Michoacano in Redwood City?

[Robert Lauriston]

An article in San Francisco magazine calls a stretch of Middlefield Road in Redwood City "Little Michoacán." Any of these places worth a trip?

[Sushi Monster]

Well, if nobody else is going to jump in here .... I was not very impressed with the San Francisco magazine piece, but since you asked:

Taqueria Gonzalez
3194 Middlefield Rd.
I had high expectations for Taqueria Gonzalez, based on Web intelligence that reported great birria, asada and really serious hot sauce. This is a birria specialist – and the only memorable thing about my visit was the little Styrofoam cup of broth that accompanied the $2 birria tacos. Nice touches: The tortillas are made on the spot. And a to-go order comes with onions, limes and cilantro in a Ziploc baggie. Plus three salsas – tomatillo, red and chile oil. Unfortunately, the birria was shredded and pureed to a consistency approaching paste. Given the number of outstanding places within a block, it'd be hard to recommend Gonzalez.

The Panaderia Michoacan referenced in the San Francisco article is Panaderia Michoacan No. 2, a bakery-only outlet that's not on my radar. The original Panaderia Michoacan is a few blocks west at:
Panaderia Michoacan
2561 El Camino Real
Despite the bars on the windows and doors, this is a good shop in a good location -- and a comfortable place to eat in. The combo mercado-and-bakery has an interesting set of taco fillings, including barbacoa, chicharron (pork rinds) and (if you really hit them on the right day) desebrada (shredded beef). Tacos are $1.35 for regulars, $2 for larges. The lengua was memorable for the slight background note of cumin or curry. At the respectable salsa bar, go for the mild red rather than the hot.

Taqueria Apatzingan
3305 Middlefield Rd.
A full-scale taqueria that shares a wall with the mercado of the same name next door. There are a very respectable 14 fillings for tacos, tortas and burritos on the garage-door-sized menu board. Tacos come in three sizes – regular ($1.50), mano ($1.75) and super ($2). Four of the regulars is a large lunch. Birria is the real draw here, a little bit of a drier prep than at some other shops. The salsa bar offerings are limited. Skip the chile-oil-based red sauce and go for the tomatillo. You could eat-in here, but it's not nearly as attractive a dining room as the one at Apatzingan 2.

Rincon Tarasco
3200 Middlefield Rd.
The intersection of Fifth Avenue and Middlefield Road is the cultural and economic heart of Little Michoacan. And Rincon Tarasco has been an institution on the southwest corner for as long as El Taquistador can remember. On a Saturday afternoon, with a mariachi band sometimes stationed just outside the front door, it really does feel like the center of a world that is more Mexican than American. Although Rincon Tarasco does enough business with $1.50 tacos, $4 tortas and $5 burritos to quality as a bona fide taqueria, the real draw here is the big plates, such as lengua, camarones and guillotas (quail). The machaca con huevos – the Norteno equivalent of the very traditional Michoacan specialty aporreadillo – is a hearty, deeply satisfying plate of shredded, dried beef over scrambled eggs, swimming in a sweet, tangy red sauce. There's no salsa bar, but the red sauce you get on the table with chips is good stuff. Daily specials on the white board can range from barbacoa enchiladas to cesos tacos. Rincon Tarasco scores big on two major tests: Handmade tortillas to order and serious red sauce.

The Chavez market referred to in the San Francisco piece is the one of three in Redwood City, and the only one without a taqueria, so it's off my map.

Sushi Monster

[yimster]

I was at Gonzalez last week and watch one of the owner (the man) chop up the goat meat stew for the birra and it did not looked to well chopped up to me. While I had the Mendo which was just fine.

If you are willing to give it another try ask the owner not to chop it up too fine. Also it may be the end of a pot where the goat meat has been stewing for a few day and has been cooked down too much.

We had had great luck with Gonzalez. In fact I will make it a point to try the birra soon to see if has become pureed.

[Robert Lauriston]

A previous topic looking for Michoacan specialties didn't turn up much:

http://www.chowhound.com/topics/344469

[Sushi Monster]

If the real quest is "authentic" Michoacan rustic/regional items rather than flat-out great food, the places to look are not the taquerias. Please consider a couple of small full-service, sit-down operations, La Pachanga or Las Parrillas. I have yet to find any Redwood City restaurant offering that other celebrated Michoacan delicacy – roasted green iguana.

This is getting to be a small pet peeve of mine: Hounds looking for some sort of orthodox "authentic" experience, when the real residents of the neighborhood are living some other culinary reality entirely. To wit: The most popular fast food in Michoacan today isn't tacos -- it's pizza. Seriously. Ask any RWC teen who has been to both. They'll tell you the burgers are better here, but the pizza is better there. And the tacos are pretty much the same.

[Robert Lauriston]

I'm just interested in where one might find some of the dishes that are specific to Michoacan. Few of them require ingredients you can't get at any good Mexican grocery.

[Sushi Monster]

Of the five places mentioned in the San Francisco magazine blurb, I'd say only Rincon Tarasco is going to offer you a slice of that (ie: the quail). The other two sit-down places referenced above are also good bets. The best of Little Michoacan though is really the best of a half-dozen Mexican states.

[bbulkow]

So might there be a good mexican pizza joint in that part of RC? I read what you said - Pizza's better in Michoacan - but maybe there's one in RC that's decent? I'd like to know about that.

I hear you about the travails of the "authentic".

[Sushi Monster]

That is a great question -- that I can't find an answer to! You need to corner some teens in Little Michoacan and ask them where they go for pizza. I have a feeling they'll probably tell you Little Caesar's because it's $5.... just a guess.

[Ruth Lafler]

The problem is that in some ways, the Mexican food in the Bay Area is too authentic. Most of the eateries in working class Mexican neighborhoods are filling the same role as coffee shops and fast food in working class "American" neighborhoods, and just like coffee shops and fast food joints, they all serve basically the same items, although the type and quality of the preparations varies. You won't find interesting little Cal-Cuisine restaurants in "American" neighborhoods of the same socio-economic class, either. They aren't cooking for people who are interested in the niceties of regional Mexican food, and they aren't cooking for people who have a lot of money to spend on "nice" restaurants and who if they did, might not choose the kind of food that mom makes.

[Sushi Monster]

Most of the best restaurants in Little Michoacan are focused on providing basic Mexican food to their immediate neighborhood clientele. Again, the regional specialties are not what you're going to find in almost any of the taquerias.

[kareng1972]

If you love Birria, have you tried Birrieria Tepa in San Jose? They have 2 locations, one on Alum Rock and the Original on White Road. They serve the Birria several different ways and it is the BOMB!

[Robert Lauriston]

The Yucatecan places in SF seem to be doing well offering regional specialties.

I just want to know where in Redwood City, if anywhere, I might find regional dishes not available in Fruitvale or SF.

[kareng1972]

One of the best Mexican places in RC is la casita chilanga. It has the best tortas ever! It is located on El Camino Real across from Sequoia High School.

[Sushi Monster]

I enthusiastically second Karen on this. Of the three Casitas in RWC, the one on El Camino is really the top choice. The suaperro (beef rib meat) is just delicious as a taco filling.

[wally]

Barabacoa de borrego on Sundays. I don't think that that is from Michoacan, though.

[Robert Lauriston]

Barbacoa de borrego is very popular in Jalisco, and it's a weekend special at El Huarache Azteca in Oakland.

[Patti Isaacs]

I live a couple miles south of Little Michoacán in Menlo Park. I moved here 6 months ago from Minnesota, so perhaps I am just too easily impressed. Right after I got here, at the advice of a Mexican co-worker, I visited the in-store taqueria at Chavez Supermarket at 5th and El Camino. It was good, but I'd had just as good in the small Mexican neighborhood in St. Paul, MN. A few weeks later, I was biking up Middlefield road on the way to run an errand in Redwood City. The heavenly aromas were so distracting I nearly hit a parked car. I vowed that on my way back, I would stop in at the place that smelled the best.

I ended up eating at Taqueria El Gruellense about a mile north of the main Michoacán strip. Gruellense has several outlets in the area. The one across the street from Costco, just south of 84, is good, but the one I ate at--and return to frequently--is at Maple St. and Middlefield, just south of downtown RWC. They have a wider selection of fillings, and the tacos are so tasty that my mouth waters just thinking about them. Best are carnitas, crispy and melty, or chorizo, when I want that extra kick. My son, the chicken freak, loves the grilled chicken option. the surroundings are basic, but the food is deelish and the staff are always friendly and cheerful.

[Melanie Wong]

Trust your nose! I'm glad you're out here and posting tips to this board now.

Here's the link to your favorite at Middlefield and Maple.

[P. Punko]

Hi Patti,

Sushi Monster has a monster list of all the taquerias in Redwood City:

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/535387

I like the one you like, but my fave El Grullenses are the Grullense Grill on Woodside, one of the ones on El Camino, and the tiny one on Middlefield in the Little Michoacan (next to one of the awesome La Casita Chilangas (the torta only one)).

Although, if I remember correctly the one you like has some of the hotter red sauce. I remember it having a lot of bite!

[Patti Isaacs]

Thanks for the expanded list of Gruellense taquerias! I've visited the tiny one you suggested (in the lime green building)...it's like a trip to another world. The place is tiny and rustic, but the tacos and sopas are heavenly and inexpensive.

[BaraXan]

Thanks to this thread, our refrigerator-shopping in Redwood City culminated in a terrific lunch at Taqueria El Grullens on El Camino. We enjoyed the carnitas, lengua, chicken, and carne asada tacos--each one distinctive and very tasty. They also do a fried fish taco that is much larger and must contain about a third of a pound of crispy fish along with shredded cabbage and an arresting chipotle crema. I think this is Chowhound at its best--an unfamiliar destination, a quick web search, and a top-notch recommendation. Thanks everyone!