Tacos! Tacos are a completely lovely thing, aren’t they? Street style Tijuana tacos are even better than “normal” tacos with their oodles of meat and simple toppings. When you find a hidden taco gem if feels like you just stumbled upon a secret clubhouse filled with treasures. That’s how Jake and I felt when we found Rodeos Meat Market.
Jake had been wanting to visit another place in this little strip mall off Market and 47th street. Said place wasn’t prepared to serve food when they opened (grumble, grumble) and we actually only stopped into Rodeos Meat Market to get drinks. We noticed that in the back of the market they had a separate grill and we were prepping to make a taco station. It wasn’t ready at the time and we made a mental note to go back and check it out. I’m glad we did!
Rodeos Meat Market makes al pastor (pork) tacos, only available on the weekends. I believe they are ready to serve after 2PM. A nice gentleman will take your order and prep the meat and tortillas for you. He cuts off a very generous portion of meat and crisps it up on the grill before warming up the corn tortillas. He gives you the tacos and you can add whatever toppings you’d like. They have fresh salsas, cilantro, chopped onions, and lime – plenty of fixings!
This is how the tacos look when you first get them: ready and waiting for your creative foodie magic. The tacos are $1.49 each there’s about enough meat on each taco to fill two tacos! You could, if oodles of meat isn’t your thing, make two tacos out of one with their doubled up tortillas. These suckers are massive!
Here’s a peek at my tacos with plenty of cilantro and onion. The al pastor meat had a really lovely flavor and slight char on the meat. The meat was spicy but not overwhelming and the pork was quite juicy. Jake really, really loved these tacos but still thinks Tacos el Gordo is the king but that these tacos are worthy of repeat visits. That means we’ll be back! Yay cheap, delicious, treasure worthy tacos!
Rodeos Meat Market
4680 Market St.
San Diego, CA 92102
(619) 264-5818
Now I have to check this place out! Great find! This is the same strip mall with this Mexican bakery that I like. Neveria Tocumbo is also there – they have good ice cream with flavors you won’t find at most mainstream places. Across the street is Asia Cafe, but since the original owners retired, the food isn’tthe same.
We got a torta from Tocumbo but it was just okay. I want to go back and try their ice cream. Maybe I got the wrong items at the bakery, I didn’t like it too much. The tacos are a good find though! Cheap and tasty.
I checked my old posts…it’s called La Nueva. What I liked there were these filled flaky pastries. One had cream cheese and jalapeños. The other had a picadillo mixture that was really good. They don’t have it all the time, weekends only I think. I usually don’t like certain breads or pastries from panaderias because they are too dry So I avoid them and get savory items.
Hi CC – I liked this yellow cake with frosting they had at La Nueva but didn’t really care for the other random things we got (cookies and a chocolate cake thing). Maybe we just got the wrong things! My favorite panaderias are Elidia’s (off Fairmount) and Hilda’s (on University Ave).
$1.49?! And stuffed with al pastor?! Did the al pastor have any hint of pineapple to it? That second pic of tacos make the corn tortillas look home made. I can’t stress enough how cool you know a person is by their love of cilantro (funny as a family member is allergic to cilantro).
STUFFED! I don’t particularly remember a hint of pineapple, but I’m not a super taster like Jake so I might have never detected it in the first place. The guy heated up the tortillas on the grill right where he heated up the meat, so the tortillas picked up some of the meaty juices (yum). I love cilantro in a ridiculous way – it has just a vibrant taste and I love how it smells!