One step beyond the “Berto’s.”

If there’s a type of food that is emblematic of San Diego, for better or worse, it has to be taco-shop style Mexican. Some refer to this as “Berto’s” style because of the ubiquity of the Roberto’s taco shops and all of the names that mimic them. Alberto’s, Rolberto’s, Humberto’s, Adalberto’s -- you get the point.

In this sea of sameness though, there are a few shops that stand out above the crowd. I’m not talking about the “fancy” ones, like El Zarape with its scallop taco specialty and mosaic tile décor, or Mama Testa Taqueria with its gourmet salsa bar. (Though those are both pretty good.) I’m talking about regular old ordinary taco shops. Taste is subjective of course, and there are as many opinions about taco shops in San Diego than there are taco shops themselves -- but by any standard Sarita, and a few others we have found along the way, are doing it a little better than their “Berto’s” bretheren.

For several years now, my husband and I have made it a tradition to stay in on Friday nights and celebrate the end of the work week with an evening of Mexican food and trashy television. In each neighborhood where we’ve lived, we’ve found a favorite taco shop and patronized it religiously every Friday night. In Hillcrest, where the tradition started, we went to La Posta No. 8 on Washington, which is justifiably popular and most crowded between the hours of 12:00 and 2:00 a.m. Moving east to Kensington, we switched to Rolberto’s on Adams Avenue. Our standard order is five rolled tacos and a carne asada burrito, which we split between the two of us. There, the tacos were always crisp and the burrito stuffed to the gills. We knew (or thought we knew) that we’d miss that place when we left. (I do still miss Mariposa Ice Cream next door.)

You might think bad Mexican food would be like bad pizza -- really not that hard to take, since it’s just meat, guacamole, cheese and salsa in different formats. Unfortunately that’s not always the case, at least in my experience. I’ve had tortillas that were greasy or dry (or even -- somewhat amazingly -- both), hard little nubbins of over-salted carne asada, sloppy guacamole full of mayonnaise, and salsa that is mostly onions. After trying a taco shop in a strip mall in the new neighborhood that was a little closer to this description than we would have liked, we noticed a much busier shop at the end of the block. As soon as we tried it, we knew we’d found our new place.

Sarita (we know it as Sarita’s) is family owned, and yes, there is actually a Sarita -- the owner and “mom” to the gang. The shop is a little brighter and more cheerful than your average stand, but it’s definitely still a taco shop. The ample burritos are stuffed with carne asada, salsa and real guacamole. The pork in the carnitas burrito falls apart and soaks the tortilla with grease; it’s served with a lime wedge to give it a little tang. The rolled tacos are crisp and topped with a generous serving of guacamole and cheese. If you like spicy carrots, this is your place: Sarita’s “gimmick” -- if you can call it that -- is that they give them away for free. They offer a standard red hot sauce and a really good green one, which is especially good on the carne asada burrito. (I also like to add some Sriracha sauce to the red and use it as a dip for the rolled tacos.)

Their catering orders are enormous -- in fact, we’re convinced they basically have one size. Whether you ask for food for ten or fifty you’ll get the same amount, as we found out the hard way. Suffice it to say, they are quite generous.

What Sarita’s serves may not be haute cuisine or fancy food, but I will say this: it’s the first thing our out-of-town visitors ask for when they come to town, and the first thing people who grew up here want to eat when they come back. It’s what my girlfriends insist on when we do our “girls nights” and it’s what we look forward to all week. It’s good old-fashioned comfort food -- San Diego style.

I do not have any connections with this business. I've been here more than ten times.