‘Smokehouse taqueria’ serving brisket tacos, salmon sashimi tostada in Elk Grove
After years in high-end kitchens and corporate catering, one chef has returned to his roots, serving street-style dishes like salmon sashimi tostadas and brisket tacos at a “smokehouse taqueria” in Elk Grove.
Co-owners Erick and Jessica Silva opened their second StreetZlan location in November 2023, offering a diverse menu of street food including tacos, sandwiches and barbecue at 9080 Laguna Main St.
“I’m a heavy believer in fate and every kitchen I stepped into ... everybody I shared knives with, everybody we shared family meals with,” Erick Silva said. “I think all of that was a recipe for what was to come later on in my future.”
Two months after launching the Elk Grove location, Silva said they closed their original Galt restaurant in January 2024 partly because of unresolved building maintenance issues.
Although they hoped to keep both restaurants open, they decided to focus fully on Elk Grove, the city they’ve called home for over a decade. “My vision was always to open here in Elk Grove,” Silva said.
Located in the quiet Main Street Plaza, StreetZlan offers Silva both “the liberty to extend his arms out and breathe freely” and difficulties. The location — surrounded by dental offices, salons and a pet shop — lacks the foot traffic of a busy retail center.
“I feel like that’s our biggest challenge,” he said. “How can we get people to come out here?”
Street-style dishes
StreetZlan’s menu is tight, yet reflects a variety of cultural influences Silva has picked up over the course of his culinary career.
“When I do Japanese, Peruvian, French or Italian, I’m gonna bring some of my culture into it and see what happens,” Silva said.
The Avocado Slayer ($12.50) is a refreshing appetizer of contrasting textures from fatty avocado, soft green apples and chilled black bean puree layered on a crispy tostada. The vegetarian option is garnished with dill and thinly sliced lemons.
“I was developing this menu constantly day in and day out because I knew our restaurant was opening up,” Silva said. “I needed to do something healthy and I had a dream about an avocado dish.”
Silva said the avocado slayer marked his first recipe collaboration with Jessica, who suggested adding green apples.
The Salmon Sashimi Tostada ($14.50) coats buttery cured salmon and heirloom tomatoes over guacamole, with lemon, salsa macha and fried togarashi, or Japanese pepper. While there is a spicy kick, the variety of bold textures and flavors makes the perfect combination of fat, acidity and spice.
The C Street fish taco honors the original Galt restaurant, featuring a large piece of rock cod fried in an airy, crispy batter with cabbage and avocado. The fish held up in crispiness over the course of the meal despite being smothered in togarashi sauce.
Other taco options include chicharron, made from pork belly fried until crispy and its fat rendered, and brisket, which was juicy, tender and smoky. Both were paired with guacamole, pico de gallo and salsa roja, offering a fresh contrast to the rich meats.
Silva said the brisket requires early morning smoking sessions, as early as 3:30 a.m., while other BBQ items like pulled pork and sausage are faster to prepare. The tacos came in a 3 for $17 deal with an additional $4.50 charge for brisket.
To drink, the bloody agua fresca ($6.50) combines watermelon and strawberry juice with a Tajín and lime rim. StreetZlan also offers beer, sangrias, micheladas, and soft drinks.
A chef’s journey
Silva graduated from the California Culinary Academy in 2006 and worked in various high-end European and Japanese restaurants in Los Angeles and Las Vegas. “I’m Mexican, but I never worked in a Mexican restaurant in my life,” Silva said.
Despite his experience, Silva said he struggled to define his culinary identity with friends often asking him to cook something that represented his personal style, a request that left him conflicted.
“What does that mean? That would eat at me for so long. I felt so lost,” he said.
In 2011, Silva left Fleur de Lys, a French restaurant at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, when his grandfather became gravely ill. After he passed away, Silva’s uncles asked him to take care of his grandmother in South San Francisco.
“When I looked at everybody’s situation, I was the only one who could really pick up and leave,” Silva said.
During that time, he asked his grandmother to teach him how to make her signature birria and salsa, techniques that would later influence his own cooking.
“I never saw myself opening a restaurant,” Silva said. “When I started cooking with my grandma, I started learning all these techniques and how she gets so much flavor. I was intrigued by everything.”
Later, Silva took a job as executive chef at a catering company in Roseville, tasked with reimagining the food program. However, Silva said the job was not as promised and the corporate control over recipes and ingredients felt “like a cage.”
“It was sucking the life, my passion out of me,” Silva said. “So every Tuesday, I came up with a taco and posted it on my Instagram to get creative with myself and get my juices going.” One of the dishes created during this time would eventually become the C Street fish taco.
Silva said getting laid off was like a breath of fresh air but was terrible timing because his wife was laid off shortly after.
In 2016, Silva opened a catering business called KnifeLyfe, preparing fresh Dungeness crab on buttery French baguettes and salmon sashimi tostadas, dishes “born in the streets,” at Sacramento area farmers markets and events.
“I can work at all these fine dining restaurants, but this is the time for me to sharpen up my knives,” Silva said. “I’m on my own now. How can I make myself stand out from all these food trucks?”
Eventually, the couple opened a brick-and-mortar restaurant in Galt, where the original name was going to be Puente, or bridge in Spanish, representing Silva’s culinary journey and struggle.
But his wife cautioned the name would imply the restaurant only serves Mexican food, so Silva went with StreetZlan, with “street” being the style of food and “Atzlan” representing his culture and a nod to pre-colonial Mexico.
“That’s my style of cooking. Street food with your hands in a fun environment with music and beer,” Silva said. “That’s my happy place. I would much rather be here than in a setting where it’s all dim lights, quiet, like a lot of the restaurants I worked in.”
StreetZlan is open 11:30 a.m.-8 p.m., Monday and Wednesday through Saturday; and 11:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday.