Las Ahumaderas (Taco Alley)

Las Ahumaderas, known to nearly everyone in Tijuana simply as Taco Alley, is a short row of open-fronted taco stands clustered at the junction of Boulevard Agua Caliente and Avenida Salinas in Colonia Aviacion. The name comes from the smoke that pours off the charcoal grills, and the stands have operated on this corner for decades, competing directly with one another across a few metres of pavement. There is no single business to visit; the experience is the row itself, where half a dozen taquerias grill simultaneously and diners drift between them comparing asada. Carne asada is the shared specialism. Thin-cut beef is grilled over charcoal, chopped on the board and served on small corn tortillas with onion, coriander and a squeeze of lime, with grilled spring onions and roasted chillies handed over alongside. The variations are what distinguish the stands: the quesataco, in which a layer of melted cheese is browned onto the tortilla before the meat, and the vampiro, built on a tortilla toasted until crisp and rubbed with garlic, both originate in this style of Tijuana street cooking. Adobada from the spit, tripa and mulitas complete most menus. Each stand runs its own salsa bar, and the guacamole salsa, chilli de arbol and pickled vegetables are refilled constantly. Tacos generally cost 25 to 45 pesos, and payment is cash only at every stand. Most operate from midday until around four in the morning, which is the point: this is where Tijuana eats after the bars close, and the row is at its most animated between midnight and 3AM. Seating is limited to a few stools and standing counters, the lighting is bare bulbs and neon, and service is fast and brusque in the best sense. The junction is a short taxi ride from Zona Rio and the Agua Caliente racetrack.