Tacos el Poblano

My visit to Taqueria Revolucion seems to have gotten me back on the taco trail. I'd been derailed for a while, but now that work is normalizing a bit, I'm able to travel a bit further afield. Craving tacos,I decided to check out Tacos el Poblano. I'd never been to this location, just the now defunct first US location on 3rd Avenue in Chula Vista. I once ran into the venerable Masa Asssasin there, who gave me the history of Tacos el Poblano, which was established in Tijuana back in 1974. Man, we miss you "MA".

I recall being told that all the TeP locations are owned by different family members, so YMMV. I'd heard about this location from "CC" who visited back in December of 2010.

So, I finally made it here.....like almost five years later. The drill here is interesting, it even confuses the Hispanic customers. You basically walk to the back counter area, which is divided up into three stations, adobada, birria (de res), and asada. You order from one or more folks depending on how many folks are manning the area and what type of protein you want. You pay at the cashier on your way out....also, if you want drinks, the cups and bottled items are located at the cashier so you need to ask for those.

I went with one of each; asada, adobada, and birria ($2 each).

The asada was disappointing, dry, tough, flavorless. Especially since this is what TeP has hung its hat on, the asada traditionally made from three different cuts of meat from a specific butcher.

The adobada was better, a bit more flavor, but still too dry and bland for me. I like my adobada to have a nice salty-savory-sweetness which the Missus says is "like good char siu". The guacamole does real well on this one.

The best of the bunch was the birria de res, which had some nice spice, but was still behind what I had at Fernandez and even Taqueria Revolucion.

The salsas were quite watery, but had a bit of oomph. I did expect a bit more considering the name and pedigree, but perhaps I caught them on an off day.

Tacos El Poblano
885 E H St
Chula Vista, CA 91910
Hours:
Daily 10am - 10pm

Comments

[kat]

Hope it was just an off day, everything looked great from here though

[caninecologne]

Looks like the prices went up (now $2, back then $1.65). Carne asada didn't seem to change. We both thought it was dry. Haven't been recently but am wanting to try Taqueria Revolucion soon.

[Kirk]

I hope so too Kat!

Hi CC - So that's a 20% increase! Wow....

[Ivan]

If you are ever in Chula Vista, near 3rd Avenue and Palomar Street, there is a market called Selecta Market which sell birria de chivo and birria de res on weekend mornings. I have only had the chivo and it's pretty good. Worth checking out.

Thank you.

[Kirk]

Hi Ivan - Thanks so much for the recommendation! I'll check it out and make sure to mention you when I do a post.

[caninecologne]

Selecta is actually Mercado Internacional which is near 3rd and Quintard rather Jan Palomar. I believe you've had their food before Kirk, I remeber reading an old post. That store used to be the old Woo Chee Chong.

[Kirk]

Hi CC - Thanks for the clarification. I haven't been in the area for a while.