ocweeklybestof
| Costa Mesa, CA | 160 Reviews
You don't expect much from Peña's Restaurant the first time you visit—saddles for seats, too many portraits of charros and Pancho Villa, this tiny Santa Ana operation seems like a tourist trap worthy of Olvera Street. And the menu also seems Del Taco-bad upon a cursory reading—tacos, burritos, enchiladas . . . snore. But read the fine print. Notice that one of the meats available is cochinita pibil, a style of pork cooked in the Yucatan and about the closest it gets to piggy bliss: fatty, sweet, with a citrus tinge and lurking spices. Only three places in the county prepare cochinita pibil regularly, and Peña's does it best, stuffing it into a massive, crisped flour tortilla alongside pickled red onions. It's big enough to sustain you for a week.
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