Casa Sanchez #4 - Long Beach, CA

Back on the road with CantStayJose - just looking for the perfect beat and the perfect taco. I had heard from Brawny that Casa Sanchez #4, close to the corner of South and Cherry, had the most delightful chicharrones tacos ever. The story had me spellbound so I got my compadre and we had to investigate.
When we got to the door, Jose was all sketched out. "I dunno holmes, this place is eeemmmpty..." I said fuck it, let's check it out anyway.
We had called Brawny when we were on our way but it was kinda late and he was already done for the night. He works a lot so we didn't give him shit. We know he's tired.




Walking into a new place and seeing the menu for the first time is kinda like coming across a new swap meet vendor or walking into a new bike shop. Gotta stand back and take it all in for a minute.
And well, we took a while. Had to look at everything that was offered on the menu. Couldn't decide on what else to get besides chicharrones. Jose was trying to feel the place out, too.




Like I've mentioned before, all taco spots got a specialty. Most times, not ALL the meats are especially good. If you ask, they'll usually tell you to "everybody gets the carne asada," which is more or less 'steak'. That's the common generic response though.
We started out with drinks. Senor Jose had the Modelo. I treated myself with a nice Sidral Mundet (apple soda).
Have to admit the place creeped us out. It had bad/weird lighting and it was pretty empty... except for the four big Mexican girls sitting in the corner. They kept their eyes on us the whole time. Either they wanted to take our wallets or molest us, we didn't want to know.
Started out with the complimentary chips and salsa roja and pico de gallo, which were pretty good. I mean they were good enough that we needed seconds.
I had two carnitas tacos but had them gringo style with hard shell. Usually the hard shell isn't offered, so when I see it I'll get it once in a while. They were good, yeah, but it was just back up. I was here for something else...
We split a half order of chicken nachos. It was bunk. Couldn't even finish half of it. Don't even know why I said we should get it. Blurted it out. Ah, what the fuck.
Jose had two carnitas tacos too, standard soft shell. He loved them and said that they were done well.
And here's what I came for. Taco de Chicharrones. Oh my god it was good. Absolutely NOT your usual chicharrones, which is just fried fat or fried skin in a chile verde sauce. Noo, no. This was pork belly style chicharrones, with cripsy & crunchy skin, a little fat, and solid little chunks of meat. It was so choice. Maybe even one of the best tacos I've had so far in my life in CA.
Oh, did I mention that the chicharrones taco was good? Fuck. I should've just gotten ALL chicharrones tacos. Next time I will (and I have!).
Satisfied with our new spot, we headed home. It was a school night and it was already past 10pm. Had to get home, tend to our lovely ladies and get some sleep.
We've actually been back to this spot twice already and we'll see Casa Sanchez #4 again soon. Until next time... life's too short for burgers & fries!