The city of Tijuana has become so hip
with so many new things.
But some of the old stuff is still here.
There is a taco row which was a go-to place
for multiple generations of local Tijuanonians.
(soft music)
For nostalgic Tijuanonians,
everyone knows that the classic place to eat tacos
is a taco row called Las Ahumaderas.
It's been here since 1960s.
We're gonna go see that right now.
(soft music)
Sometimes you're just in the mood for a taco.
So of all these individual ones that are here on this row,
I wanna give each one a fair shake.
So I'm gonna ask each one, you know,
for their best two tacos.
(speaking in Spanish)
Okay, so first one's got some classic carne asada,
chorizo, tripe, all charbroiled.
(soft music)
Okay, so there's a lot of innovation going on
with food in TJ.
Well, even with tacos, so many variations,
but for the purists out there,
if you want to know what the Genesis
of the taco in Baja is, this is it.
Imagine from the '60s to now,
this taco is probably unchanged.
This is the classic Tijuana taco.
Okay, so here's the carne asada and now, okay.
Adobada.
Thank you, thank you.
And this is the adobada of the Al Pastor.
We've had this before, but this is it.
This is the row.
This is where Tijuanonians would come,
you know, Friday night after drinking,
after being at a club, got munchies, but going hungry.
This is where they hit.
This is a very famous row.
So on any given weekend, you come here
on a weekend night,
it's going to be full of locals
that you're gonna be able to interact with.
Let me just, let me just get in there.
Hmmm.
The truest and oldie but goodie, you just can't go wrong.
You cannot go wrong. You know, I've been doing
a little bit of research
and across Europe, countries are going crazy
for the typical,
ordinary,
average pedestrian Mexican taco.
They are going nuts in European cities.
And you have it right here,
right across the border from the U.S.
Oh, man.
This adobada one,
has a spicier sauce than the carne asada.
It's hitting me.
(laughs)
You need a strawberry soda.
That's my advice, that's my advice.
I don't drink soda at all
but when you eat street tacos in Mexico,
there's just something about that strawberry soda.
It tastes so good.
(speaking in Spanish)
Wow, that just hit the spot.
Okay, so this was El Paisano.
There's four here. So this is El Paisano.
First one, done, check.
So now for the next taco stand, El Paisa.
Let's see what they have in store for me.
Okay, so he's gonna give me
an asada and adobada tacos here.
So that they could very well be the same, all of them.
We'll see, we'll see.
But it's a pretty cool row.
So you get what you get, you get the purist original
you know, Tijuana Baja taco.
But I would argue that these better than any,
any tacos anywhere in the country, so.
You'll be well-served if you come to TJ.
He's gonna give me a variation.
He says he's gonna give me a carne asada
with chorizo taco. So-
- Asada chorizo.
- Oh my good-
Okay, so that's a variation right there.
Full of flavor.
Chorizo's always good.
(speaking in Spanish)
Right. So, they have these radish slices.
Sometimes they give you full radishes for you to bite into.
Side veggies with your tacos.
But don't get diverted from the objective.
Man, oh man. You got the job, senor.
This guy's filling my plate up faster
than I can empty it.
These tacos are like traveling back in time.
Sure, you could say stagnant
if you have been up to date with
all the innovations in culinary cuisine,
but it's also like a purist taco.
If you want to know
what tacos have been like for a long time,
this is the place to come to.
Okay? Th- these guys gave me an asada
and they're making a samurai taco.
So,
these guys varied a little bit.
(cook chopping)
Okay, he's got some cheese.
It's like an asada taco, but with a bed of cheese.
So their samurai taco.
You see the beginnings of variations occurring.
A bit of saltiness from the cheese.
You know what? They're all good.
Some a little better than others.
Sometimes you're just in the mood for taco.
Not everyone gets the quesadilla.
And I was not crazy about these quesadillas in particular.
I've liked the basic tacos the best.
As I stagger to the last taco shop to get my last two,
to try them all.
This is the one at the very end.
It seems to have the most people.
We'll see if it's better than the other ones.
(orders in Spanish)
I've given everyone the same challenge,
"Give me your two best tacos."
Now most of them seem to want to go
with their typical asada and adobada.
They could- You get the same.
All the other ones are "El Paisano",
"Los Paisanos",
"El Paisa",
there are, there are variations of the paisano.
This one is called Three Salsa.
So this is the last one and with a different name.
So I'll tell you what I think, okay?
Okay, so this guy was braver.
So one, the asada,
carne asada taco is a staple of the Mexican taco, you know.
Lore, hall of champions,
repertoire.
So everyone had that in common.
Now this guy, for a second taco though,
he gave me a tripa taco, a tripe taco.
So this is before I give my verdict.
So this one from Tres Salsas, okay.
Oh, man. Such, such goodness.
How can a culture have so much goodness
with something so relatively simple?
Let's try the tripa one.
Oh, man.
You want to try the classics?
Ahumaderas is the place to go.
You will not find finer classic tacos anywhere.
You almost,
you don't feel like you come here for a nostalgia, right?
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- Because there's so many other taco places all over TJ.
- Yeah, I know.
- But this is like the nostalgic place to come to, right?
- Yeah, yeah.