Taqueria Zavala, #1 in South Gate, CA

albondigas soup

I have been going to the same chiropracter for 25 years! He's awesome; Gary Yanagihara. He has kept me going in a hard dance class over the years far longer than my body wanted. He's in South Gate off the 710. LOTS of good tacos around there.  In fact, Casita Mexicana (in Bell) is maybe 10-15 minutes away.

So even though I am still on a carb reduced diet, I perused local YELP recommends and chose Taqueria Zavala. I expected a stand but was surprised to find an amazing vintage diner serving up delicious home cooked Mexican food.

My waitress 'Mary' (she had a name tag AND a jaunty scarf) was an absolute doll. Very friendly and she noticed right away my obnoxious picture taking and asked if it was my first time. I gave her my card. She thought I was crazy but by the end she was excited to check out the post I promised was coming ASAP.

I of course sampled the tacos, 2 of them. FABULOUS: A fried potato made with hashed browns (for which there is no Spanish translation) and a stew-like Pastor taco that was more like Birria than the grilled pork I love so well.

Pastor Taco 'Durango' style

Hashed browns crispy potato taco

It was raining out, so why not try the soup? I ordered some Albondigas (meatball soup with big hunks of carrots and zucchini) and took most of it home. I am absolutely CRAZED with trying to re-create the pastor. It had soft pork, long-cooked onions, tomatoes and some kind of magical red chili. I asked but the chef wasn't there.

They tried to tell me it was a California pepper and that it was green and not red (Anneheim?) so maybe the red was just from oil and tomatoes. I thought maybe I detected a little chili arbol... It had a little bit of heat and a little bit of sweet from the cooked pinapple. BEYOND the BEYOND of TASTY.

This location has been there for 25 years but now they are branching out with several other locations.

http://www.taqueriazavala.com/

13665 Garfield Ave
South Gate, CA 90280

(562) 630-7475