Columbus Junction, IA: Louisa County (Our 27th County!)

Many times we catch ourselves traveling to an Iowa town to visit one restaurant serving up tacos to the masses. On this day, we visited the community of Columbus Junction with its population of 1,900 people… and a bevy of taquerias to frequent. Wouldn’t you know it, we had time to stop by the majority of them. Taco time in CJ!

So imagine living in Southern California and saying to yourself…”Let’s move to Columbus Junction, IA and open a taqueria, shall we.” Well, the Salvador family did and we couldn’t be happier that they made the leap to Iowa! We chowed on four great tacos including lengua. That’s the slow cooked beef tongue that Antojitos Carmen perfected. Not only are their tacos great, but their fresh salsas proved to be a reason in itself to road trip to CJ. (Click on the pictures to see the descriptions)

Four of my best friends! Top taco is chorizo (ground Mexican sausage), to the right is pork pastor, bottom is carne asada (tender steak), and to the left is juicy lengua. (Beef tongue)

Meet the Salvador family! The masterminds of Antojitos Carmen.

We headed across the street and introduced ourselves to Santa Ana Panaderia. We ordered their Barbacoa. Oh, man, this slow roasted beef taco from Santa Ana was served as juicy as you can get it. Rich-flavored and they offer 8 different homemade salsas to choose from.

On this day we experienced the best Carne Asada we’ve had on our tour through Iowa. Las Palmas prides themselves as having some of the most tender and flavorful steak for their Carne Asada and they were 100% on point. A quick squirt of fresh lime and a little green salsa and we made a new best friend.

Carne Asada topped with fresh diced onion, cilantro, and served on a very warm corn tortilla.

The famous crew of Las Palmas. GET THE CARNE ASADA!

The age old story of small town Iowa and their proud taquerias. We got through Columbus Junction with plenty of tacos nestled in our bellies. And we didn’t even get to all the establishments serving up our favorite road trip meal. Looks like we’ll need to get back soon. See you again, CJ!

Be sure to read about our other taco discoveries in the communities of  Albia, Bettendorf, Columbus Junction, Coralville, Davenport, Fairfield, Fort Madison, Iowa City, Kalona, Knoxville, Lamoni, Muscatine, North Liberty, Ottumwa, Solon, Storm Lake, Tama, Tipton, Toledo, Wapello, Washington, Waterloo, West Branch, West Liberty, and Winfield. One of these towns will be awarded Best Hometown Tacos in December of 2016!

Thanks for reading! -Team Goodvin