Casa Jimenez is a restaurant and associated taco truck at the corner of High Street and International Boulevard which serves fine Mexican food and outstanding pupusas.
The site was formerly the location of the original El Taco Zamorano 1, which occupied the restaurant building and had a taco truck across the parking lot. Because Taco Zamorano was the first taco truck in Oakland, opened by Oakland taco godfather Primitivo Guzman on this location in 1982 2, this corner has always been a kind of "tierra santa" for taco lovers. In or around 2011, however, Taco Zamorano was booted from this spot by the property owners who subsequently capitalized on the location's fame by founding Casa Jimenez. Though this taco civil war has divided the taco enthusiast community, the spirit of El Taco Zamorano lives on in various nearby incarnations and the food at Casa Jimenez is, by all accounts, pretty damn tasty.
4345 International Blvd
Oakland, CA 94601
(510) 842-8770
casajimenezfamilyrestaurant.com/
Links and References
- Not to be confused with this restaurant or this taco truck, which are homonymous, independently operated outlets of the perplexing Zamorano taco empire.
- Taco trucks in Oakland — a spicy history Oakland Tribune July 18, 2008
