Mariscos Jalisco's $3 Shrimp Taco Comes From a Man Who Once Sold DVDs

Raul Ortega's taco dorado de camarón sells from a truck on East Olympic Boulevard, and the order to make is a whole plate.

"I sold DVDs on the street," Raul Ortega told L.A. TACO. He also worked as a custodian and a mechanic while taking English classes, doing whatever it took to feed his family.

Ortega is the man behind Mariscos Jalisco, and his crispy shrimp taco is why you should drive to an industrial block of Olympic Boulevard in Boyle Heights. In an origin story L.A. TACO published Tuesday, Javier Cabral wrote that if he could choose just one taco to stand for Los Angeles, it would be this one. I haven't eaten it. My case rests on the critics who have, and on the price, which L.A. TACO puts at about $3.

That price is my whole argument. Cabral set it against the city's other famous cheap meals: a French dip at Philippe's or a Pink's hot dog runs about $10, he wrote, and a pastrami sandwich at Langer's costs around $20. So L.A.'s most-discussed taco costs less than a third of the next-cheapest landmark on his list, and none of the others can say that.

Here's the dish. Time Out's taco guide describes shrimp folded into a corn tortilla, fried golden brown and topped with avocado and a salsa roja. Cabral described it as "crunchy on the edges and custardy in the middle." The Michelin Guide's inspectors wrote that its shell "collapses like tempura."

Nobody outside the business seems to know exactly what's in the filling, and plenty of people have tried to find out. L.A. TACO says countless recipes online have tried to copy the taco, and that even chef Matty Matheson took a shot at it. It also says it confirmed there's no potato in the filling, whatever the rumors claim. If the copycats keep missing, the only way to get the real one is to go to the truck.

Don't expect a fancy room. In an April 23 review for The Eastsider, Merrill Shindler described the truck parked among warehouses and auto shops behind fences topped with sharp spikes. Next to it is a dining room hung with framed press clippings. Bottles of the house habanero salsa, sold at the truck, carry Ortega's face on the label.

Shindler also found that the truck shows about ten dishes with photos but no prices. The "Taco de Camaron" is listed there in plain words, so the $3 figure comes from L.A. TACO, not from the truck.

Shindler wrote that Ortega first cooked tacos de cabeza in his hometown, San Juan de los Lagos in Mexico. The Michelin Guide says Ortega started his truck in 2001. Michelin gave its Bib Gourmand, the guide's award for good food at good value, to the Pomona restaurant at 753 E. Holt Ave. Still, the original truck is the one to visit.

Start with the shrimp taco. If you want a second dish, Time Out points to the Poseidon tostada. Time Out's listing gives the truck's hours as 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. daily at 3040 E. Olympic Blvd. That makes this a lunch trip, not a late-night one.

This is for the person who wants the most famous lunch in the city at a price that doesn't hurt. Michelin wrote that first-timers order one taco while regulars go straight to a whole plate. Order like a regular.

Source: lataco.com, retrieved November 11, 2026. Other sources: timeout.com, guide.michelin.com, The Eastsider.