gutfud – the food, es ist gut

La Colmena is one of two new favorite taquerias of mine.

I first sampled their food when they were the taco caterers for a friend’s birthday party. While no taco truck, they showed up with a custom-made grill, and tables to serve up condiments and side dishes.
They prepared fresh tortillas on site, and offered simple beef, chicken and pork tacos with the standard fixings. It was simple and delicious, especially those fresh tortillas! The party crowd ate up the whole lot.

Their actual restaurant is a quirkly shape, situated on the street with roads on either side merging just behind it. So it’s on a little triangle. For SB oldies, it’s the former location of Cajun Kitchen and a Greek place (Pavlako’s?)
The resulting interior is small, but long and narrow.  It is definitely a no-frills environment with very little ambiance other than a wall-mounted tv showing Mexican comedies, music videos or soap operas…perhaps all at once if you’re lucky.

The simplicity of la Colmena is also evident in the food. You want tacos? They’ve got tacos, about a dozen different types, and that’s about it!  And they are pretty darn good.

Again, tortillas are made fresh to order, so patience is advised, and rewarded.

Meat options are your standard: asada, pollo, adobada, lengua (lengua is chopped. I prefer slow-cooked and shredded), chorizo, and so on.
All are simple and delicious, but my favorite is the rajas, with grilled chiles and cheese. I could eat a stack of those. So good!

Best part of these tacos with freshly made tortillas? $1.50 each.
If you go between their happy hours, I think it’s 2 pm – 6 pm, they are $1 each. Check the sign on the doorway to confirm these hours.
But even so, $1.50 each is a very good price. Compare it to other taquerias up the road, where tacos with fresh tortillas are $3.00+ each. Or with other $1.50 taco places and the tortillas are factory produced.

The salsa bar has a good variety on offer. The tacos come undressed, so the salsa bar offers cilantro and onion, lime, radishes, several tomato salsas and guacamole. A good range for those who want mild to hot.

They also have tacos de canasta. This might just be a weekend thing. These tacos have less filling, and are briefly cooked in oil. These cost $1 each and I enjoy the potato tacos the best.

Extra kudos: Mexican coke! No HFCS!

Finally…CASH ONLY!! It’s alright, it’s just a few dollars for a simple meal.

Past entry:
5 October

Taqueria La Colmena
217 Milpas St
Santa Barbara, CA 93103