Chula Vista, a San Diego neighborhood mere stops from the Mexican border, is one of the best places to find our neighbor’s cuisine in SoCal. Some restaurants have even started to expand from Tijuana. Aqui es Texcoco serves terrific barbacoa. Tacos El Gordo also hails from Tijuana and already has locations in Otay Mesa and Las Vegas. The Chula Vista branch has a small covered patio, wall-to-wall stainless steel, separate lines for carne asada, assorted animal parts, and adobada. The latter has the longest lines, for good reason.

Since this was my first time at Tacos El Gordo, I loaded up on assorted proteins for variety’s sake, but did enjoy adobada best. My favorite taco ($2.10) featured pork adobada that’s marinated with spices, vinegar, and stained red with achiote. The pork stacks spin on a trompo, with the exterior getting good and crusty with each turn. Corn tortillas are griddled in flavorful pork drippings, forming the basis for delectable tacos. Sliced pineapple, which cooks atop the pork, joins chopped onions, cilantro, and cooling pastel green avocado salsa.

Dose of Vitamin P spotlights my favorite pork dish from the previous week.