Tuetano Taqueria

Found Tuetano Taqueria on Eater and had to take the trip down to check them out.

Granted this was my first birria taco for as far as I can remember. I came in kind of nervous because I knew I was down for the bone marrow but again, first timer. However, no stranger to quality food/ingredients and proper seasoning!

Tuetano is hella good!

The guy who took my order seemed like he was running the show up there and was very kind. Told him it was my first time and he pointed me right to the Birria Tuetano. I hear consommé is a must but I stuck with the Burris Tuetano straight up. The taco was nice and crispy the beef was solid and flavorful and that bone marrow really created an excellent combo. Be careful the bone is hot af!

Great presentation, atmosphere and Birria Tuetano!

REOPEN THIS LOCATION!!!! People should drive down to South Bay those are where the real tacos are at :)

Tuétano Taqueria dishes up bone marrow (tuétano) as a side for their birria de res tacos. Clearly the bone marrow is the star of the show. "Where's the beef"? said no one ever at Tuétano Taqueria.

The tortillas are grilled until crispy. Then they are topped with a hearty amount of birria (stewed beef) and garnished with cilantro and onions. The tacos are swimming in the profoundly flavorful consommé from stewing the beef.

Focus now. Back to the bone marrow. Each bone has a sharp stick that is essential for digging out and extricating the precious gloopy bits and rich, semi-liquefied beef "butter." You can eat it straight up or you can slather the melted marrow on the taco to let it commingle with the delicious consommé. It doesn't get any beefier than this.

The salsa macha has notes of arbol chiles and garlic, for another level of depth of flavor.

Ordering:
You'll be told to scan the QR code to view the online menu. They recently overhauled the menu so that they only have birria tacos, quesadillas, and tuetano (bone marrow).

Dining Area:
There are a few tables inside.

Parking:
Spot the yellow exterior of the tiny restaurant on narrow W San Ysidro Boulevard. Look for curbside parking.

Update review! Finally got the Cochinita Taco, actually got a couple extra ones without me asking because they went out their way to fix a small issue from my last order, which is great customer service. And man let me tell you those tacos were great! Also got the chorizo & Carne Asada one which I love & my daughter took one & loved it as well, were big fans of the hand made tortillas. The beans were also very good, with a hint of spice to them if your gonna get tacos you got to get an order of beans with it trust me you won't regret it. The beans taste just like my nana made them probably even better but I won't tell my nana that she might hit me with a chancla. And if your a bone marrow guy like me then get one you'll thank me later.

Last time I went there was a misunderstanding with the consome, I try to order a small one that I saw on a menu pic on Yelp from over a year ago which that was my bad I should of checked the new menu when I walked in. So when they told me they don't have that I was a bit confused. Well Priscilla later nicely explained to me that they didn't have that any more & why they don't serve it no more but now have a bigger cup for a different price. Which is ok because it's worth the buy, trust me I've had it before & it's pretty good, get some tortillas with it to dip it. I also love how they always have a good vibe there right when you walk in, they are nice especially Perla she was great. And the food is always fresh I love that! Keep up the great work & see you guys soon.

I was in the neighborhood, so I had to stop by. Also, when it comes to food I want to try, I'm always in the neighborhood.

I just learned that quesabirria tacos dipped in consommé are all the rage. I wasn't a fan of the version I tried a few months ago, but the one here was quite good. The exterior was slightly crispy with melty cheese and shredded beef inside. Though, I probably made a mistake by not trying the consommé but I just wasn't the fan of it at another restaurant.

My favorite taco was the carne asada and its deliciously plump, homemade corn tortilla. The tortilla itself is worth the visit.

It was fun digging out all the marrow out of the bone; it tastes like a soft (not chewy) fat. I'm no expert, so I'm just going to pretend it imparts some immune protection. Though, what are the chances that something that tasty and rich is good for you?

Ok, I have a thing for soup.  I am willing to take time and effort to get my hands on soup where the chef put time and effort on   And I gotta say.  The consomme here was amazing.  It was heaven eating the birria and consomme while in the store.  And the flavor is resonating in my mouth, I was still in heaven while walking outside for awhile.  

My Mexican wife also gave 2 thumbs up approval on this joint.  Only thing that sucks for me, I live in north San Diego so it's a bit of travel to get here.  

But this place easily made the, "I want to come back here again" list.

I made a run for the border this weekend and stopped... in San Ysidro to try out this buzzworthy taco joint. Customers were not allowed to enter the premises at this COVID-19 time. The menu was plastered on their front window while a server took orders through a screened window to the right of the front door. Quesadillas (flour), tacos (corn), tortas, and sides were the categories.

Roasted pork wasn't what I wanted so I refrained from the Cochinita Pibil and ordered one Birria, one Quesabirria, and one Longaniza taco. Each one was dressed with cilantro and onion while a cup of salsa and lime slices were provided on the side. The beef in the birria was very good, but I committed the faux pas of not asking for consomme and bone marrow as extras. For some reason, I thought the quesabirria taco came with marrow so I was disappointed not to see it included.

I felt the longaniza was the star of the show because of the spiciness in the sausage meat. No salsa was needed on top of what was already a solid flavor profile. It's a fairly long drive to get here so next time I will learn what to properly order for a more enhanced experience at Tuetano Taqueria.

If you are not looking for Tuetano you will only see the money exchange booths and duty free shops as this is the TJ boarder. Tuetano is a little oasis among the frenetic energy offering some really great treats. The Birria Taco topped with a marrow bone is the specialty. Dip it in consommé or I recommend their chili oil instead.  Also had the Birria with cheese. I emptied the generous marrow bones contents all up on those tacos and laid a heavy hand to the the chili oil. Creating a fatty and fiery salsa that made the stringy Birria beef just an excuse to feast on this extravagance.

This little hole in the wall serves up some of the best birria tacos I've ever had. And the bone marrow on the side is a huge plus! For clarification, nothing comes with bone marrow. It's an extra side you have to pay for but so worth it.

Because it's so small, orders do take awhile but the nice thing about this place is you can text in your order. Just add your name and what you want and you should receive a reply pretty quick. Give them a call if you haven't heard from them in ~10 min. Someone will confirm with you and ask for a Venmo payment before they start making your order.

It's usually taken about half an hour for my orders to finish so that's how I time when to start driving out.

The quesabirria tacos are perfect. Messy, but perfect. Not too salty, meat's all tender, and if you get some bone marrow, you can scoop it out and it just adds a whole other level of richness in every bite. And if you can handle your spicy, their salsa is really something. I've heard of people buying whole jars of salsa from them.

Highly recommend. Even if you're not in the area, it's worth the drive down every now and then.

Very tasty! We will come back to try other things for sure.

We had:
quesobirria tacos
bone marrow
arrachera con queso tacos

The Yelp site shows old menu prices - we thought the consommé was only $1.50 and was going to get that, but it actually jumped up to $7.00 and I was like, oh hell nah. Nevermind! I'm sure it's tasty and worth the price hike, but what we had was plenty enough to make us feel full. They said to look at their Instagram page for the most current prices.

They're very conscious of covid and have you pay through Venmo so you don't even have to touch a keypad at the restaurant to place an order. They were pretty busy so instead of taking orders over the phone, you just text.

One star off for telling us that it was going to be a 45 min wait, when it was actually 10 minutes. We wouldn't have left for the outlets if they were going to finish the order that fast. Their bathrooms weren't available and we had to find a spot at the outlets instead.

Tip for anyone wanting to make the drive out to the border worthwhile - you can do a morning bike ride/hike at the Tijuana Estuary (closer to the beach rather than the inland trails, though those are pretty, too!). Plan to do some shopping afterward at the Americana outlets, get a potty stop in, and WHILE shopping, place your order at Tuetano and then wait for the text saying your food is ready. Then no time is wasted and you'll get a lot of stuff done!