Eatery - Taqueria de Anda (CA)

308 W Valencia Dr, Fullerton, CA 92832
Pricing - $ | Dining - Casual, To-Go | Cuisine - Mexican
http://www.taqueriadeanda.com/

A tasty spot that I often see people check into on Yelp, I've always wondered about it but never had the compulsion to go. That changed though once I was urged to go by friend Craig who wanted us to give it a shot. I looked up the restaurant and saw that there were actually about seven different locations. I'm a little apprehensive of restaurants that seem like chains but still give them a shot and was glad I did.


I liked the look of it from the outside immediately and even more when I came inside. It was deceptively spacious with plenty of seating and open areas. The menu was uncomplicated, and the ingredients were being freshly prepared and stacked on in front of you. Immense heaps of cilantro sat piled up on the countertops behind the front-row "assemblymen," waiting to be loaded into the large trays. They were fast-paced and knew exactly what they were doing. I liked seeing that the food was put together without frills or fuss - just the ingredients as you should have them.


Craig had wanted us there to give their all-meat burrito a try. He made it carne asada with plenty of cilantro and onion to boot. This thing was massive. Chock-full of delicious, slightly-charred-but-in-the-good-way steak, it was a meat lover's dream; hence, the happy don't-bother me sounds that Duc was emitting next to me. I managed to get through about half or maybe two-thirds of it before I admitted defeat and handed him the rest of mine. We washed this fresh and tasty bad boy down with the sweet nectar that Mexican-food lovers know as tamarindo. I liked their version here - plenty of tamarind's natural sweetness.


So why was I struggling through that burrito when I normally could wolf the thing down? Well I ordered three tacos too (and horchata!). How could I deny a place that also has al pastor ("Slices of pre-cooked marinated pork is stacked in layers w/onions and put on a vertical broiler to cook in the onion and the meat together") and lengua (steamed)? I also got the carne asada one though because I didn't know at the time of ordering that the all meat burritos were going to be all carne asada. Oh well. Who really complains about more steak anyway? So the tacos were generously stacked with their respective meats which were all fairly good. It's hard to compare a restaurant's al pastor with the grungy ones you find on the side of the road from a late night truck in downtown LA...BUT I'd say that these held up a fair fight. They were the like the brother who moved out of the hood to be more sophisticated but didn't quite lose all the ghetto in him. Does that even make sense? Anyhow, good tacos but I think I'll be back for another burrito sometime. Thanks for the suggestion Craig!

Photography by Minerva Thai & Duc Duong.