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Gerry Torres knows a lot about tacos — and this Mexico City native who spent much of his youth in Tijuana and San Diego has turned that knowledge into a menu featuring 20+ renditions of that popular street food at City Tacos, a restaurant he launched in 2014 in North Park, California, with a menu of four tacos.
The ingredients
The restaurant now boasts eight San Diego area locations with a menu that features tacos in myriad varieties — everything from traditional options (chicken, carne asada and carnitas) to caseros “homestyle” tacos (pulled pork with mayan achiote sauce, beef shank, mahi mahi), and several other meat, seafood, vegetarian, and vegan options.
One of the most unique varieties coming out of the kitchen is Chef Eduardo Baeza’s Taco Placero — a corn tortilla topped with watercress, pork rinds and cactus salad, crowned with an avocado sliver, and served with pickled jalapeños or fresh salsa of choice.
And why did Torres select the Taco Placero as a favorite?
“Simplicity makes individual ingredients pop. Taco Placero provides a potpourri of flavors that your taste buds will love, and you’ll probably want to eat a second and third,”Torres says.“It’s a great, light option with a crunch for taco lovers.”
Taco Placero
The Taco:
Corn tortilla
Avocado
Pork rinds
Cactus salad (recipe below)
Papalo (substitute with watercress if not available)
The Cactus Salad:
4 clean cactus leaves3 Roma tomatoes1 white onion
5 oz. mild ricotta or mild feta cheese1 sprig cilantro1½ oz. olive oilSalt, to taste
Dry oregano, to taste
Fresh lime juice from one lime
Wash cactus thoroughly and remove any thorns, cut in half-inch-thick slivers, and place in a pot of water with salt; cook for approximately ten minutes or until soft (al dente). Once the cactus slivers are cooked, strain them and allow them to cool to room temperature. Chop the Roma tomatoes and ricotta or feta into cubes and slice the onion into thin slivers. Finally, mix it all together in a bowl and add lime juice, desired salt, oregano, olive oil and fresh cilantro.
To build the taco: Place a warm corn tortilla as a base. Add papalo or watercress, pork rinds and cactus salad, crown with avocado sliver, and serve with pickled jalapeños or fresh salsa of choice.