Taqueria Los Gorditos Means More Tacos in Clifton Heights

Photos by Kevin Gibson

For most of the years I have lived in the Clifton neighborhood, there had been an absence of traditional taqueria-style food. All of a sudden, we have three spots in a two block space.

Cafe Aroma opened a few years ago in a space that once was a Blimpie’s sandwich shop, and a couple of years ago we got El Frijol, which later changed it’s name to Joely’s Restaurant & Bar. In the meantime, Ramiro’s started to lean slightly toward taqueria style food, and even El Mundo — which is decidedly it’s own thing, in a very good way — got into the act with its Street Tacos Tuesday specials.

And then back during the summer, Taqueria Los Gorditos (which is apparently unrelated to Las Gorditas, a food truck and taqueria in the Highlands) brought still more. It’s becoming Taco Heaven in my neighborhood.

Anyway, I finally made my way to Taqueria Los Gorditos, which is in a space at 2017 Brownsboro Road that I best remember as being Taste of Jamaica, but which most recently was a dry cleaning business. I walked in as two cars left the tiny parking lot and noticed that one table was occupied, and every other table was in some stage of being bussed. A lone employee seemed to be in post-lunch-rush hell, so I took a breath and waited patiently as he quickly cleared off a table for me.

I was a bit surprised when he quickly brought a menu, and then timed his return with my water just as I had decided what I wanted for lunch. I ordered a trio of tacos for $9.99, but the menu has plenty of classic taqueria fare: burritos, tortas, sopes, fajitas mojarra frita, classic soups and desserts. Nothing on the menu was over 15 bucks.

While the place presented as being a bit sloppy given when I walked in, it was colorful and inviting, with booths lining the walls, red and white checkered tablecloths and multicolored banners hanging from the ceiling. The walls were painted yellow, pink and red, and a Mexican flag stared out over the dining space.

The employee brought me two bottles of salsa: one verde, one roja, both quite spicy. In just a few minutes, he presented a basket of tacos with a lime garnish. I went traditional and had them topped with onions and cilantro, but at no extra charge you can also get lettuce, sour cream, avocado and/or cheese. (The menu refers to this as “Tacos Nice.”)

My tacos — one each of lengua, roasted pork and chorizo — came out piping hot and packed with ingredients stuffed into doubled-up corn tortillas. I knocked them off one by one, using the spicy verde on the pork and the lengua, while the chorizo, which was on the mild side, got the verde. It was a filling lunch, solid value, solid flavor. I saved the lengua for last, and it was probably the best of the three, with lightly grilled chunks of beef tongue that weren’t overcooked like some I’ve had in the past.

The tacos at Los Gorditos aren’t my favorites in the city, but they were tasty enough to warrant a return trip. I’m eyeballing a lengua burrito on a return visit in the near future. Hey, it’s just good to have choices after having so few for so long in my neighborhood.