Salud Tacos + return to Por Vida

Last weekend I met up with the Prof, whom I hadn't been out with for years.

(mural on the La Bodega Gallery Studios near the Sampson St. bridge, Barrio Logan)

Although we see each other at community events, we hadn't had a chance to sit down one on one and catch up on things...

She let me choose the venue, so Salud Tacos it was...

This was the weekend that we had a slight heat wave. It was pretty damn hot while I was waiting for her to arrive. I took note of the Frida Kahlo mural on the side of the La Bodega Gallery building which is around the corner from Salud (same building complex).

Across the street was a new apartment complex with a mural of Chicano labor activist Cesar Chavez.

Across the street, a vintage Streamline Moderne building  (an offshoot of late period Art Deco architecture).  Looks like the building is up for lease and perhaps in keeping with the current trend of the rapidly gentrifying area, will be live/work spaces for artists.

Inside the taco place was visual overload with artwork and posters everywhere.  The tacos here were a step above your normal taco joint at $2.50 a pop but weren't as high-faluting as the $5 or $6 tacos seen in other tony parts of town. I could hang with some $2.50 tacos.



Our table number placard.

They had a lot of different salsas - salsa fresca, serrano based green salsa, a tomatillo salsa, a smoky chipotle salsa, a red salsa (vinegar based) and another one with onions and cilantro that had a lot of vinegar in it as well.

We got two tacos each. One container held the adobada and chicken.

A closeup of the Prof's chicken taco:

And on the other side, my adobada...

My adobada had good flavor but I'd had better at cheaper places.

The Prof ordered something called the Barrio taco. It had beans, potatoes, nopales, queso fresco, and beef. It was pretty good and something we don't see at the 'berto's taco shops.

My birria taco in the other stand alone container. It wasn't as flavorful as the kind I've had from El Ranchero taco shop or Birria Fernandez but still was decent.

This heart mural was in the bathroom of all places:

In the hallway near the bathroom, a mural with a stylized Virgin of Guadalupe...

We ate outside since every seat was taken inside. It was actually quite packed for a while, but some seats opened up outside by the time we ordered while in line.  I liked the variety of salsas (but thhere was no paper explaining what was what, as in Mary's post, linked at the end).

We did the short walk to Por Vida for some coffee before heading out to get dessert at 85C. As you can see, they've taken out the mini market section and relocated it to the wall on the right hand corner.  Now there is more seating, complete with a picnic table inside.

I used a special effects filter for the photo above. It looks like the sun is shining through the ceiling but that is just the filter. Looks pretty cool.

Items for sale are now by the graffiti wall.





The Prof's Espresso with Canela and brown sugar.

My iced horchate latte:

Previous visit to Por Vida
March 2016

Who else went to Salud Tacos?
Mary went earlier last year while Kirk's visit was in the fall (this was Part 1 of his "hipster" taco tour; the 2nd was City Tacos and came to a head when he later posted on Tacos Perla and garnered the ire of a reader who claimed that Kirk's taste buds needed "recalibration". WTF, really?  Some people are so rude, heh).

Articles:
"Taco pub is a work of art" Discover SD, March 2015
+ Darlene's writeup on Zagat SD, "10 Notable tacos in San Diego"

Salud Tacos
2196 Logan Ave
San Diego, CA 92113
(619) 255-3856

saludsd.com + fb page & reviews from that four lettered site & tripadvisor

I know I keep mentioning it, but you cannot imagine how antsy I am for vacation. I am just so ready for it...And once I'm on vacation, I hope to do more exploration of places to eat (both shiny and new and old and hole in the wall).