Quick Details
Every Taco Tells a Story, And Every Place in Laguna Does Too
Learn the history of tacos, the greatest street food ever invented. Welcome to Southern California, the world’s incubator of exotic tacos. You’ll find traditional street tacos, seafood tacos, and hybrid mashups from our polyglot of exotic local cultures. This is not just a tour: it’s an immersion into the unique and perfect seaside village of Laguna. You’ll be led by locals with a deep passion for the place. And for glorious tacos too.
In this guided walking and food tour, you’ll experience the breadth of Laguna’s magic as a turn of the century artist colony. You’ll see the many galleries, festivals, and installations, the steep, sloping hillsides, beloved Craftsman architecture, and storied California light that inspired so many artists to land here and practice “plein air” art. Also known as California Impressionism. You’ll learn about Laguna’s central role in the birth of surfing, mountain biking, skate and skimboarding, its deep musical heritage, and the counterculture movement that grew out of it.
We’ll start at historic Main Beach, and then head into town for your first taco sampler – classic street tacos. Wash it down with a traditional Mexican lager.
Then we’ll head to the Arts District, home to the Festival of Arts, Pageant of the Masters, and Sawdust Festival, arriving at your next destination, our local brewery, where you’ll experience the classic Baja fish taco. And wash it down with a delightful flight of 3 delicious micro-brewed beers.
Then it’s back into town for our final destination, Laguna’s most artistic Mexican Restaurant, where you will enjoy an exotic, gourmet taco of your choice. And some yummy a la carte desserts if desired. Hang out for drinks, or head into town to enjoy ice cream and live music.
This walking + sightseeing tour of downtown Laguna Beach includes 2 mini and 2 full sized tacos, plus 1 beer and an additional flight of three (6oz) samplers. Or comparable beverages. It lasts approximately 2 hours.
Details
Name: Downtown Walking Taco + Brewery Tasting + Sightseeing Tour
Time: Tues, Thurs, Saturday 6pm-8pm
Min 2 guests
About Taco Tours in Laguna Beach
It’s no coincidence that our company has a Spanish name that means “the Laguna Life,” and that we offer a taco food tour. We owe much of our heritage to the Spanish. Well, to Mexicans actually, who were here before us. The entire region has a Spanish influence, from the historic Missions, to the many Spanish homes, hotels and civic buildings. And especially to the food. Because Mexican food is one of the world’s great cuisines.
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But this isn’t just a food tour. It’s a walking tour of historic downtown Laguna, as well as a local micro-brewery tasting. Food tours have become more and more popular ways to experience a city. You get to know it’s character by its food. And Laguna Beach is a taco town, with more than a dozen taco joints from north to south, and tacos virtually on every other menu. And that’s because tacos are perhaps the world’s greatest street food – portable, cheap and delicious. A freshly made corn tortilla can be the perfect carrier for just about any foods. In Mexico, it’s usually a protein, coupled with onions, cilantro, and some salsa. In America, we added the hard-shell taco, lettuce, tomato, sour cream, and often ground meat. But there are a million variations in between. And Laguna, being a coastal town less than 100 miles from the Mexico border, is infiltrated with some of the best Mexico food in the country.
The word “taco” is quite new. It originated from Mexican silver miners in the 18th century. Gunpowder was wrapped in a paper like a “taquito” and inserted into rocks before detonation. The first references [to the taco] in any sort of archive or dictionary come from the end of the 19th century. And one of the first types of tacos described is called tacos de minero—miner’s tacos. It evolved from there into the sophisticated cuisine it is today.
We’ll start the tour at Main Beach, where you’ll get an overview of how the Laguna Beach artist community was formed, and how it used to look. After a brief stroll along the promenade, we’ll get to the good part: the grub. You’ll get a taste of meat, seafood, and vegetarian tacos. You’ll learn about the taco cultural mashup that can only happen in Southern California, and you’ll go home with a full stomach – and armed with more knowledge of tacos than you ever thought possible.
Taco Tours in Laguna provides just the right amount of eating, drinking digesting, strolling, sightseeing, and storytelling. A great night out with friends and family. Plus you’ll enjoy meeting other visitors in the group, and sharing the taco experience with them.