The bus crawled into Tijuana after an unusually long border crossing and our group of 25 food writers and chefs only cared about one thing: where to eat. Our first stop in Mexico was Tacos El Poblano, which has been slinging carne asada tacos to customers at their open-air spot in the city’s Mesa neighborhood since 1974.

We each started with a carne asada taco (13 pesos, about $1), which the talented taqueros assembled within seconds. The corn tortillas cradled three kinds of fresh-cleaved beef: lomo (loin), pulpa (eye of round) and chuleta (chop). Some cuts were chewy, others fatty or luscious. The meats all contributed to a collective meat-mind meld. The taqueros lavished each taco with diced onion, salsa roja and creamy guacamole sauce and slid it across the tiled counter.

Most of us ended up ordering a carne asada tostada (13 pesos), which was even better than the taco, with identical ingredients and a tortilla that was singed until charred and crispy under the grill’s “broiler.”

A pastor station was located on the other side of the restaurant, but the focus was clearly on the asada, so the spit-master had little to do but shuffle the spice-soaked pork around the grill. Sad. So sad.

The line cooks were total pros, even at midnight. It was fun to watch the taquero’s skill with his lightning-fast cleaver.

Thank you to the Tijuana Convention and Visitors Bureau, Crossborder Agency, Cotuco (Tijuana Tourism Board), and Tijuana Canirac (Tijuana Restaurant Association) for sponsoring our eye-opening culinary tour of northern Baja. Thank you to Bill Esparza from Street Gourmet LA for leading the tour and for supplying so much invaluable information.