Centro Latin Kitchen Introduces Tijuana-Style Tacos Perrones

For taco hunters seeking rare and regional styles, Boulder's Centro Latin Kitchen just updated its menu, with a section devoted to tacos perrones, a specialty of a single taqueria in Tijuana, Mexico (actually nearby Rosarito, to be more specific). Although the style has spread to other taco stands in Baja California and across the border to San Diego, the tacos perrones at Tacos el Yaqui are considered the original and the best. A taco perrón, in its purest form, is a flour tortilla filled with wood-grilled arrachera (skirt steak), charro beans, guacamole and salsa verde. In fact, at Tacos el Yaqui, other taco styles are offered, but arrachera is the only meat option.

At Centro, chef Dakota Coburn has expanded beyond grilled steak to include six other tacos perrones: pork shoulder, achiote pork collar, crispy kingfish, garlic shrimp, beer and chile braised chicken and spicy eggplant. The flour tortillas are of the thin and floppy variety, similar to those used in Tijuana. And in a move that's purely Colorado, Centro will smother your taco perrón in either pork green chile or chile rojo. Centro's perrones are priced at $4 and $5 each, but they're considerably larger than standard corn-tortilla tacos.

Coburn says the menu changes are part of a focus on "classic Mexican techniques and flavors," and include a few other new dishes like shrimp and kingfish ceviche, chiles rellenos and a Baja special of ribs, seafood and sides that's intended to mimic a beach picnic. 

Breakfast tacos perrones will be part of Centro's new brunch menu beginning April 4 and a new line of cocktails and "non-flammables" has also been launched, including a number of re-imagined aguas frescas.

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