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Cal-Mex tacos

From WikiTacos, the taco encyclopedia · Taco style
Also known as: California Mexican tacos, California-style tacos

Cal-Mex tacos are the tacos of California Mexican cooking, the long-established Mexican American restaurant style of California. They range from the rolled, fried taquitos of Los Angeles's Olvera Street and the crisp ground-beef tacos of San Bernardino to the Baja-inspired fish taco and the Korean taco of Los Angeles food trucks.

Contents
  1. History
  2. Styles
  3. Recipe
  4. Where to try it
  5. Reviews
  6. See also
  7. References

History

Mexican food has been part of California since the state was Mexican territory, and the restaurant style now called California Mexican or Cal-Mex took shape in the early twentieth century. Gustavo Arellano, author of Taco USA, has identified the 1914 California Mexican-Spanish Cook Book by Bertha Haffner-Ginger, who ran the Los Angeles Times cooking school, as containing the earliest known English-language taco recipe. Writing for the Los Angeles Times, Arellano has described classic Cal-Mex as central to Los Angeles identity and as a kind of metaphor for California itself.

Arellano calls Cielito Lindo, a small stand on Olvera Street in downtown Los Angeles open since the 1930s, the Plymouth Rock of tacos. Its rolled, fried taquitos covered in a thin avocado sauce were widely imitated by other Southern California stands. In San Bernardino, Mitla Cafe has served Mexican food since 1937; its crunchy tacos of ground beef, iceberg lettuce and yellow cheese are, in Arellano's phrase, an ur-taco. Glen Bell, who ran a hamburger stand across the street, learned from Mitla before founding Taco Tia and then Taco Bell in 1962, turning the California hard-shell taco into a national fast food.

Styles

Older Cal-Mex restaurants, such as El Cholo in Los Angeles, founded nearly a century ago, built their menus around combination plates, enchiladas and crisp tacos, while Tito's Tacos on the west side of Los Angeles is known for its fried hard-shell tacos. Rolled taquitos with avocado sauce remain a Los Angeles signature.

Later waves expanded the repertoire. Fish tacos crossed the border from Baja California and were popularized in San Diego after Ralph Rubio opened his first restaurant there in 1983. Taco trucks, or loncheras, became a fixture of Los Angeles streets, and in 2008 Roy Choi's Kogi truck introduced the Korean short rib taco, which helped launch a national food truck boom. Today California taco culture places these Mexican American classics alongside the regional Mexican specialties of more recent immigrants.

Recipe

Makes 16 rolled tacos · Time: 1 hour

Ingredients

  • 500 g beef chuck or brisket
  • 1/2 onion, 2 garlic cloves, 1 bay leaf, salt
  • 16 thin corn tortillas
  • Vegetable oil for frying
  • 2 ripe avocados
  • 1 tomatillo or 2 tbsp mild green salsa
  • 1 small serrano chile (optional)
  • 1/4 cup cilantro, juice of 1 lime, salt
  • About 1/2 cup water

Steps

  1. Simmer the beef with onion, garlic, bay leaf and salt in water to cover until it shreds easily, about 2 hours (or 45 minutes in a pressure cooker). Shred finely and season.
  2. Warm the tortillas so they are pliable. Place a line of beef along one edge of each, roll tightly and secure with a toothpick.
  3. Fry in 2 cm of oil at 180 C, seam side down first, turning until crisp and golden, about 3 minutes. Drain.
  4. Blend avocado, tomatillo or salsa, chile, cilantro, lime and salt with enough water to make a pourable sauce.
  5. Remove the toothpicks and serve the taquitos smothered in avocado sauce.

This is a home version of the rolled tacos with avocado sauce associated with Olvera Street. For crisp ground-beef tacos, see the hard-shell taco.

Where to try it

  • Cielito Lindo, Los Angeles, California: Olvera Street stand open since the 1930s, famous for taquitos in avocado sauce.
  • Mitla Cafe, San Bernardino, California: Serving since 1937; its ground-beef crisp tacos influenced Glen Bell.
  • El Cholo, Los Angeles, California: Classic California Mexican restaurant founded nearly a century ago.
  • Tito's Tacos, Los Angeles area, California: Known for hard-shell tacos and long lines.

Reviews

Reviews and tips open at launch. Readers will be able to share where they found the best version of this and how they make it at home.

See also

References

  1. "The California Taco Trail: How Mexican Food Conquered America". NPR (republished by KAXE). Retrieved 2026-10-10.
  2. "How classic Mexican restaurants offer a window into California's culinary soul". Los Angeles Times (via AOL). Retrieved 2026-10-10.
  3. "An Oral History of Hard Shell Tacos". MEL Magazine. Retrieved 2026-10-10.
  4. "In Search of the Real Fish Taco". Sunset. Retrieved 2026-10-10.
Categories: California cuisine Mexican-American cuisine Regional taco traditions Tacos around the world Tacos in the United States