Just as absurd as those bacoman/williambeckett/Stravinsky posts back on CH. He just can’t help himself.
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Yeah, asking people to back up fucking absurd claims is really “ridiculous”.
@Aesthete just because you haven’t had Mexican food in Santa Ana doesn’t mean it’s ridiculous. Flip the argument. What Mexican restaurant have you tried in Santa Ana to make you claim LA is so much better? Google any Mexican dish + Santa Ana + Yelp.
You like Taco Maria so much, ever talk to the chef or his sister about growing up in Santa Ana and where to find good Mexican eats? Where do you think he pulls inspiration and flavors from? His training at Coi in SF?
@Ns1 just cause you don’t know where the $1 food trucks are doesn’t mean they don’t exist. Todos los dias son. Truck has probably been there since forEVER.
I didn’t know there was a street lined with taco trucks. But I work with people that have lived in Santa Ana their entire lives and when I mentioned “why can’t we have a good mariscos truck like Mariscos El Pescador in San Diego” the response was, “We do (stupid) it’s by where all those taco trucks are!”
Santa Ana is so under explored by the CH/FTC set including myself. Doesn’t mean great Mexican food isn’t down here.
First 8 look pretty legit. Check out the line for #7. Especially picture #53 (930pm on Saturday). No hipsters here but entire families. Oh wait, their tacos are also $1? How can that be @Ns1.
https://m.yelp.com/search?find_desc=Seafood+Truck&find_loc=Santa+Ana%2C+CA
This tostada with shrimp, crab, abalone, octopus looks pretty amazing.
https://m.yelp.com/biz_photos/el-yaqui-cahuamanta-y-mariscos-santa-ana?select=BuGUBxfP_fAjM3gYYD4WnA
Here is some tortilla hecha a mano for you:
https://m.yelp.com/biz_photos/alebrijes-grill-santa-ana-4?select=g19ppXQlVkAqOLe3u3QkdQ
Note the tostadas de pata de res. If that was at GCM people would be gaga singing internet praises. Note there is no English menu for those that can’t read Spanish.
Here is another hand made tortilla place for you. 5 stars 106 reviews. Whaaaat? They have Huitlacoche quesadillas and some amazing looking Mexican corn on the cob?
http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/los-reyes-del-elote-santa-ana?select=upsRBvlkoijQALMu-fBKOQ
Q.E.D
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El Borrego Sagrado for barbacoa con consume
Los Reyes Del Elote for mole tacos and squash blossom quesadilla, huitlacoche, street corn, tripas tacos
El Toro Carniceria for carne asada and fresh tortillas
Ochoa’s for chorizo verde
Carnitas Urapan for cabeza, cueritos, and pierna tacos
Taqueria Tapatia for al pastor torta
La Cemita Poblana for milanesa cemita
Super Antojitos for menudo
El Cabrito for birria plate con consume and lengua tacos
Paleteria La Flor De Michoacan for guayaba or mango chile paletas
Potzoldencano for chicken pozole and enfrijoladas
Anecpalcos for chiliquiles con huevos
This is all in one city. I am sure I missing a few off hand.
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The amount of meat they put in the tacos at El Toro Carniceria is like 3x the amount meat you’ll find in most places. They charge around $1.50-2.10 for one of their tacos so basically like 50-70 cent tacos @Ns1. El Toro has been around forever also. The butcher shop side is a great place for goat.
As someone mentioned before, they’re more mini meat burritos than tacos.
Those are actually legit huh?
Thank you for posting a list though. I’m gonna be crawling around showing an NYC’er SoCal Mex food later this month, appreciate you actually stepping up and sharing information =D
Here’s my last reply to the tangent - in LA I don’t have to go looking.
You do realize that has more to do with the level of familiarity you have with a geographic location than the quality of the cuisine.
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Handmade meaning a lump of masa slapped by hand into a tortilla or hand pressed on a press?
Am not actually sure. How does one differentiate between those two methods?
Many… MANY things are… 
–Dommy!
It’s rare to hear a slapping sound coming from the kitchen but thats what you hear.
How does it affect the taste?
Apparently there’s no metallic taste.
Try El Guero for birra too
Oh wait, shit, I forgot I don’t know any places
Oh well, I guess I screwed that up when I rec’d Uruapan ages ago
Thanks for doing my homework for me. For what it’s worth, I like your list, I’ve been to most of those places and wouldn’t hesitate to go back to damn near any of them (although I don’t get the Ochoa’s love, personally)
Would love to see even morel inks.
Why does everything close at fucking 7 pm in Santa Ana though???
That chorizo verde at Ochoa’s keeps me coming back. Grilled whole and sliced for tacos with a negra modelo in the summer and I am good. The green is fire hot too, which I love.
Not in Santa Ana, but I highly recommend the chorizo tacos at Carnitas Los Reyes. In fact, I highly recommend a lot of things at Carnitas Los Reyes. lol Right now I am hooked on their milanesa torta add chicharron. And their beans beats any beans I have had anywhere in LA. If Carnitas Los Reyes was in Santa Ana…
Also, Poblana Bakery in Orange makes great tamales. Better than any I have had in LA. It is that time of year and I used to grab them at LA, but Orange is the spot now.
You’ve got somewhere around 20+ recommendations between A5Kobe’s and mine.
Even if you came down once a week it would take you over a year to explore the menus at each (at least 2-3 visits each to do some of these places justice).
It would be easier if you asked for recs for a specific dish you were looking for instead of just “mexican food”.
I’d actually be curious if there are other places with good food that are open later than 7 pm.
I hit up Taqueria Tapatia tonight for an al pastor torta + an order of their off-menu carne asada nacho fries.
I will say this, the carne asada fries were close to legit, weird with the nacho cheese, but it was pretty good nacho cheese, and, most importantly, they do the fries well, which somehow nowhere else in Los Angeles does. This is, of course, a horrible dish to talk about in terms of Mexican food… but couldn’t resist since it’s one of the most popular items there, and I had a weakness for the dish, for like $7, the order is also ridiculous and can feed like 3 people lol
The al pastor torta had exceptional bread for sure, and large slices of tart tomato, huge portion of mayo, and really crispy al pastor. The pastor itself felt like it needed some more spice, or more salt or something, salsa helped a lot. Otherwise it sort of tasted like a more pleasant version of In-n-Out with better textures (crispy meat + chewy, pillowy grilled bun).
The bun and the fries did not travel super well but that’s true of all fries and fresh buns.
Overall, interesting experience. I would still rather eat the tortas at Super Torta’s D.F. in South Central, but these are much more available, and somewhat cheaper.
I just missed El Toro…so will probably go there next as they are open till 10 at least.
@Aesthete this one is open late night. Looks like the line gets pretty long too.
http://m.yelp.com/biz/rigobertos-brothers-taqueria-taco-stand-santa-ana?osq=Seafood+Truck
Try some of the more adventurous cuts of meat like birria, cabeza, and buche if you’re looking for more flavor.