The best tacos in Placerville/El Dorado County just got a 2nd location!!!
Santa Maria has got the best tacos in the area, so when we heard they opened a 2nd location that offered some different food items than the original location we knew we had to go check it out.
This place is located on Broadway in a previous taqueria location called las Palmitas, so its easy to find and lots of parking. On our visit, I wanted to see how it compared to the original Santa Maria and also see what was new, so we ordered chicken tacos, carne asada gorditas, and chicken empanadas.
First off, the new location doesn't offer the extensive meat options as the original, which is totally understandable, the other location is a carnicería so they have the ability to provide more options, on our visit they had the 3 standard meats (Chicken, Carne Asada, and Carnitas)
After we placed our order, we went into the dining area and noticed they had some chips but didn't have a salsa bar, but at least there were chips. As we were coming back to our table we were able to get some salsa from the order counter. The chips were really good, they were warm, salty, and had a good crunch to them, we both said that they would make really good chips for nachos. The salsa had a good flavor, but was really mild. I can understand not making the salsa you give with the chips to start on the mild end, but thats the great things about having a couple of different salsas where the chips are, that way the customers can decide if they want something a little more spicy. But this was a good start to our visit!
The tacos came out first, on the menu there is a option to get the tacos crispy. This does not mean crispy fried shells, but they do them in their version of dorado style. They crisp up the tortillas on the grill, and trust me it makes a difference on how good a taco can be. Visually the chicken tacos look identical to Santa Marias, served with a roasted jalapeno and onions on the side. The meat had that fantastic flavor and was moist. Combined with the salsa they use it was juicy but not fall apart messy. We did notice that the salsa on the chicken taco wasn't as spicy as Santa Marias (I am noticing a trend)
Next up was their gorditas! When they were placed on our table I was excited on how good they looked, these things were stuffed. The shell is made from a chili masa that has a nice orange color to it. Stuffed inside were refried beans, cabbage, cheese, and carne asada. The first bite was pretty good, the masa shell was firm and kept all the fillings from spilling out, but it needed a little extra oomph with some salsa. After I opened it up and poured some salsa inside, the next bite was much better, but the refried beans do what refried beans do, they counter act any of the spice and flavors of the salsa. I got up and asked if they had any spicier salsa available, the lady smiled and said yes, they only hand out the mild salsa for the chips, I then took the cup of spicier green salsa and mixed it in with the mild. That made it just right, poured some of that in the gordita and that was IT! Exactly what it needed, DELICIOUS!!!
I am happy to see empanadas starting to become a common option at Mexican restaurants. The only thing about empanadas, is they can be so different depending on where you get them, but we will always order them to see how they are. The ones we got were made with the same chili masa as the gordita, and were a decent 2 hand size, and had a crema on the top with a side a guacamolito. It essentially was the same as the gordito, but minus the cabbage and beans on the inside. These were just as good as the gorditos. That masa gives a real satisfactory feeling when you bite into it. firm and crisp on the outside, it has no problem keeping all the ingredients inside. These also needed the spicer salsa, so we were glad that we had that to pour over the top.
Overall our I would call our first visit a success! the staff was extremely friendly, we had a conversation and made some jokes as we ordered. It felt like this was a place we had been going to for years despite being our first time. There were a lot of options, and we didn't even get to try any of the desserts. And if I am being honest, if you were to give me a option of going to Santa Maria or the new Crunchy Bites. I think I would choose Crunch Bites.
Some of the things that would make this place even better would be a salsa bar, with at least 2 options the mild and a spicier salsa, and a soda fountain machine. But even without those 2 items this place is a 100% recommendation for all you taco hunters out there! read more