2313 S. El Camino Real (phone 949-498-5904)
AND on the other side of town at
550 N. El Camino Real (phone 949-498-5908)
San Clemente, CA 92672
You may have seen the bumper sticker on random surfer’s cars in South County… “My child was outstanding student at PEDROS TACOS.”
Well the folks at Pedros must have been outstanding students at the school of tasty food making because this little walk up/ drive thru taco stand always has people gathering around its windows.
Pedros unique little buildings on either end of town make getting a quick bite after a surf session an easy chore for the locals and tourists alike in this cozy little city.
The menu items all seem very awkwardly priced at first glance, but another convenience about Pedros is that everything adds up to fifty cents or an even dollar after tax. Smart because A) nobody likes getting a fistful of random change back and B) this place is frequented by folks in wet-suits and board shorts, so why not make it so people can get their change back and easily tuck it in the neoprene of a wet-suit sleeve. Whether that was their intention or not, it’s still kind of cool.
Nonetheless, on to the taco!
Pedro’s makes a fried fish taco, and much like a good taco shop should, it comes to you piping hot on a bed of cool crisp cabbage and pico. The golden battered piece of fish hangs delightfully out of both ends of the doubled up corn tortilla and they add a little creamy sauce to the mix for good measure.
While I was eating my taco, I couldn’t help but think of fish n’ chips and how much this reminded me of it. Similar to something one would buy at a county fair, this taco was as delicious as it was bad for you and I left the stand with a smile on my face and a sauce stain on my shirt.
Definitely a place I would recommend to all that pass this city. The next time you’re on your way from LA to San Diego, take a half-way point pit stop and break at Pedros.
The never-ending quest, however, continues…
On to the taco…. Chronic gives you the choice beer battered and fried, or simply grilled fish. This is definitelya nice thing because lets face it, sometimes you just want a greasy gut bomb and other times you want to pretend like eating out is healthy. The fried fish taco is very tasty, and one cool feature at these joints is that you get to build your own taco. Don’t like lettuce? Go for cabbage. Want a heapload of cilantro? No problem. Their fish sauce is quite tasty as well, like a tangy sour cream almost, and you can add it to anything on the menu, be it seafood or not. Another thing I noticed at most of these locations is that they have this local hot sauce on the tables called 