The siren call of Taco Loco’s (955 Main St., Fortuna) cushy, thick, handmade tortillas is nearly impossible to resist but sometimes lashing yourself to the mast and sailing on to a couple new items on the menu pays off.
Not that there’s a wrong time for chilaquiles, as excellent for breakfast as they are for a midnight snack, but these make a fine brunch order ($12.99). The milder green sauce balances the vegetal tartness of tomatillos and heat from fried green chiles with the addition of crema, blended smooth. The homemade tortilla chips simmered in the sauce are chewy-tender, topped with queso fresca and eggs (order them sunny-side up and they arrive with creamy yolks and frizzled brown edges).
The Crazy Birria Ramen, as it’s announced on a flier by the register, should cure anyone coming off the brutal cold traveling around, or at least make you care a little less ($11.99 with no meat, $13.99 with meat, $16.99 with extra meat). The noodles are the springy instant kind, happily absorbing the beef consomé, a rich, hours-long cooked broth, brick red and smoky with dried guajillo chiles. The stewed meat barely holds together and the fat is offset by a squeeze of lime, cilantro, jalapeño, raw white onion and a zig-zag of habanero salsa. Who knew this would be the ramen that won me over to cheese as a topping?
Once it’s back on the menu, let owners Guadeloupe and Elisa Rodriguez talk you into a Mexican hot chocolate, not the café version but a spiced champurrado thickened with masa. Take it to go and it’ll stay hot a good long time and warm you back up when you need it.
Share your tips about What’s Good with Jennifer Fumiko Cahill (she/her), managing editor at the Journal. Reach her at (707) 442-1400 ext. 106 or jennifer@northcoastjournal.com. Follow her on Bluesky and Instagram @JFumikoCahill.
This article appears in Through Mark Larson’s Lens 2025.