There's old-school, and then there's OLD-SKOOL—and Taco Boy is definitely the latter. It's so old-skool it's right across from the original Northgate González Supermarket in Anaheim, between the legendary El Pollo Fino and notorious paisa bar La Taverna. Taco Boy is one of the first true taquerías to open in Orange County, of the same generation as Taquería de Anda and Taquería Tapatía. I remember coming here when it had just opened in the late 1980s, at a time when most Mexican restaurants were still of the Tex-Mex combo-plate variety and most wabs ate at home if they wanted a taste of the patria.
Now, Taco Boy is almost a relic, the business that remained static while its contemporaries went on to conquer OC. The most complex items on the menu are the menudo and birria on weekends, with carne asada fries and nachos tacked on for their customers' pocho kids. The yellow paint job is the same, as well as the mirrors that take up a whole wall. It's so non-revolutionary now that police officers frequent the place for lunch, knowing there won't be a problem. But that's the beauty of Taco Boy: Long ago, it picked one thing to master—tacos, cheap and quick—and never stopped. The meats are the tried and true—carne asada, carnitas, al pastor and the like—but juicy, not reduced to charcoal. Your choice covers the small tortillas they come on, so your initial pinch spills forth the meat, along with the red salsa. And that red salsa! It's one not seen anymore in OC: a thick, spicy adobo-type condiment similar to what's offered by LA's legendary King Taco chain.
I once made a personal vow to no longer review taquerías that don't offer regional specialties, but Taco Boy is so fundamentally old-skool it deserves your respect. Besides, in this era of taco inflation, its one-buck-and-change price doesn't rip you off and will trigger nostalgia for the days when Anaheim wasn't a corrupt cesspool. ¡Salud!
