The restaurant ‘Los Chamacos’, owned by the Ecuadorian Andrés Salas, was the winner of the first taco championship in Spain.
Ecuadorian chef Andrés Salas tasting one of his tacos at the restaurant, in 2023.
The best taco in Spain is cooked in Castellón, a province in the eastern part of the European country. But it is not made by a Mexican, but by an Ecuadorian chef: Andrés Salas.
The son of a director of a gastronomy school in Quito, Salas settled in Castellón a year ago and founded his taco shop ‘Los Chamacos’.
With his famous lamb birria tortilla, Salas is the winner of the first taco contest in Spain, held on July 4, 2023 and endorsed by La Casa de México in this country.
Due to his triumph and the singular fact that Salas is neither Mexican nor has he visited Mexico, the story of this Ecuadorian is told by the newspaper El País in its Gastro section.
According to the newspaper, Salas has learned about Mexican gastronomy thanks to books and the help of friends, who “have been guiding him in what was missing or in excess of his dishes until, with his eyes closed, they transported him to his country.”
To choose the ‘champion’ of the tacos, the contest took into account the opinion of customers, but also of a jury of inspectors, which, among other personalities, included the Mexican chef, Roberto Ruiz.
A demanding chef
Salas studied gastronomy in Ecuador and was the executive chef of a hotel. When he was about to specialize in French cuisine, he decided on Mexican.
He got as far as a school in Castellón, where driven by his passion and the boom in Mexican food, he opened ‘Los Chamacos’.
For Salas, Mexican food “allows something like tacos, which are street food, to be combined with gastronomic knowledge.”
In the taquería, with capacity for about 60 diners, he has the help of his partner and partner, Mihaela Gheorghe, who is not Mexican either.
Gheorghe told the newspaper El País that Salas is a demanding chef and she often stayed up until dawn trying to perfect the tortilla dough.
What’s more, to get the perfect flavor in his winning taco, the Ecuadorian macerates the lamb meat with three different types of chilies for 12 hours.
As if that were not enough, the best taco in Spain costs just USD 3.60.
But Salas’ work does not end in the kitchen, and according to the report, it is common to see him approach his diners and explain how he prepared each of his dishes.
The taco shop has been successful and has a second location also in Castellón.
