DINING OUT ... WITH FRIENDS ON
THE GILROY TACO TRAIL by Mike Sanchez . Photos by gmhTODAY
For this installment of Dining Out , we hit the Taco Trail !
Visit Gilroy website . We couldn ’ t think of anyone better to traverse the trail with than our friends Mike Bauduin and Karyn Corbett . Mike and Karyn lived in Gilroy for 25 years before relocating in late 2020 to Waddell , Arizona . Mike was a commercial building contractor and completed projects all over the US and abroad , and Karyn was the senior director of operations for the Service Provider Business Unit at Cisco Systems in San Jose .
Mike and Karyn are two-thirds of our “ six-pack ” of friends , who spent most of 2020 and 2021 in a “ pod ” we first called “ the speakeasy club .” We spent weekends hiking together with our dogs , sharing dinners , laughs and life ’ s ups and downs . To find trustworthy people anytime is great ; finding those people in tough and uncertain times is truly a gift . Like us , Mike and Karyn appreciate a great taco . Add a “ beverage ” and some hot salsa … muy delicioso !
Gilroy ’ s Taco Trail had been calling us for years . We wondered : Could we complete the trail in one weekend ? Could we survive eating that many tacos ? Did rules or best practices exist that we could — or should — follow ?
For these and other questions , we called the local experts — our friends , local legends , and founders of the Gilroy Taco Crawl , Justin and Andrea Gamble . We planned this meet-up and a few other surprises along the trail .
We timed Mike and Karyn ' s arrival at San Jose International Airport and our return back in Gilroy to be exactly 11:30am so we ’ d all be hungry and ready to get “ our tacos on .” After a quick stop at Casa Sanchez to allow our amigos a chance to freshen up , we hit " the trail ."
The Journey Begins
Our first stop was El Grullense at 1280 First Street . For under $ 2 , their tradtional street tacos ( meat , onions , cilantro , and salsa ) are a great deal . Typical meat choices are : asada ( beef ), pollo ( chicken ), carnitas ( pork ), tripas ( intestines ), al pastor ( marinated pork ), chile verde ( pork in tomatillo sauce ), lengua ( beef tongue ), and cabeza ( beef head ). Between us , we ate tripas , carnitas , asada , and pollo tacos . A couple Modelo special ’ s helped the cilantro down the hatch .
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