Mitla Cafe
Mexican restaurant · San Bernardino
602 N Mt Vernon Ave, San Bernardino, CA 92411
Highlights
Iconic, family-owned fixture since 1937 presenting Mexican classics in an old-fashioned dining room.
Iconic, family-owned fixture since 1937 presenting Mexican classics in an old-fashioned dining room.
"In many ways, the history of Mitla Cafe embodies the Inland Empire as a whole: overlooked, underappreciated, and quietly just going about its business selling hundreds of crunchy tacos, enchiladas, combo plates, and excellent handmade corn tortillas every day. Watch out for daily special announcements on social media, too." - Sean Vukan, Eater Staff
"Critic at large Tejal Rao documents the history of hardshell tacos in Los Angeles, from Mitla Cafe in San Bernardino, which inspired Glen Bell to open Taco Bell, to Tito’s Tacos in Culver City." - Matthew Kang
"Opened in 1937, Mitla Cafe is one of SoCal’s finest stops for chile rellenos, burritos, and tacos dorados. The local legend that inspired the Taco Bell chain is a ways off the 10 Freeway, but worth the detour for a hearty and historical pit stop." - Mona Holmes
"In many ways, the history of Mitla Cafe embodies the Inland Empire as a whole: overlooked, underappreciated, and quietly just going about its business selling hundreds of crunchy tacos, enchiladas, combo plates, and excellent handmade corn tortillas every day. Watch out for daily special announcements on social media, too." - Sean Vukan
"Yes, Glen Bell stole Cafe Mitla’s taco recipe in building his Taco Bell fast-food empire, and no, they did not receive credit for it. To end the story there, however, is an injustice to the cafe’s role as both a catalyst for nearly a century of Mexican-American social change and a longstanding meeting point for a marginalized community. The Mexican comfort-food spot that Lucia Rodriguez opened in San Bernardino in 1937 quickly blossomed into an important meeting point for Mexican families of the day. Cesar Chavez was a regular when in town, and Lucia’s husband made patrons out of a powerful group of local businessmen who would go on to form the Mexican Chamber of Commerce. Church and civic leaders met here in the 1940s to sue the city in gaining access to a public pool; the ruling in favor of the Mexican-Americans’ plea served as the precedent for the case that desegregated California public schools in 1946. Glen Bell was also a regular. When his hot dog and hamburger stand across the street from Mitla began losing business, he infamously cozied up to the Rodriguez family, slowly earning their trust until he’d secured the secrets of their ever-popular hard-shell taco. The Downey, CA, Taco Bell location he opened in 1962 featured Mitla’s techniques and skyrocketed both his business and the taco into national stardom. Mitla’s admirable indifference to the whole affair stands alongside their enduring commitment to home-cooked Mexican-American food as testament to the character of this Route 66 institution. As ever, Mitla’s tacos are their prize dishes. While they serve al pastor, fish, and Cal-Mex tacos, the shredded beef on a hard-shell is the winning choice. You’ll see how their tortilla-frying technique is famous for converting hard-shell-haters into believers. They offer red and green pozole on weekends, though the albondigas soup is also beloved. The warm, flower-tiled walls are adorned with photographs of Mexican-American historical icons, friends, and regulars. While there is one of Glenn Bell attached to the oft-told story, it’s dominated by the hundreds more that make up the tight-knit Latinx community in San Bernardino who have communed in this humble cafe over the years, reshaping California from the ground up." - ATLAS_OBSCURA
