There’s a steady pounding pouring out of El Toro Bravo, an uncertain sound like the dull thud of a drum in the distance. You can hear it from the parking lot, but you can’t see it—pull up to the place at any regular hour and there’s bound to be a line out the door. While you wait, pigeons flap around for scraps and that heavy rhythm just keeps on. Soon, though, you break through the doorway and find the source: a cleaver.

Behind the counter, El Toro Bravo’s staff operate as butchers, watching over everything from carne asada and carnitas to birria and lengua. With each order their cleavers are sent into full swing, splitting apart blocks of meat on demand and in plain sight—El Toro Bravo makes sure its food follows the freshest paths.

But with only two tables out front for stand-up eating, El Toro Bravo (not to be confused with the market of the same name in the same shopping center) is mostly meant for takeout. It barely even seems like a restaurant. Inside, there’s nothing but an endless kitchen where mounds of masa wait to be formed into tortillas and dozens of chickens spin the day away on a rotisserie. Still, while most of the food at El Toro Bravo is forced into takeout, it all holds up just fine—a testament to the insulating power of aluminum foil.

There are a few ways to pick through all the meats at El Toro Bravo (you can order any of them a la carte), but it’s when they’re swaddled in tacos that they eat the best. As standbys go, the carne asada is a bit bland, with all of its natural flavor seemingly cooked away in the crisping process. Meanwhile, the carnitas remain a standard, tender shreds that should be well-known to any taco fan.

Beyond the familiar fare, it’s the overlooked options that are best at El Toro Bravo. Barbacoa (barbecue beef) is one such choice. The meat sits first in a buffet tray behind the counter, then upon your order it’s hacked away to meaty slivers about the size of the carnitas. But the barbacoa bests its pork relative with a smoky sweetness, a balanced flavor that provides a good counter to the taco’s onion and cilantro. And when the restaurant doesn’t run out, birria is another good choice—stewed goat meat that eats with the same softness as the barbacoa.

There’s also cueritos (fried pork rinds) and buche (pork stomach) to round out the pig-oriented options. But whatever you choose, know that the tacos are huge, pushing the usual one-handed, two-bite meal closer to a sandwich-sized plate of meat. It’s almost an unnatural upsizing, but it only makes the tacos that much better of a bargain. (El Toro Bravo does stuff its meats into burritos, too, but the tacos win out for the usual reasons: price and ease of eating.)

The restaurant also packs on more takeout tastes with a number of other ready-made foods. You can buy masa for take-home tortilla making or some pre-bundled tortillas to make things easier. And if you prefer something more complete, there are a number of combination meals, family-sized dinners that get filled with whole roasted chickens, stacks of tortillas and all the other fixings necessary for an at-home Mexican meal.

But even with all of its pre-made options, El Toro Bravo is still a place that serves food intended to be eaten on the spot. Takeout works as well as it can, but tacos will always be best when they’re shoved down with that street-food immediacy. So if the tables are already full, grab a seat on the curb instead and savor all you can before the pigeons make their inevitable descent.

Tags: costa mesa, el toro bravo, Food, mexican, Restaurants