3121 Main Street
Santa Ana, CA 92707
If I had a dime for every time that there was a mention in the now-departed OC Weekly about Taqueria Zamora, I'd probably be able to have been retired by now. Almost every best-of-list mentioned this tiny, out-of-the-way restaurant which sits alone at the end of Main Street, nearer to South Coast Plaza than Downtown Santa Ana.
The biggest fan at the OC Weekly of Taqueria Zamora was the Editor in Chief, Gustavo Arellano. He mentioned numerous times that he loved the chilaquiles here, that he would eat here most mornings, and that he never needed to order because they just assumed that he'd be having his favorite dish once again. Chilaquiles just so happens to be my favorite Mexican breakfast dish as well. That's all I needed to know to put Taqueria Zamora on my restaurant wishlist.
Taqueria Zamora started out in the backyard of Don Alberto, who would cook a variety of Mexican food for his family and friends who would come to buy what he was making. During the week he filled his shopping cart and would sell tamales, chorizo, tortillas, and other foods around his neighborhood. This led to him opening his restaurant in 1992. In the 29 years since Taqueria Zamora has garnered a lot of love from the community and has been mentioned numerous times as one of the best Mexican restaurants in OC.
As has been my custom on Sunday mornings during the pandemic, I get up early, do a little writing, and get Katie breakfast and her first of two daily coffees from Starbucks. The drive up to Taqueria Zamora was not going to be any more than 20 minutes on a Sunday around half past 8. Their online ordering process made ordering painless, and I was given a pickup time of 8:45.
There was a pretty impressive amount of variety on the menu here. Yes, they have combo plates, tacos, and burritos, but there's also plenty in the way of seafood options, soups, and what I was here for their breakfast options. I made it up to Santa Ana with plenty of time to spare. Even though it was still quite early on this sleepy Sunday, there were plenty of people waiting for their orders. I grabbed mine and headed back home to have my first taste of Taqueria Zamora.
When I picked up my bag of neatly packaged food from Taqueria Zamora, it was really heavy. The heft was primarily due to these Chilaquiles ($16). I was almost afraid the to-go container was going to give way when I lifted this out of the bag, but it held firm. I opted for the red version, which is my favorite, and added carne asada to it for an extra dollar, which was a great investment. Let's start with the chilaquiles themselves. They were as advertised. The chips stayed relatively crisp even with the 20-minute drive home and time allowed for taking my pictures. Each chip was coated wonderfully with the flavorful red sauce. The carne asada could have been one of the best I've had in a Mexican restaurant. Thin, flavorful, and very tender it went well with the chips underneath. I ate half of this one day and then added two fried eggs the next and it was even better. Beans and rice were on point.
Katie is all about Breakfast Burritos ($9.25) on Sunday mornings. She got this one with extra bacon, adding cheese and avocado, but omitting the beans and rice that Taqueria Zamora usually has in their breakfast burritos. Katie loved the light and fluffiness of the eggs and that the burrito was grilled for a short time on the flattop to give the tortilla a pleasant crunch when bitten in. There were bacon and cheese in every bite, but she did wish for more guacamole in this. She would not hesitate to get this again.
Even though I had that big plate of chilaquiles, I just had to give their tacos a try. I went with the Paator Taco ($3) and Asada Encebollado ($3.50). The pastor taco had a great flavor running through it, but the pork needed to be more tender. The steak and onion taco was my favorite out of the two. The steak was done nicely, and there were plenty of onions included in this. The salsa that came with this, (no picture, sorry), really made this pop. I'm not much into corn tortillas, but these were very good, and you'll never be satisfied with the corn tortillas you get from the supermarket ever again after eating these.
I think it's safe to say that Taqueria Zamora is worth all the media mentions and online praise that they receive. Just this small sample size of their menu showed me that I have to make some return visits very soon. I'm looking towards trying the carnitas, birria, burritos, and more in the next few weeks. I did not think the prices were crazy out of control here for the quantity and quality that I got. Taqueria Zamora is definitely on my Mount Rushmore of great chilaquiles I've had so far in OC, right along with Anepalco's, El Camino Cafe, and Amorelia Cafe. It will be hard for a spot to knock one of these places out of the top 4, but I'm looking forward to that quest.
Out of five stagecoaches, (because the first Wells Fargo office was located in Santa Ana back in 1874, and they are known for their stagecoaches), five being best to zero being worst, Taqueria Zamora gets 3.5 stagecoaches.
For more information about Taqueria Zamora, head to their website here: https://taqueriazamora.net/
excellent mate love it last time i had it here in best mexican breakfast in san antonio
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