Loaded vegan tacos for under $20? We tried Rosemont’s El Cantaro Vegan Taqueria
A quick hop along Highway 50 Eastbound brings you straight to the Rosemont area, which is peppered with high-quality locally owned restaurants amid a sea of massive chain eateries.
Among these hidden gems is El Cantaro Vegan Taqueria, tucked into the far corner of a nondescript Save Mart-anchored strip mall along Kiefer Boulevard.
A Sacramento Bee reader recently requested the service journalism team do more coverage of vegan and vegetarian restaurants, so our team vowed to find affordable options for non-meat-eaters throughout Sacramento as part of our On a Budget series.
Ahead of Earth Day, on Wednesday, April 22, I visited the taqueria with Sacramento Bee opinion columnist LeBron Hill to see how authentic Mexican food can be without meat.
What is El Cantaro Vegan Taqueria like?
The Mexican restaurant sits between a number of small retail businesses at 9123 Kiefer Blvd., marked with a red lettered sign reading “El Cantaro.”
To know the spot is vegan, you would have to get up close to read the small “Vegan Taqueria” text on the restaurant’s logo.
Inside, the restaurant resembles any neighborhood spot that slings fresh carne asada tacos, with tight seating and brightly colored walls. The menu provides few explicit notions that items like ground beef and “chick’n” are made with plant alternatives, forcing diners to trust that El Cantaro’s team knows how to deliver on meatless Mexican food.
The woman at the front of the house for the Tuesday lunch service was kind and patient, having no problem repeating that yes, everything is vegan.
Among the restaurant’s offerings are a variety of Mexican favorites, including tacos, burritos, quesadillas, pozole, mole, and plenty more.
What did I get for under $20 at the vegan Mexican restaurant?
I went for a medley of three tacos ($5.25 each), opting for the Ranchero soft taco with meatless ground beef, chick’n soft taco and Baja-style fish taco, which came with a mango salsa and a smoky chipotle sauce.
While I was initially concerned about the $5.25 cost for each taco, my expectations were blown out of the water when I received three soft tacos on tortillas double the size of the usual street tacos, overflowing with proteins and toppings.
The ground not-beef taco tasted virtually indistinguishable from its meat counterpart, elevated by plenty of seasoning. In the chick’n taco, the marinated chicken alternative dripped with a warm spiced sauce and was more tender and chewy than real chicken meat.
Hill was similarly impressed by the familiar flavors and approachability of the meatless protein alternatives.
“Oftentimes with vegan food, people tend to give it a bad rap for not holding its own as traditional foods,” he said. “El Cantaro is a prime example of a restaurant that does vegan food the right way, by letting the flavors be the star of the show and staying true to their culture.”
The only slight letdown was the fish taco, which includes “vegan tuna” of unknown origin. The fish itself tasted similar enough to real fish, but the flaky cooked fish texture was understandably not able to be replicated. Instead, it comes as thin strips of a crisp patty.
Is El Cantaro Vegan Taqueria affordable?
For vegan options, it’s relatively affordable, especially given the generous portion sizes.
Though street tacos can cost $3 or less at some local pop-ups, the higher price for each taco is well worth it.
Other plates, like mole or enchiladas with beans and rice on the side, can cost upward of $20 each. Still, cheap and filling vegan options that accurately mirror Mexican cuisine are plentiful at El Cantaro.
