The spicy homemade salsa told me a lot. It told me Casa Moreno Taquería was a homemade kinda place and, not coincidentally, a true taquería. It told me the place was probably as unique as its citrusy-spicy flavor. (It is.) And it told me good things were likely on the way. (They were.)

So too was a challenging sequence of caloric intake at the former Sidewalk Café on North Fremont: Simply taking a bite of the carnitas taco ($2.65) was tricky. Thing was huge. I’d picked it from a choice of seven meats—asada (grilled beef), bírria (slow simmered beef), chile verde (beef in green chile sauce), chipotle chicken, chicken, al pastor (marinated and grilled pork). In addition to the salty, tender and perfectly-crispy chunks of braised pork, a mass of cabbage, tomatoes, onions, cilantro and whole pinto beans made it hard to just pick up. I abandoned the hand-to-mouth struggle early in favor of a fork.

The meats available for tacos can also go into super burritos ($5.10), burritos ($4.10, minus the sour cream and guac of the super) or tortas ($5). But on the recommendation of the staff member at the mini-gazebo counter where I ordered, I tabbed the beef quesadilla on a corn tortilla ($2.85) to follow the taco.

It proved as massive as the taco and looked very similar—in short, unlike any quesadilla I’ve seen. The unnerving part, however, was that it didn’t appear to have cheese. To my relief, I did discover melted jack underneath the tostada-style stack of marinated thin steak, pinto beans, cabbage, onions, tomatoes and cilantro, anchoring the meat to the soft fried corn tortilla.

I personally like to emphasize the queso in my ’dillas, but the tender, well-marinated and gristle-free meat, plus the smoky combo of the corn and cheese, made me a believer. It also helped me understand when a colleague told me later that people line up out the door for these at Moreno’s original Santa Cruz location.

In contrast to the macho food, the clean place, with cobalt blue booths, white walls, a mellow six-table patio and cool Mayan-style paintings and masks, was nicely understated. The chips aren’t free, but the tabletop salsa is and the food comes out quick and hot, the horchata ($2.50) tall and cold. While polishing off my quesadilla, I decided to structure my next few visits around my favorite and most familiar dishes: the torta, tacos al pastor and veggie burrito.

Unsurprisingly, Moreno came through burly with each. The torta was a different style than the ones I fell in love with in Chiapas, but worthy of a little passion itself. Rather than the stiffer, grilled bread many torta houses do, it was soft and tasty (and healthier) bread that stood little chance of standing up to the mass of chipotle chicken, sour cream and guacamole inside. I gamely bit and squished my way through the savory red-chipotle-sauced torn chicken (no gristle here either), lettuce, tomatoes, salsa, sour cream and guacamole. It was an untidy workout, but the girl at the counter did give me 14 paper napkins.

A pair of tacos al pastor ($2.65/each) also turned out to be a vigorous and flavorful eating feat—one to one-and-a-half of the pudgy corn tacos is a perfect portion, two is too much, three is shot-putter territory. The flavor is excellent—a salty and greasy symphony of marinated chunks of pork, pinto beans, spicy brown house salsa, pico de gallo and mixed cheeses that’s both unique and excellent. Minimal mess is a feat within itself.

The burrito ($3.50) was a pound-and-a-half Hercules carried by strong and smooth flavor summoned from several places: jack cheese, the trademark pinto beans, and a fresh and lightly grilled tortilla. But key players failed to show up. Tomato and cabbage, standard according to the menu, were almost entirely absent; the guacamole I added for a buck was written on the bag but nowhere within. It left me only imagining what it coulda been like complete, as it was still a veggie burrito to rival any in the area. I bought another one a few days later (no guac). My motivation was two-fold: 1) it’s a solid meal; and 2) I’m training for the super burrito. 

CASA MORENO TAQUERÍA

2240 N. Fremont St., Monterey • 11am-8:30pm except Sundays • 644-9626.