Tacos La Carreta
Mexican restaurant · Long Beach
3480 E 69th St, Long Beach, CA 90805
Highlights
Sinaloa-style tacos with mesquite-grilled carne asada.
Sinaloa-style tacos with mesquite-grilled carne asada.
"José Morales and his son, also named José Morales, opened a taco cart (hence the namesake, La Carreta) in a Compton tire shop seven years ago. The Morales family upgraded to a truck in 2023 and a permanent Whittier home in 2024, where they turn out some of Southern California’s best Mazatlán-style tacos. If heading to the truck, it can typically be found parked on the northernmost border of Long Beach, where it serves chorreadas, vampiros, and tacos de carne asada. Check its Instagram for location updates." - Mona Holmes
"Regional carne asada has disseminated in recent years with provincial styles representing Mexicali, Tijuana, Sonora, and now Mazatlán, where mesquite-grilled steaks for chorreadas and vampiros fill the tangy beach resort air with the balm of roasted meats. Now serving out of a taco truck, Jose Morales Jr. grills quality steak, greases a thick tortilla with asiento (unrefined pork lard) and melted cheese, then piles on the meat, creamy avocado salsa, pico de gallo, and slices of cucumber to snack on the side. The truck now has a brick-and-mortar store in Whittier that draws lines daily." - Bill Esparza
"This street-cart-turned-food-truck—which relocated from Compton to an industrial stretch of North Long Beach a couple of years ago—specializes in Sinaloa-style chorreadas, a toasted corn tortilla that’s slicked with pork fat, then topped with a mound of chopped grilled steak and a rough salsa thickened with chopped cabbage. It might look a little like a standard asada taco, but your first one will provide a near-religious reckoning. You can add melted cheese to the whole setup to make it a vampiro, or swap in a baked potato for the tortilla to make it a papa loca. All of them are fantastic with agua de cebada, a creamy-sweet drink that’s like horchata but made with roasted barley. Make sure to check La Carreta’s Instagram for hours of operation." - sylvio martins, garrett snyder, brant cox
"If you think you’ve tried every great taco in LA, make sure you’ve paid a visit to Tacos La Carreta before you pop off. This street-cart-turned-food-truck—which relocated from Compton to an industrial stretch of North Long Beach a couple of years ago—specializes in Sinaloa-style chorreadas, a toasted corn tortilla that’s slicked with pork fat, then topped with a mound of chopped grilled steak and a rough salsa thickened with chopped cabbage. It might look a little like a standard asada taco, but your first one will be a near religious experience. You can add melted cheese to the whole setup to make it a vampiro, or swap in a baked potato for the tortilla to make it a papa loca. All of them are fantastic with their agua de cebada, a creamy-sweet drink that’s like horchata but made with roasted barley." - garrett snyder
"A north Long Beach truck that has spawned a brick-and-mortar in Whittier and another truck in Santa Ana, noted for carne asada that the reviewer calls “the best I’ve tasted outside of Mexico” (chef José Morales’ establishments). The chopped steak is grilled gently over a wood and gas fire and is served with minced cabbage, salsa, and avocado in various forms: tacos, larded chorreadas, quesadillas, and toritos — essentially folded tacos stuffed with a roast chile. The reviewer also notes sensory detail: “I love how you get a whiff of that carbón, a necessary element, with every bite,” and praises the steak’s tenderness and “profound beefiness” that sets it apart from many pretenders; for grilled beef on the street this is the reviewer’s favorite. — Matthew Kang, lead editor" - Eater Staff
