A new Tijuana-style taquería in Cypress Park is pressing fresh handmade tortillas to order and filling them with 24-hour-marinated meats and hearty scoops of guacamole, with customers lining the counter stools late into the night under a sign that reads “MORE TACOS LESS BORDERS.” “We’re trying to bring Tijuana to Los Angeles,” said Taquería Frontera owner Juan Carlos “J.C.
” Guerra. While this is Guerra’s first restaurant, he’s no novice at the trompo. His father owns seven locations of Tijuana-based chain Tijuanazo Taquerías, and the family also owns Rancho Meat Market in Lincoln Heights.
Guerra, who grew up in Northeast L.A., began popping up at the market with a tented puesto roughly two years ago serving a streamlined menu of street tacos.
Now with a bricks-and-mortar he’s expanded his offerings with tortas, more meats, burritos, mulitas and quesadillas. He didn’t always know that he wanted to join the family business, but when he was approached about expanding its taco empire in the U.S.
, Guerra began shadowing his father to learn how he’s been grilling and marinating meat for two decades. At Taquería Frontera he wanted to diverge from his dad’s practices in a few key ways: asada marinated in a more citrusy style, with pineapple and orange juice, and an adobada seasoned with more than 20 spices. He also offers chicken, which his father does not.
Some of these deviations, he said, have gotten his dad’s approval — and might even be bett.