
My favorite Al Pastor tacos at Kim’s Liquor Store during our recent beach vacation. This was my “go to” meal.
One of the things I like during our beach vacation is Mexican food in California. It tastes so much better than what we have in Arizona. After living in California for more than 30 years, it’s what I’m used to. California Mexican food is Baja style while Arizona is Sonoran. They are different.
I wrote about our favorite liquor store Mexican food being torn down on an earlier trip HERE. In that post, I pointed out changes in what once was a quaint sleepy beach town. Nothing stays the same.
Since our favorite Mexican take out spot no longer exists, we had to find a new one. And we did last summer. It’s called Kim’s and it’s off the beaten path next to orchid farms between our summer rental and our favorite beach.

This is the outside of Kim’s. It has a wide variety of items, from frying pans to Mexican spices, cereal, milk, automotive needs, fresh produce and liquor. In the back is a clean little kitchen run by chef Beto and his wife. We became regulars last summer and did take out even more this summer. That’s because it was unusually hot in the 90s and I didn’t feel like cooking. Our son and DIL loved it too. We ate a few take out dinners watching the sunset at the beach.
The first day we ordered at Kim’s during this year’s trip, Beto waved from the kitchen, gave us a big smile and shook our hands welcoming us back.

This was the best Chile Relleno I’ve had in my life with Beto’s homemade pico salsa on top plus rice and beans.

The Chicken Enchiladas with tons of avocado were pretty, pretty good, too!
We told the owner of Kim’s that we’d be leaving town. Then the next day we came back in for our last meal. Beto and his wife waved good bye. They thanked us. Then the owner gave us a bottle of Pinot Grigio and thanked us for all our business. Like my daughter said, “It feels good to be a regular and appreciated.”
What favorite restaurant or coffee shop do you where everyone knows your name?
What types of ethnic foods do you like in your area?
