La Victoria Taqueria at 140 East San Carlos Street, San Jose, CA 95112
San Jose has a locally well known thing; orange sauce. Orange sauce is a delicious hot sauce that I have not heard of being a deal anywhere else. No two are the same and you will find many San Jose taquerias with an orange sauce. There is, of course, some argument over who invented the first San Jose orange sauce. The answer, by several authorities, is La Victoria. This does not mean that one should not enjoy all of the orange sauces or that only the first is best. No, the world is wonderful for its variations and innovations and accumulated complications and experiences. However, it is true, that La Victoria has a fantastically delicious orange sauce and one should definitely sample it. In our house it is a special treat to come home with a bottle of the orange sauce from La Vic (the common nick name for La Victoria) and then to eat it on everything from eggs to pizza and burritos to tacos.
This is a post in the series of our impossible quest to try all of the tacos in San Jose. We just can’t talk about this San Jose icon of a taqueria without discussing the orange sauce. It is highly recommended and delicious. Ok, now on to the tacos!
The tacos were delicious and were enjoyed by all. Tacos ordered today included veggie tacos and asada tacos ordered as they come and ordered as plain meat and cheese. There were four of us sitting in the old victorian house turned restaurant next to San Jose State University. To my knowledge, this is the original location and the first place to bring San Jose orange sauce to the public.
Notes from todays tasting included:
– So delicious. Veggie tacos were loaded. Like big, full, a bit sloppy. The orange sauce on top was great and we got an extra bottle to take home.
– Pretty good but bigger than I thought they’d be
– Good tacos, good meat. Very big tacos. One taco would have been enough. Agua fresca was soooo delicious. The orange sauce is also great. Food is good and everything about the place is good. We bought a bottle of orange sauce to take home. Yum!
– Good tacos.
Combined taco score for La Victoria = 🌮🌮🌮🌮