For a mid-sized city, Concord, California offers a broad range of restaurants, representing the foods of nearly 30 ethnicities. Our group of travel writers visited several Concord restaurants, including the nationally-renowned Taco Trail and three more noteworthy eateries.
The Concord Taco Trail
On Concord, California’s Taco Trail, every day is Taco Tuesday.
Featuring stops at over 40 Concord restaurants, the trail is a nationally recognized celebration of the humble but beloved Mexican street food.
With about 30 percent of locals in this small city in the East Bay identifying as Latino, Concord has a lot of Mexican and Central American restaurants. Most of them serve tacos.
The city’s visitor’s bureau, Visit Concord, developed a program connecting places that make this crowd-pleasing food. Food lovers nationwide now recognize the trail as a culinary attraction, as it’s been noted by prestigious foodie and travel publications like Food & Wine and Travel + Leisure.
Favorites of the Concord Taco Trail
With over 40 places to choose from on the trail, where do you start?
Sheri Nelson, director of Visit Concord, says the fan-favorite taco for 2023 was the Canastaco from Canasta Kitchen. It’s made with birria, which is beef brisket simmered with spices, vinegar, and broth. While birria originates from the Mexican state of Jalisco, this recipe is from Chiapas, near the Mexico/Guatemala border. The Canastaco has been one of the top choices on the trail for the past 11 years.
Another beloved taco is lengua at Tortilleria El Molino. The regulars love this uncommon cut of beef, the meaty tongue. Marinated and seasoned, it’s one of the best sellers in the restaurant.
The ultimate taco challenge
Enthusiasts can participate in the Taco Challenge between mid-September and mid-October each year. It involves visiting participating eateries, enjoying their specialties, and documenting the event with social media postings. Each post counts as an official entry. The participant with the most entries earns the title of Taco Trail Champion.
Some true champions have been to all 40-plus restaurants. For their efforts, they garner the Taco Trail Challenge Golden Taco.
The most popular restaurant among challenge participants takes the Fan Favorite Award. This year’s winner was Puesto.
Others demonstrate their love for the Taco Trail more boldly. During our visit to Tortilleria El Molino, a woman arrived in a taco costume. She ordered her meal and posted her entry. She told us she’s participated in the challenge every year since its beginning and still loves every restaurant.
That sort of obsession is understandable once you’ve visited the Concord Taco Trail.
To plan your visit to the Taco Trail, go to the website of Visit Concord.
Tortilleria El Molino
Like many immigrants, Santiago Morales wanted to find authentic foods from his native Mexico when he came to the U.S. But he couldn’t find quality tortillas around his new Concord home. So Morales established a small factory to produce fresh, homemade corn and flour tortillas. The business became so successful he then added tacos and burritos and eventually other dishes that his customers loved, like tamales and pupusas. Today, Tortilleria El Molino is one of the most popular restaurants on the Concord Taco Trail. Co-owner Esteban Morales, Santiago’s son, explained that they have kept their food prices low to keep it affordable to the regular clientele. They offer products considered comfort food to many locals but less so to non-residents, like lengua (tongue), cabeza (beef head) and buche (pork stomach). The business now includes an adjacent grocery store selling mostly Latin food and produce. It’s a mainstay in a primarily Latino neighborhood. My meal was carne asada, skirt steak marinated in lime juice, garlic, and spices and adorned with chopped white onions and cilantro. Tanginess, sweetness, and smokiness combined into delectable Mexican flavors. — Janice Sakata-Schultze
Longport Fish Company
Chef Nick diArenzo wanted to open a restaurant like the seafood places he loved back in his native Philadelphia, but with an upscale twist. The result is Longport, which may be elevated in its menu offerings but not with its atmosphere, which is decidedly casual and fun. We only had cocktails and a few appetizers here. I chose a drink called Love Potion No. 9, with tequila, mezcal, grapefruit juice, and “love.” It was probably their most simple concoction, but the juice’s tanginess and the mezcal’s smoky flavor combined perfectly. The starters we enjoyed included truffle fries, baked oysters, homemade cornbread, Maryland crab cakes, and dynamite cauliflower. I could not stop eating the fries and the cauliflower. Crispy waffled potatoes, flavored with parmesan, garlic, and rosemary honey and served with black garlic mayo, balanced salty and sweet with the earthiness of truffle. The cauliflower, with sweet-sour sauce, sesame seeds, and green onions, had just a hint of heat to make it irresistible. — Janice Sakata-Schultze
Luna Ristorante: Fresh Italian at a Concord Restaurant
Owner and chef Abdel Redouane, who has years of experience cooking in Italy and France, serves superb, flavorful Italian dishes at Luna Ristorante. The menu includes classics like chicken marsala, linguine, and tiramisu, all made with fresh ingredients. The homemade sauces call to mind an authentic restaurant in Italy. Start with the Bruschetta Trio, toasted bread topped with feta, artichokes, mushrooms, and gorgonzola. Share the Black Mission Figs, stuffed with blue cheese and wrapped in Parma prosciutto. My favorite was the Gamberoni, sautéed tiger shrimp served head-on in a spicy livornese sauce, with capers and olives. The stuffed mushrooms with cream cheese and crab meat are unforgettable. For the main course, savor the traditional chicken marsala, or the hearty braised lamb shank with a wine demi glace and roasted vegetables. Save room for dessert like the traditional tiramisu or limoncello. — Janie Pace
Doppio Zero: Authentic Southern Italian Cuisine
They had me at gluten-free, freshly made ravioli in a cherry tomato sauce. It’s so rare to find gluten-free pasta at a good Italian restaurant that I immediately knew the chefs at Doppio Zero are committed to meeting guests’ needs — and good at what they do.A Chef from Naples
Doppio Zero offers comforting Southern Italian cuisine with standards such as gnocchi, ravioli, and lasagne as well as less common creations like squid ink tagliolini and fettuccine with slow-braised short ribs. Angelo Santino welcomed our group that was touring Concord with a warm smile, explaining how the kitchen made all of their food from scratch, according to family recipes. The restaurant’s authenticity is properly earned. Raised in Naples, Italy, Santino moved to San Francisco in 2002. His partner, Gianni Chiloiro, immigrated from Taranto, Italy to the Bay Area in 1980.Powered by Wood and Lava
Doppio Zero’s wood-fire oven features prominently in the open kitchen at the back of the restaurant. The cement and lava rock of the Italian oven reaches 700 degrees and cooks a pizza in 60 seconds. Although I wanted to try the pizza, I couldn’t pass up the ravioli with asparagus, garlic, and cashew cheese.Dessert at Doppio Zero
After dinner, our group headed to Vibes on the Veranda, an outdoor concert for the Concord community. Even though we were scheduled to be treated by a neighboring restaurant, Santino insisted on bringing us dessert and an after-dinner drink. The luxurious layer cake included chocolate ganache and rich chocolate cream with blueberry sauce. The limoncello was the best I had tasted since first trying it on the Amalfi Coast 25 years ago. — Judy Karnia The authors were hosted by Visit Concord. You might also like:- Learn about wines in Sutter County, California.
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