Taco Fanatic Taqueria Los Paises

Taco Fanatic Master Hub 

Review #3 takes us all the way to sunny San Jose del Cabo, B.C.S., Mexico, where you'll find an open air taqueria called Los Paises. 

Location:  As noted above, this one is in Cabo, actually San Jose del Cabo, which is the real part of Cabo, at the east end of the Costa Azul corridor.  The exact location is secret, but if you are persistent and can speak rudimentary spanglish, one of the more friendly local types may point you in the right direction. 

I've actually got a few photos of this place handy, posted to the right.

Anyway, on to the food.  Here we have a traditional spot, specializing in carne asada.  You will find that taquerias in Mexico tend to be more specialized than those in the states, often offering a few variations on the same animal or type of meat, but not offering meats from more than one or two kinds of animal.

So anyway, the first time I went to this place, there were a few local families having early dinner, and they were all eating carne asada.  So I ordered 3 carne asada tacos.  You have a choice of corn or flour tortillas, and the tacos come traditional style with cilantro and onions.  There is a condiment bar that offers the standard salsas:  pico de gallo (i.e., diced onion, tomato, jalapeno), spicy red salsa, slighlty milder green salsa, medium spicy roasted poblano salsa, and the always delicious veggie oil guacamole salsa.  Also fresh radishes (they never make me sick), pickled red onions and the standard pickled jalapenos / carrot mix.  This place doesn't serve beer but one of the nice guys working there will run down the street and pick up a sixer for you if you pretend to be a group of clueless gringos.  Or you can bring your own, I recommend either Ballenas or Caguamas. 

What about the tacos?  They were quite good, the grilled beef was low on gristle content, the tortillas were fresh, the salsa bowls were free of dead flys.   

If you are up for a challenge, ask for an "orden" de carne asada.  One of my friends thought he was pretty clued in to mexican terminology, and apparently was in the mood for some rice and beans on the side of his carne asada, so after looking over the menu on the wall behind the grill he said "un orden de carne asada, por favor".  The guy manning the grill double checked to make sure he heard right, with a funny look on his face.  We sat down to enjoy a beer and wait for our food, the smell of grilling beef wafting in the air.  Then they brought my friend his orden, which turned out to be a platter with approximately 3 pounds of carne asada, nothing else.  He managed to get some tortillas and make a go of it, but suffice to say, not what he thought he was ordering, and a full 2/3rds went to the titty dogs in the yard next door, or whatever they do with scraps at this place.

Anyway, this place is great, it's in a quiet semi-residential part of San Jose, friendly titty dogs roam around, the concrete floor is swept clean regularly, etc.  Well worth a stop if you are in Cabo and feel like getting away from the gringo-ized restaurants in Cabo San Lucas.