Don't bother Googling “taco cachanilla”; you're not going to find a definition. And it's appropriate, given this taco sold at El Camarón Borracho in SanTana defies words. Here is one of the best Orange County seafood tacos of your life: grilled shrimp mixed with tart repollo and pico de gallo, decorated with crema fresca and a salsa that catches up to you, and wrapped in thick tortillas straddling the line between corn and flour. And as you bite in, there's a surprise: a melted hunk of Mexican cheese, adding a creaminess you never expected—and that you'll expect in your shrimp tacos por vida.
El Camarón Borracho (“The Drunken Shrimp”) isn't even formal enough to be a lonchera; it's more of a taco trailer, hitched to the back of a van every morning and dropped off in a part of SanTana far away from gentrification or even homes; the largest customer base here is made up of workers from the nearby industrial yards, grateful there's finally some great food in this part of the city. You'll catch them eating cocteles or tostadas de camarón while sitting against the wall, gradually extending their legs as the shade stretches. You'll see them share in El Camarón Borracho's mega-dishes: furious aguachile, shrimp in their shell and spiked with salsa de pequín (the notorious pepper as small as your pinky nail that nevertheless is hotter than a habanero). Then there's the epic quesadilla à la diabla, a gargantuan shrimp quesadilla slathered with salsa, then fried; afterward, your fingers will look as though you had eaten olive oil-spiked Flamin' Hot Cheetos.
But back to that taco cachanilla. “Cachanilla” technically means someone from Mexicali, but I see no other influences from that city here (where's the Chinese-Mexican snacks, for instance?). But El Camarón Borracho has a tendency to give its tacos baroque names. There's a taco escuadrón I've yet to try, but I think it has something to do with the police-cop clam in El Camarón Borracho's marquee, warily eyeing the drunken shrimp mascot . . . or something? I'll eventually get to it, after eating more tacos cachanilla—best new taco I've had all year.
