Photo by Roberto Rodriguez

La Tejana Taqueria

La Tejana Taqueria has spruced itself up since I first dined here in 2010. The restaurant inside a liquor store (and in the same strip mall as a butcher shop that its owners, the Garcia family, also run) even launched a food truck a few years back. Its appeal remains unchanged, however: The tacos, tortas and other traditional Mexican dishes are very good, with the boldness of flavor that has set the North County taqueria scene apart from Cherokee Street. If you want to branch out beyond tacos, I suggest the carnitas plate and especially the goat soup, an intensely goat-flavored broth brimming with goat meat.