right off the 405 freeway. My husband complains about the “cheese tax”, but goes for it every time.

I used to order the Special C from El Burrito Jr. on PCH. 2 bean and cheese burritos, a drink, and chips for $4.25. (It now looks like it is $8) Sometimes I would get my burrito wet with sour cream if I was really hungry. And I’ve come to find that nothing else can truly come close to that.

There were decent burrito places in New Orleans. Pretty much none in Hawaii. And here, in Maryland, I’ve come to terms with just not eating Mexican. I don’t love the more modern takes on tacos - even in California. And I will pretty much always say no to queso.

When you grow up with the privilege of really good regional food, I don’t think there’s a point in trying to seek it out in other places. As much as I crave Mexican food, it really is best to wait it out, and save it for when I go home.