\n<\/p>\n
In the high desert town of Barstow stand three Del Tacos that tout themselves as superior to their corporate cousins.<\/p>\n
They are the last to be owned and operated by Mexican fast food chain founder Ed Hackbarth. Two of them have the word “Original” written beneath their marquees, even though that is historically incorrect \u2013 Hackbarth opened the first Del Taco in the nearby town of Yermo in 1964.<\/p>\n
That hasn’t stopped thousands of devotees \u2014 myself included \u2014 from flocking to these Cal-Mex shrines to buy memorabilia, view historical photos, and enjoy hard shell tacos, burritos, and bun tacos, which they say are tastier than regular Del Tacos.<\/p>\n
Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton was among those visitors.<\/p>\n
He stopped at the Original Del Taco near First Avenue after the town hall Saturday with lieutenant governor candidate and Barstow native Gloria Romero. His campaign posted a short video on social media, in which he stands outside the oldest Del Taco location to operate, holding what appears to be a melted Frisbee in his hand.<\/p>\n
It was what’s called the Barstow Taco: ground beef, a few strips of lettuce, a blizzard of bright yellow cheese and a thick red tomato slice on top, all inside a hard taco shell.<\/p>\n
Hilton cheerfully picked up the crunchy mass with one hand and pointed to the original Del Taco sign with the other. <\/p>\n
“My Barstow Street taco, I’m going to enjoy,” he concluded in his native England accent, giving a thumbs-up. “See you soon.”<\/p>\n
He didn’t even eat a single piece.<\/p>\n
The social media blowback erupted like a digital Montezuma with vengeance. Haters ridiculed Hilton for going to Mexican restaurants in what seemed like an attempt to attract Latino voters \u2014 if he was going to do that, why on earth did he choose a multimillion-dollar empire founded by a gringo? Others noted that “street tacos” are made from corn tortillas and purchased from food trucks or street stalls. As the author of a book about the history of Mexican food in the United States, I pointed out that this Del Taco is not actually the original, despite what the marquee says.<\/p>\n
A humble person would immediately admit his mistakes. Hilton is not a polite person.<\/p>\n
When someone pointed out that “Barstow Street Taco” was a misnomer, Hilton responded, “That’s what they call it!” To someone who accused him of supporting dodgy corporations rather than mom-and-pop shops, Hilton responded that he went there because Romero once worked there.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot everything in life can be turned into a political debate!!\u201d he shouted.<\/p>\n
Hilton and her followers are messing with Del Taco-gate just as much nada <\/i>\u2013 and yet it tells voters everything they need to know about the man.<\/p>\n Three hard shell beef tacos from San Bernardino restaurant Mitla Caf\u00e9, which indirectly served as inspiration for Taco Bell and Del Taco.<\/p>\n (Jane Harris\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n Endorsed by President Trump, he has consistently topped the polls this year, largely because multiple Democratic candidates have split the vote. Hilton has fared better than her main Republican rival, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, by promoting a message of positivity with weak-salsa slogans like “Make California Golden Again” and “Califortable.”<\/p>\n During debates, the former Fox News host has relied on his dry wit and posh accent to make his answers stronger. They have focused specifically on selling themselves to Latinos. Several months before he announced his run, we sat at my wife’s restaurant in Santa Ana as he tried to rack my brain about this important swing vote, asking questions I kept telling him I had already answered. Columna<\/i>.<\/p>\n not hilton pendejo<\/i>. But I wonder about their decision after that Del Taco video.<\/p>\n I have no problem with Hilton campaigning at a Mexican restaurant – it’s a political tactic used by candidates of all ideologies. It’s unreasonable to expect a British immigrant who’s only been in California since 2012 to be completely versed in taco culture, which is just as essential to the state. And people shouldn’t criticize them for highlighting a California culinary institution that is one of the better legacy fast food chains out there, Barstow Taco is anything but. (Del Taco’s Half-Pound Bean and Cheese Burrito, on the other hand, is as silky as Luther Vandross’s Sloe Jam.)<\/p>\n A proper hard shell taco is a beautiful thing. Just head to San Bernardino’s Mitla Caf\u00e9, where Hackbarth’s former boss, Glenn Bell, learned how to make the tacos that made them both millionaires. But these days, bragging about enjoying a hard shell taco is like parading down the street in a horse-drawn carriage.<\/p>\n As relevant to modern California as tamale pie, hard shell tacos are a reflection of Hilton’s pitch to voters: Instead of offering a bold vision for the future, he offers a return to a past that will never happen again and which wasn’t as great as people make it out to be.<\/p>\n I’ve tried to be as open as possible about Hilton’s campaign. California could benefit from a governor who isn’t fresh out of the Sacramento swamp. It could also benefit Republicans, as happened in the 2000s when Arnold Schwarzenegger forced Democrats to fight instead of fight.<\/p>\n But Hilton disappoints again and again. He launched his campaign in Huntington Beach, influenced by politicians there who want to isolate their city from the rest of California and disparage liberals at every opportunity. Acknowledging his support of Trump and refusing to acknowledge that Joe Biden legitimately won the 2020 presidential election exposes him as a toadie. Hilton’s claim that she is a candidate for legal immigrants disqualifies my father, who originally came to this country without papers, yet has contributed more to the California experiment than Hilton (and is now a US citizen).<\/p>\n I’ll even be kind and forgive Hilton for incorrectly calling Del Taco where she visited the original Taco – the background is certainly confusing. But his Barstow Street taco flub is a stand-in for his campaign, which will flop in November if he doesn’t get Mexican food straight. <\/p>\n Hilton told me over the phone it was her first time eating at Del Taco (she enjoyed the Barstow taco off-camera but thought their fish taco was better). He didn’t stop “for the food, obviously,” but for Romero and what it meant for California entrepreneurship.<\/p>\n “The idea of \u200b\u200bgoing to the first location of a business that eventually becomes big is really cool,” said the former restaurateur, noting that he previously shot a video at the McDonald’s San Bernardino location, which is now a museum.<\/p>\n When I told him that Del Taco wasn’t the first and that what he ordered wasn’t actually a street taco, he didn’t get defensive \u2014 “I will say that I’m learning, and I love learning and I love food, and discovering places and community through food, and I’d definitely love to learn more.”<\/p>\n Hilton said he enjoys “real” tacos, but he can’t name any place he likes. He asked for recommendations. I suggested we get some tacos with my dad, and he immediately agreed.<\/p>\n \u201cSo you can explain to him how you are a candidate legal<\/i> Immigrant,\u201d I added. \u201cMy father came to this country in the trunk of a Chevy.\u201d<\/p>\n Hilton remained silent for a second. \u201cOkay, let’s talk,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Dear Reader: Where should we eat?<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In the high desert town of Barstow stand three Del Tacos that tout themselves as superior to their corporate cousins. They are the last to be owned and operated by Mexican fast food chain founder Ed Hackbarth. Two of them have the word “Original” written beneath their marquees, even though that is historically incorrect \u2013<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":135291,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[30604,2751,2383,5780,5779,11499],"class_list":["post-135214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bible-verse","tag-barstow","tag-del","tag-exposed","tag-hilton","tag-steve","tag-taco"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135214"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135214\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":135292,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135214\/revisions\/135292"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}