Just minutes after its 11 a.m. opening, there is already a line down the street in Mexico City’s Cuauhtemoc neighborhood for Taquería El Califa de León, the only taquería with a Michelin star in the world.
What's the secret to its success? Jacinto Avila, one of the grillers at the taco stand, says there is no such a thing while flipping the taquería’s four types of tacos that have made it Michelin star material.
But all the attention the small business is getting can be overwhelming.
“It’s too much. It’s very tiring. It’s very hard,” says Avila, who got his start making tacos at stands in Boyle Heights, honing his skills at the grill before coming back to Mexico City a decade ago and working at Taquería El Califa de León.
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Avila speaks in English to accommodate the hundreds of customers coming from the United States and around the world to taste the roughly $3 - $5 tacos, which is much more expensive than other foods one would find in Mexico City where the average cost for a street taco could cost just 50 cents.
But customers lining up to buy say these tacos are not average and certainly worth it.
“We’ve came for the famous tacos here in Mexico City,” said Sharon Somoza, who lives in the San Fernando Valley. “First bite, it’s wonderful. And handmade tortillas -- super good.”
“Worth the wait, worth the price, they deserve a Michelin star I think, said Cristian Jerez, who traveled with Somoza to the now iconic Taquería.
The stand opened nearly 60 years ago in 1958, and it’s one of Mexico City’s 11,000 taco stands that serve the city’s 23 million inhabitants.
This May, the Michelin Guide, the world’s most widely accepted judge of fine dining, awarded one star to El Califa de León, the only street-food stand on its Mexican list.
The stand only serves 4 tacos: three beef and one pork.
The Michelin citation said that the stand’s “Gaonera” taco was “exceptional,” writing that the “thinly sliced beef filet is expertly cooked to order, seasoned with only salt and a squeeze of lime. At the same time, a second cook prepares the excellent corn tortillas alongside. The resulting combination is elemental and pure.”
It’s named after a Mexican bullfighter, Rodolfo Gaona, whose nickname was El Califa de León and who was close to owner Mario Hernández Alonso’s family.
The “Gaona” is a fillet taco marinated in lard and doused with lime and salt while being cooked.
It is served with freshly made corn tortillas and paired with homemade hot green and mild red salsas, which many customers say were not necessary because of the richness of the meat.
Avila says the technique was handed down by the owner’s father, who was a butcher.
As part of the Michelin rating, the taqueria main griller, Arturo Rivera Martínez, was awarded a white Michelin chef’s jacket during a ceremony last week.
Avila is proud of his colleague, and the small taco stand where he uses his East LA skills to give it a little more flare as the world
