Hi, my name is Rob, I am of Latin American decent (Mom is Mexican and Dad is Guatemalan) and was born in Los Angeles California. I moved to South Gate when I was around 3 and moved again to the San Fernando Valley a few years later. It was when I was about 13 that my dad moved my sister my mom and me to Thousand Oaks, California.
The city of Thousand Oaks is a bedroom community/suburb of roughly 120,000 inhabitants. Although the population of Thousand Oaks is overwhelmingly Caucasian there is still a large group of Latin American peoples throughout the rest of the county that Thousand Oaks is a part of. Many Latino’s have been in this area for 50 years (or longer) and many more probably have moved here in the last 10 years or so. According to the US Census Bureau in 2009 there were 802,983 people living in the Ventura County. Of this amount, 38.5% were of Hispanic or Latino origin. With that type of figure, you’d probably think that there would be much to offer with regards to Mexican food. Well………
I’ve (more or less) lived in parts of the greater Ventura County area since 1989 and with being married plus having 2 kids (and another on the way) it seems I’m here to stay. Because of this realization, I felt it was the right time to start a blog dedicated to one of the not so strong points of this great county: its taquerias (taco shops) and the tacos they make.
The Ventura County consists of these cities: Camarillo, Fillmore, Moorpark, Ojai, Oxnard, Port Hueneme, Santa Paula, Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks and the city of Ventura.
Now, filling in the gaps around these cities are places like: Buckhorn, Meiners Oaks, Oak Park, Ortonville, Piru, Virginia Colony, Newbury Park (where I currently reside) and many other neighborhoods, subdivisions and settlements.
In spite the large influx of Latino’s that have either been settled here for many years or are new to the place, their collective influence on Ventura Counties many Mexican restaurants and taquerias has not really made a mark on the quality of the food that is being served at these places. I’ve always personally felt that the Mexican cuisine being offered around this area seemed a bit weak in comparison to what other places south of us (Los Angeles, San Fernando Valley, Orange County and San Diego) have been serving up. Not to mention the Mexican food being cooked up in other states. The out of state subject is something I may hit on some other time.
It’s my intention to go to every place that’s serves a taco in the Ventura County and see what stands out. I’ll let you know what I think and give each place a rating of 1 to 5 stars (1 being the worst, 5 the best) and it will only be tacos. I won’t go into anything other then that. Well, I will make mention of salsa’s too, plus the environment and the vibe and included photos and other info. I may make an exception and try something other than tacos and let you know how that goes but it’s gonna be 99.9% tacos that I’ll be eating. Some friends and family will be joining me here and there.
A few other things: like most people who start blogs I’m not expecting anyone to keep up with what I’m doing here. Maybe my wife and a few friends but really, this is just for my own enjoyment. Being latino I’ve been exposed to a variety of Mexican dishes since I was a little kid, so I think this is a subject that I have good handle on. Although I like many different foods that originate from many places throughout the world, Mexican food will always be my favorite and the taco more than anything.
Tacos predate the arrival of Europeans in Mexico. More than likely the indigenous people living near lakes in the Valley of Mexico ate tacos filled with small fish. The Spanish conquistadors were the ones who named this indigenous food “taco”.
I’ve had many a taco in my lifetime in all its different variations with all types of fillings. I’m not going break it all down now but I will explain things as I go along whilst I’m checking out different places.
I also want to make mention that if you are interested in tacos in other towns and cities in Southern California check out blogs like: The Great Taco Hunt www.greattacohunt.com (which is the main inspiration for this blog), LA Taco www.lataco.com and I Heart Tacos www.ihearttacos.com
But again, I will only be dealing with the Ventura County. It will be at random, I’ll go from place to place as time allows.
