Terrific Tacos in Tustin?

Mezquite Tacos and Fuego

14075 Newport Ave. 

Tustin, CA 92780

There really is a never-ending parade of restaurants to eat at in OC. I know this should not be surprising to least of all me, who has an ever-growing list of restaurants that I want to try. For as long as I can remember when we are meeting my parents for dinner, we try to meet somewhere in the middle of the four of us, which usually means a restaurant in or around Tustin.

I'm usually apprehensive that I'm going to find a place that we haven't eaten at yet, but then I realize that there are over two hundred places to eat at listed on Yelp in the city of Tustin. After a moment of temporary relief, it hits me that even though there's an abundance of restaurants, I still have to find a place that my parents will actually want to go to. That's when the real digging starts. Luckily, Mexican food is one of their favorites, and I found Mezquite Tacos and Fuego not too far into my search.

Mezquite has been open since June of this year, so it is still relatively new. The founder of this eatery is pretty familiar with starting a successful Mexican restaurant. He's Javier Fregoso who was one of the guys behind the critically acclaimed Mexicali Taco and Company in Los Angeles. That place started in a parking lot alongside the 110 Freeway, just north of downtown. They moved to their brick and mortar spot on the outskirts of Chinatown where they gained notable media mentions from famed food critic Jonathan Gold, appearances on Food Network, and numerous recognition in different publications as one of the best tacos in Southern California.

He sold his stake in Mexicali Taco Company three years ago, got married, and opened Mezquite in the former Chronic Taco spot which used to be situated on Newport Avenue, just steps away from the 5 Freeway. According to the restaurant's website, Javier is very ambitious and has plans to bring his tacos not just to the people of Tustin, but to expand locally and nationwide in the future.

What makes Mezquite different from other taco spots? They cook all of their meats over mesquite wood, which they claim provides a smoky and savoriness that other taco spots do not have. They also make their organic tortillas in-house, along with their salsas and agua frescas. When exiting my car, I definitely caught the aroma of food being cooked over wood, just like you get in the better barbecue restaurants where they have smokers on the premises.

Ordering is done at the register, with the aid of the video menu boards hanging from the ceiling. The menu offers seven different tacos, nachos, a quesadilla, a stuffed baked potato, and an interesting tostada option called the volcan. There's also one burrito available, which is dubbed the main event. Guacamole and chips round out the rest of the food portion of the offerings. Much to my parent's chagrin, there's no iced tea available here, so they resorted to having fountain drinks. There is also bottled Mexican Coke, horchata, and other handcrafted juices to choose from. Enough with the build-up, let's check out the food we had at Mezquite.

As is her custom at Mexican restaurants, Katie always has to give the Guacamole and Chips ($3.50) a try. The chips were good, but I'm pretty sure they were not made here. The guacamole definitely was, and it had a great chunkiness to it, which is what I like. The flavor was fine, but I would have liked a little pop from maybe some pepper flakes or even better, some jalapenos to crank up the heat. .

Before the food came out, I took a few quick snaps of the salsa and condiments offered at Mezquite. They have red and green salsa, with the green being the spicier of the two. I'm usually partial to the red, which at Mezquite had undertones of smokiness to it. The green was the better of the two for me because it had a touch more heat to it. I would have liked it even more if it went up a heat level or two. The condiment bar was rounded out with lime wedges, radishes, and escabeche (pickled carrots, peppers, and onions).

My mom is a pretty light eater, so she'd only be having this one Chicken Taco ($2.75). The tacos here come dressed with cilantro, onion, red salsa, and guacamole. The guacamole seemed a little more liquified than what we had with our chips. Maybe they make it that way so it's easier to apply to the taco. This was a pretty good-sized taco. It had plenty of cubed chicken and stuff piled on the pliable corn tortilla. It was a little hard to eat because it was filled so much, but that's a good problem to have. My mom liked this taco a lot. The chicken was flavorful and it definitely filled her up.

My dad appeared to be a little overwhelmed with the menu at Mezquite. Not sure if he was having trouble reading the small print on the video menu boards, or if he was just indecisive. He ended up with an Al Pastor Taco ($2.75) and a Shrimp Quesataco ($4.50). He really enjoyed both, as they were gone within minutes of hitting the table. The shrimp quesataco was a favorite of his, as it contained plenty of shrimp, green salsa, guacamole, onion, and the big draw, melted Oaxacan cheese. The cheese in this added an extra dimension that brought it to a different level.  I'd definitely recommend getting the quesataco with your favorite choice of meat.

I can not recall seeing a baked potato on any Mexican restaurant menu, but here it was at Mezquite. The Mad Potato ($6.50) is a baked potato topped with Oaxacan cheese,  cilantro, onion, cilantro infused salsa, and your choice of meat. Katie got the chicken. She thought this was a pretty solid idea for people that did not want the heaviness that you can feel when eating Mexican food. You still got all the flavors of Mexcian food, but the tender potato made this somewhat lighter than expected. She'd get this again for sure.

For the first part of my meal, I had the Carne Asada House Taco ($2.75) and the Al Pastor Quesataco ($3.25). The trend of overfilled tacos continued with these two. The pork was good but did get a little overshadowed by the condiments on this taco. I'm always a little wary of getting carne asada because it's often dry and flavorless. This was not the case here, as the meat was tender and was given an added flavor boost from being grilled over wood. One thing worthy of note here, these are some pretty difficult tacos to eat. With the amount of stuff in them, they are very moist and you will need plenty of napkins during your meal. For all the liquid pouring out of them, these tortillas did a great job of keeping their integrity.

The two tacos might have been enough for an average eater, but I like to feel full after my meals, so I also tried the Quesadilla ($6.50) at Mezquite. I usually find quesadillas to be one of the biggest rip-offs when eating out. I love them, but why are they always about five more dollars than they should be? It's two tortillas and a handful of cheese and most places get close to $10 for something that costs about a dollar to make. Talk about a markup. This quesadilla was not like those others. With this one you get to choose your meat, I went with al pastor, guacamole,, onion, cilantro, and of course cheese. Just like the tacos, very loaded and I definitely felt this was well worth the price I paid. The tortilla could have spent a little more time on the flattop, but that would be my only complaint.

I left Mezquite pretty impressed. It's obvious that they have something pretty good going on here. Chef Javier also proves that the success of his first restaurant was no fluke with his concept here at Mezquite. I like that they are cooking over wood, but I wish they'd go a bit easier on the salsa and other toppings so you could experience the flavor that the flame imparts on the meat a bit more. I like the variety of their menu and feel that their price point is pretty good for the portion sizes that you receive. Hopefully, it stays that way as I still get the feeling that this is a new restaurant, and there will be some tweaking of things here and there. As for now, it's definitely worth a visit and might become one of the regular spots where we meet my parents for dinner.

Out of five cabinets, (because mesquite is one of the most expensive kinds of lumber you can get and it's used to make high-end furniture), five being best to zero being worst, Mezquite Tacos and Fuego gets 3 cabinets.

For more information about Mezquite Tacos and Fuego, head to their website here: https://www.mezquitetacos.com/