La Tejana Review - The Taco Shop That Earned Its Three Bib Gourmands

I found myself on a colorful block of Mount Pleasant at 8:30 in the morning, standing in a long line that snaked down the street. Normally I’d say this is too early to queue. That feels like a 10:30 thing at least. You gotta ask yourself: “Is McDonald’s still serving breakfast?”.

I’d just as well prefer to not find myself in a line. I never fully understood the Black Friday hype. And I can’t be bothered to care enough about whisky drops. So standing in line for breakfast tacos feels off. And yet…

La Tejana is a microniche shop that serves essentially one thing: Rio Grande Valley inspired breakfast tacos. Founded by couple Ana-Maria Jaramillo and Gus May, it started as a concept on the front steps of their apartment building but gained a big enough following from pop ups around town at various bars and restaurants that in August 2022 they were able to open an official brick and mortar location to sling their goods.

And it’s here at that shop that I found myself feeling the weight of the line behind me, bearing down with anticipation. A hungry, nervous buzzy air. And a man in front of me with the bulkiest stroller I’ve ever seen struggling to keep it together while his kids threw toys all around him. I hope he found peace later that day.

The line moved relatively quickly. I imagine La Tejana had to learn a thing or two along the way about operational efficiency to keep up with the demand: the secret is definitely out on this place. Thanks probably to some degree on the three years in a row of Bib Gourmand recognition from the Michelin Guide.

The store itself is tiny. We were shoulder to shoulder with the other patrons who had already ordered and no matter where I stood I was in the way. That’s not really La Tejana’s fault. It’s mostly mine; I’m constantly in the way. Though it’s also—I’m going to say it—the stroller guy’s problem. Strung out on the stress of having the world’s largest stroller and all that entails, he could have probably picked up on the fact that parking himself right in the middle of the store was probably not the most advantageous move for himself, his daughters who thankfully had stopped throwing toys, and most importantly: me. If more people stopped to consider what I wanted, the world would be a better place.

We got our food and squeezed out of the sardine can of a restaurant and found a table at a lovely crafts fair that we could hunch over while we silently desecrated these tacos.

I tried three different recipes that were all various degrees of excellent. They all had a common shared ingredient of cheesy scrambled eggs: excellently cooked with the texturally-right curd size for what I’d want on a breakfast taco. The cheese was made melty by the warmth of the tortillas.

We do need to talk about these housemade flour tortillas. Truly incredible. Pillowy soft, warm perfection. I don’t know if I’d say I’ve ever considered a tortilla ranking or where the greatest tortillas I’ve ever had would come from, but if I were to put together that list La Tejana may be at the top. Recency bias, perhaps? But I can’t think of any equivalent contender. Seriously, they were that good.

La Tejana also has a few salsa choices to add to any taco. Each taco comes with a charred tomato salsa which was a smoky, chunky tomato salsa with a backnote of heat, and a cilantro crema which admittedly I forgot to try on the tacos (on the finger dip test I came away thinking it was fine, but the tangy flavor is not something I’d have wanted on my taco personally. I was fine with having forgot it).

We also ordered some habanero salsa. It had a nice balance of sweet and heat but I think a little bit more heat would have been appreciated. Maybe cut with a higher Scoville pepper just to give it a little more kick. Still, it added a pleasant creamy spread.

The first two tacos I had were the 956 and La Choripapa. Both came with fried potatoes and cilantro as a garnish. The former had bacon, refried beans, and a drizzle of queso; the latter just chorizo. They were both incredible—two of the most delicious breakfast tacos I’ve ever had. I want to be clear about that fact before I say the next thing I want to say.

I find that I appreciate a breakfast taco when there are less ingredients in the taco. The 956 was good. All the ingredients work well and are typical staples of a breakfast taco. It’s just busy. Nothing out of the ordinary but in comparison I think I vastly preferred La Choripapa with a much more focused construction: cheesy eggs, a protein, a starch, some queso and a sprinkle of cilantro to top it off. And honestly even the queso drizzle is arguably redundant with the cheesy eggs. I’m certainly not complaining. It..was..delicious. But I am musing.

The third taco I had was the 512 which was definitely my favorite for the same reason I already mentioned about preferring a more focused construction. It comes with chopped brisket from 2Fifty and a drizzle of queso and a sprinkle of cilantro. The last thing I want in a breakfast taco is to have large, stringy strips of protein in each bite that don’t break apart easily, so the chopped smatterings of this smoky brisket was a texturally inspired choice. And it paired nicely with the ooey-gooey rich flavors of the cheesier ingredients.

My only complaint is that the reality of our society is that I have to force myself to assume some level of human decency and self-control in my breakfast taco moderation. Three is enough, but Lord knows I could have found room for more; but there were children in this park. And dogs. And families who just wanted to have a nice morning outing. Three was enough.

I don’t know how often I expect to find myself in or around Mount Pleasant, but in the meantime I’ll have to settle to live vicariously through the people that find themselves who chose to wake up early that morning to stand in a line. I couldn’t be more jealous.