San Diego Does Not Mess Around
Let me set the scene for you. The city of San Diego sits right on the border of Mexico – Tijuana is literally a 20-minute drive south. This proximity is the reason San Diego has built a legitimate argument for being the best Mexican food city in the United States. It sounds like a big claim, but trust me when I say that when you are there, you feel it. If you walk fifty feet in any direction, you will run into a Mexican spot. The culture bleeds through in the food in a way that you just don’t find anywhere else north of the border.
So when I found myself in San Diego for spring break, I knew one thing had to happen. I had done my research before the trip, talked to enough people, and kept hearing the same two names come up over and over: Tacos El Gordo and The Taco Stand. Online, every influencer is talking about El Gordo.
In my life, friends and family always mention The Taco Stand. I decided to go to both, back to back, dinner on separate nights, and settle this myself.
The History of San Diego’s Taco Culture
Before I get into the food and atmosphere of both restaurants, it is worth understanding how San Diego’s Mexican food landscape actually developed, because it makes the rivalry between these two places more clear.
The city’s taco culture basically evolved in three waves. The first wave goes back to the 1930s and 40s, when foundational institutions like Las Cuatro Milpas in Barrio Logan (founded 1933) and El Indio (1940) started commercializing Mexican comfort food for the masses. Slow-cooked food, handmade tortillas, lard-heavy preparations. These places built the foundation.
The second wave hit in the latter half of the twentieth century and gave us the Roberto’s model – the ubiquitous “-berto’s” suffix that you see on taco shops all over Southern California. This era birthed the California Burrito and Carne Asada Fries. Heavy, hybridized, high-calorie food built for surfers, military, and late-night college students. It worked, but it also diluted a lot of the hyper-regional Mexican traditions in favor of something more Anglo-friendly and standardized.
The third wave, which is where we are now, is a direct rejection of that. San Diego’s current food culture is obsessed with going back to the authentic street food traditions of Tijuana and the Baja Peninsula. That is exactly where Tacos El Gordo and The Taco Stand both live – though they have completely different ideas about what authenticity actually looks like in practice.
The Legend of Tacos El Gordo
Tacos El Gordo downtown San Diego at 5pm on a weekday
Tacos El Gordo didn’t start in San Diego. The brand traces its roots to Tijuana, in 1972, where the founding family spent decades perfecting traditional street tacos for the working-class locals and late-night border crowd. They weren’t cooking for tourists. They were cooking for people who knew exactly what a good taco was supposed to taste like.
When they crossed into the US in 1998 and opened their first San Diego location in the South Bay, they didn’t change a single thing. No Americanization, no menu softening, no accommodations for a new market. What worked in Tijuana came over completely intact.
The brand has since expanded to Las Vegas and now holds a handful of locations across Southern California and Nevada. They have been included in the Michelin Guide’s list of best Mexican restaurants in San Diego. The hype around this place has been building for over fifty years.
Inside the busy Tacos El Gordo kitchen
My Night at El Gordo
I showed up to the downtown San Diego location at 5pm on the dot. There was already a line out the door that stretched down the block. After waiting 45 minutes outside, I finally got through the front door.
Here is where things get interesting. Tacos El Gordo doesn’t operate like a normal restaurant. The entire space is divided into separate stations, each dedicated to one specific type of meat. There is a line for Adobada pork. A completely separate line for Carne Asada. A different line for the offal cuts.
You grab a red tray, and you physically queue in whichever line corresponds to the meat you want. The catch: if you want two different meats, you have to do two separate lines. You can’t order everything at once. When my friend and I figured this out, we split up – he went to the beef line, I stayed in the pork line. Then I waited another 45 minutes. An hour and a half total to get tacos.
There is also a bouncer. I had never seen a bouncer at a taco restaurant in my life. He was wearing all black, managing the line, and yelling at everyone. The whole thing felt like I was inside an SNL comedy sketch.
Once I finally got my food, I have to be honest: the tacos were good. The Adobada is the most famous item by far – chili-marinated pork shaved off a rotating trompo, hitting the corn tortilla with crispy, caramelized edges and a famous creamy green avocado salsa draped over the top. The flavor profile is spicy, savory, fatty, and rich. I also got the Carne Asada and the Suadero (beef brisket), and the Azteca, which pairs grilled beef with nopal cactus and guacamole. All very solid.
Our taco tray: adobada pork, azteca steak, suadero brisket
But here is my issue. My friend and I walked out, having spent somewhere between $60 and $70 for two people. The tacos are $4 to $5 each, and they are small. Classic street taco small. To feel full, we needed at least five. There is no salsa bar, no chips, no extras worth mentioning beyond a side of roasted peppers, onions, and some limes (which we practically had to beg for). No burritos. And worst of all – no beer. The menu is intentionally minimal, which is a choice I respect philosophically, but at that price point and after that wait, minimal starts to feel like not enough.
The food was good, but I’m not sure it’s worth the return trip given how exhausting the experience was.
The Story Behind The Taco Stand
The Taco Stand at Encinitas at 5pm. No line. No bouncer. Just walk in.
The Taco Stand opened in 2013 in La Jolla, about as far geographically and culturally from El Gordo’s South Bay roots as you can get while still being in San Diego. It was founded by Julian Hakim and Aram Baloyan, both of whom grew up on the Tijuana side of the border and knew the food intimately. Hakim’s origin story is fascinating – he went to medical school in Mexico City with every intention of becoming an orthopedic surgeon, then spotted a vacant commercial space next to his uncle’s pizzeria in La Jolla and pivoted his entire life. He and Baloyan launched The Taco Stand under their hospitality group, Showa Hospitality, and built it from day one to scale.
That scale has been aggressive. From one cramped storefront on Pearl Street, they have expanded to 15-plus locations across California, Nevada, Texas, and Florida – including spots in Miami’s Wynwood, South Beach, Calle 8, Dallas, and Las Vegas. They also received Michelin recognition alongside El Gordo in 2021.
Their philosophy is different from El Gordo’s in a very deliberate way. The Taco Stand is not trying to replicate a 1970s Tijuana street corner inside a US building. They are trying to take the essence of Baja street food and package it into something that works for a modern customer without compromising on the food. Whether that is a sellout move or a smart evolution is an interesting topic of debate.
Inside The Taco Stand with a lively bar view
My Night at The Taco Stand
I went to the Encinitas location the following night, with family who live in San Diego and consider this their go-to spot. We walked in at 5pm and went straight to the counter to order. Zero wait.
The first thing that hits you is the salsa bar – and I judge Mexican restaurants heavily by their salsa quality and selection. The Taco Stand’s salsa bar is absolutely top tier. They offer a salsa chipotle, a salsa verde, a habanero, a mild tomato option, and then the crown jewels: salsa cilantro (creamy cilantro-lime salsa) and salsa macha. If you have never had salsa macha, it is an oil-based chili crisp from Veracruz made with toasted garlic, cashews, peanuts, sesame seeds, and dried chilis ground into a thick, nutty, intensely spicy paste. Get the chips and guac just so you can try all of these amazing sauces.
The actual menu is broader than El Gordo’s by a significant margin. Tacos come on corn or flour depending on the item. The Al Pastor is a renowned protein here, marinated pork with fresh pineapple shaved directly into the taco as it cooks – rivaling El Gordo’s Adobada. The Baja taco, which is battered deep-fried fish served with cabbage and chipotle salsa, is a direct nod to Ensenada and one of my personal favorites every time I go. The Carne Asada is 100% certified Angus beef, flame grilled. You cannot go wrong with any of the tacos.
The burritos are where The Taco Stand separates itself from a value standpoint. The California Burrito – steak, cheese, french fries, guac, tomato, salsa, sour cream – is a San Diego institution, and theirs executes it as well as anyone. The Mar y Tierra, which is grilled shrimp and steak together, is my personal favorite. Priced around $10 to $12, either burrito absolutely destroys the caloric-value-per-dollar calculation that I run through my head as a college student.
We also got the carne asada fries, the elote, and quesadillas for the table. Everything was eaten. The whole spread cost less per person than my night at El Gordo, and I left so full I could barely move.
The full spread: carne asada fries, elote, chips and guac, salsas, tacos, quesadillas
The Verdict
For full credibility: I am from Northern California, I have been to Mexico multiple times, and I have eaten my way through Mexican spots up and down California. I have high standards.
Tacos El Gordo is a living museum of Tijuana street food. The Adobada is an iconic and absolutely delicious taco. If you are a purist who wants the most authentic border-town experience you can find in the US, and you are willing to navigate a chaotic multi-line system, wait 90 minutes, spend real money on small tacos, and skip the beer – it delivers.
The Taco Stand wins the war. The food quality is elite, the value is far better, the salsa bar alone puts it on a different level,and the experience of actually eating there doesn’t feel like a test of endurance. My family who lives in San Diego raves about it for a reason. Every local I talked to who eats there regularly doesn’t just go once for the Instagram post; they come back because the entire menu is consistently excellent.
Both spots have Michelin recognition. Both are fun eating experiences if you find yourself in San Diego. But if I can only send you to one, it is The Taco Stand without hesitation.
The Cheat Sheet
Tacos El Gordo
- What to order: Adobada (non-negotiable), Azteca if you want something different
- Price range: $4 to $5 per taco, $60-70 for two hungry guys eating a full meal
- Hours: Most locations open until 2 am daily; the Chula Vista flagship runs until 4 am on weekends
- Heads up: Multi-line system, one line per meat. Split up with your group to cover more ground. Expect a wait. No salsa bar, no beer, no burritos.
- Locations: Southern California (San Diego County) and Las Vegas
The Taco Stand
- What to order: Chips and guac first, use them on the salsa bar. Carne Asada, Al Pastor, or Baja for tacos. California or Mar y Tierra for burritos. Carne Asada Fries and elote as sides.
- Price range: $4 to $5 per taco (but they’re much bigger), burritos $10 to $12, better overall value per person
- Hours: Daytime and early evening focused, not a late-night spot
- Heads up: Single line, can order everything at once, online ordering available. They serve beer.
- Locations: California, Nevada, Texas, and Miami