West Coast Taco Crawl

[darlingbastard]

I'm driving down the west coast starting from San Francisco and ending in San Filipe in Baja. I'm hoping to hit as many good tacos as possible during my trip and wondering if there are any must visits on my way down. I really don't know the san diego / baja taco scene at all and figured this was the best place to ask.

- Thanks

[aatkin]

Check out this article from the NY Times. Looks like someone has already blazed a path for you....

http://travel.nytimes.com/2006/07/21/...

[nosh]

For the L.A. area from the valley to the city, be sure to check out the highest rated tacos by Bandini on his "The Great Taco Hunt" on blogspot.

You will probably at some point be on the 405 (San Diego) freeway which goes north/south thru the west side of L.A. Taqueria Sanchez is not far -- take the Washington or Culver exits, head a bit west, and it is on Centinela. Fantastic shrimp tacos, and I also like the pastor and carnitas. Parking in the back, clean, good salsa bar, very inexpensive.

Just north of San Diego, I was turned on to Juanita's on the Pacific Coast Highway (?) near Del Mar by posters from the California board. Very friendly, I liked my carnitas and pastor, but most of the locals seemed to get a crispy taco combo of some sort.

[The Chowhound Team]

Hello, our L.A. hounds will give you the scoop on the best this region can offer. This board covers all of Los Angeles, Ventura, and Orange Counties during your drive. We ask everyone to keep responses focused on the L.A. region, please.

The San Francisco board covers the counties that touch the SF Bay, and is found here:
http://www.chowhound.com/boards/show/1

The California board covers the rest of the state, including San Diego County (despite what our board header above says), and it's found here:
http://www.chowhound.com/boards/show/3

darlingbastard, you're invited to ask your question on those boards, and please ask everyone to keep their responses locally focused. Thanks.

[nrique]

You got to read the Great Taco Hunt. Bandini knows his tacos a true believer in the food of the gods.
A must visit is an area on Olympic Blvd. named by Bandini as the Taco Mecca. A location of various Taco Trucks sent down by the gods for our eating pleasure.

[carter]

Since the previous posters failed to provide the link to the great taco hunt, here it is:
Should help considerably.
http://www.tacohunt.blogspot.com/

[Das Ubergeek]

Since you're headed south, get your first "real" fish taco at Tacos Baja Ensenada in East L.A., not TOO far off the 5.