Taqueria Jalisco #3 - Simi Valley

Typically, when I think of Simi Valley, for some reason my thoughts always turn to the Mad Max movies; The backdrop for the story being a desolate, post apocalyptic wasteland........Well, I don't really think that way (no wait, yes I do) but maybe its because its located in such a large valley and some of the landscape and scenery remind one of the look of a Mad Max film. I just wish I had a sweet V8 interceptor to cruise around in.

I just don't know the place to well, maybe there's some really cool stuff happening around Simi Valley I just wouldn't know anything about it. For crying out loud, I live in Newbury Park and absolutely zero is happening there, so what the hell am I talking about.

Anyhow, there's definitely a sort of disconnect between the people living over the Camarillo grade and the rest of the county below.

The only other taqueria around Simi that I've been to for the purposes of this blog was Carnitas Michoacanas. Other than that place,  I'm not familiar with the layout of the land and I really don't know were the locals go for good Mexican food. Shit, I'm not sure if I want to know. In any case, some taquerias in Simi have been around for a long time and are well known establishments but they will be totally new to me, so this leads me to Taqueria Jalisco #3.

I do know that Taqueria Jalisco (a small chain, by the way) is an established taco joint in this town so that's why I ended up here.

So, I get to the place and order the 3 tacos I always get ( carnitas, asada & pastor) and actually take them to-go and set up shop on the hood of my car. The inside of Taqueria Jalisco was very nice, clean, tidy (with complementary chips and salsa that you can serve yourself!) and definitely inviting as far as place were you'd want to sit down and enjoy your food but.......I was in hurry, and its just a long story.....

Tacos! okay, these all came topped with cilantro, onions and salsa roja plus some cuts of tomatoes.

Carnitas: very very interesting. For one thing they came chopped in very small cubes as opposed to the shredded version that I'm used too, but it was really good! Indeed, I was surprised how good it was. These little crispy morsels were deep fried pieces of pork that packed a ton of juicy flavor and totally melted in my mouth. The salsa was solid and worked really well with the strong pork flavor of the carnitas. Again, pretty damn good.

The pastor was really good too, flavorful pork that had serious hints of pineapple and was totally solid overall. Also, quite juicy and moist, very nice texture (soft and easily chewable) and the spice was not overpowering at all. I know that the way they cooked it was probably in a adobado like fashion but it worked for me. Like the carnitas, also was cut into tiny pieces.

Asada was also very good! Finely cut like the other two and with a slight crispy char but tender and very easy to chew on. The flavor of beef was at the forefront but not so much the flavor of asada. The nice cut of meat, with no connective tissue or gristle, is what saved (and made) this taco. Not bad at all.

The tortillas on these little tacos were perfectly oiled and piping hot, which really kicked all of these babies up a notch. Its funny how a thing like this is constantly overlooked by a lot of the other places I have visited (for this blog) so far. The salsa was solid and complemented all the tacos very well. Not overly spicy and it didn't separately distinguish itself really but just acted as a one component of the total flavor profile for all these tacos. I seriously could have ordered 3 more.

So, to me, I feel as though I've just discovered a diamond in the rough. But to people in Simi Valley, Taqueria Jalisco is just a good place everyone already knows about. Well, I hope they do because they serve great tacos. 3.5/5 stars

Taqueria Jalisco #3
1742 East Los Angeles Avenue
Simi Valley, Ca 93065