Taquería Frontera made an immediate splash in Cypress Park's emerging restaurant scene during their soft opening last week. By bringing everything, from their tacos to their employees, from their family’s small Tijuana taco chain, Tijuanazo Taquerías, this new taquería embodies everything we love about Tijuana’s taco life. Most admirably, it’s built to encourage conversations on border politics by figuratively hoping to replace the borders people maintain between each other with their delicious Tijuana-style tacos.
Even with hundreds of great taquerías in Los Angeles, you seldom bite into a new taco and instantly think, "This is a winner." This is one of those rare times.
Juan Carlos Guerra, who goes by J.C., opened Taquería Frontera last week as his venture, separate from his father's, the small but formidable chain known as Tijuanazo Taquerías. Still, he has his dad's encouragement.
Tijuanazo Taquerías was formerly known as Taco Nazo, not to be confused with L.A.’s baja fish taco specialist, also called Taco Nazo. These two different Taco Nazo chains recently settled their cross-border taco conflict. Guerra’s family agreed to upgrade their Tijuana-based chain’s name to El Tijuanazo Taquería in a win-win.
Guerra, who grew up on both sides of the border, lives in Echo Park and runs his family’s other business, Rancho Meat Market in Lincoln Heights. That’s where he started his first Tijuana-style taco pop-up in the parking lot. But what they serve at Taqueria Frontera is nothing like what he served there.
This staff at Frontera are seasoned veterans from Tijuanazo who were brought here on a six-month visa to train and develop the taquería. It’s the same strategy implemented by the U.S.’s best hamburger chain, In-N-Out, sending a training crew to a new location to ensure that service and quality are maintained to the highest standards of the brand.
Apart from their taco expertise, they also bring all the hits. From vampiros and tortas to a rare birria de lengua. Frontera is the second Tijuana taquería we've seen to bring this underappreciated tender organ meat in birria form to Los Angeles. Guerra adds that he slightly altered the recipes to make them his own.
Rancho Market marinates and prepares all the meats here. You can feel it in their incredibly tasty asada. The masa behind their hand-made tortillas comes from Miramar Tortillas in East L.A. Their masa makes for an excellent, thin, richly flavored yellow corn tortilla.
If it were not for the tall, shining trompo in a shimmering marinade, their true Tijuana-style red birria made from the lengua would be the star of this taquería.
The trompo is marinated overnight, roasted with a flame kiss, and sliced into red ribbons as it is caught by a tortilla. The tacos get the usual Tijuana garnishes of onions, cilantro, roasted salsa, and a dollop of heavy guacamole, but the added touch of salsa-fied cilantro cream, tango-ing with the heat of the salsa underneath, makes these al pastor tacos some of the most markedly satisfying you’ll find in Los Angeles.
A little taco-pedia surprise, they unexpectedly call their trompo an “al pastor,” a change from the “adobada” commonly used for the vertical spit-roasted meat in Tijuana.
“The thing is, here in L.A., everyone calls it al pastor," Guerra tells L.A. TACO. "So, to not confuse people, we just go with what’s more common here.”
The location is the former La Especial, a walk-up window restaurant that served hamburgers, pastrami, French dips, tacos, and burritos for more than 40 years.
The owners offered Guerra the spot to take over, and he jumped on it. He immediately modified it by removing the sidewalk windows and converting this section into counter-side seating, where taco eaters are just a tortilla away from the action.
For Guerra, the goal is to give it that personable Tijuana taquería experience. He envisioned this concept of barstools, of people just hanging out as late as nine or ten o’clock, standing outside having conversations over tacos.
“In T.J., tacos don’t need to be formal, you know," Guerra says. "Es un taco parado, un taco con un amigo, un taco con un compadre (A taco while standing, a taco with a friend, a taco with homie), you know, with your family members. Just eat a taco and hang out. That’s the concept.”
The outdoor street vendor vibe is brought indoors, where you can see everything and talk to the taqueros.
Guerra’s goal and vision have quickly come to life despite only being soft-open for a week. “The community has really come out for us,” Guerra says. “It’s just our soft opening week, and I’m humbled. It made me cry a bit this morning.”
Across the top of the entire taquería, a bright yellow slogan sums up Frontera’s concept: “More Tacos Less Borders.”
“No one is ever upset while eating a taco," Guerra says. "So let’s focus on good food and less hate.”
Taquería Frontera ~ 700 Cypress Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90065
