Took a little adventure down to old town for some mexican food. We’ve had many an old town adventure over the years… and most of them involve mexican food. And good mexican food at that.

This time we were solely focused on hitting up freds for some tacos, and in my case, tequila. This was my first time at the old town location. The original location in pacific beach was a hop skip and a jump away from home, so there was no need when it was open. And then there was the covid of it all that put a giant pause on our restaurant activity.

But that’s all been behind us for quite some time, and after hearing such good things about the food coming out of the freds kitchen, we knew we needed to try it for ourselves.

And, y’all? It didn’t disappoint. Definitely worth the trip to old town to check it out.

We started out with the house chips and salsa - first basket is complimentary, additional refills availible for purchase.

I got to tell you, I love this idea. The problem with bottomless chips and salsa is that you keep mindlessly eating them, and by the time your meal gets to you, you’re too full to enjoy it.

But one basket of chips and salsa? Perfection. Just enough without filling you up.

Can you guess how happy someone was, when they learned that the seasonal rotating taps were all ipas? We settled on the hazy.

Excellent choice, and the 20oz pour is a great deal.

They had a bunch of fun tequila specials for the month of february, and immediately I was drawn to the 1 night stand. Anything with black berry and I am down. It’s not always a good choice, but I always have to try. And in this case it was the best choice. It was such a good drink.

Which means that you only have a few more weeks to head down to freds and check it out before the february specials go away. I’m already looking at my calendar to try and figure out if I’ve got a chance to squeeze in another visit.

Once you order, you are brought the house salsa trio. We were warned that a little of the habenero goes a long way… and that my friends, was no lie. We were both able to try about a pinkie dab on chips just to see if our palate could handle it. Spoiler. It could not. Which is a shame, because the flavor profile was amazing.

The chipotle salsa was smokey, as compared to most roasted salsas, and I appreciated the twist. It’s giving me ideas for a new homemade version. Stay tuned.

The salsa verde was definitely a fav out of the three. Fresh and bright. I really liked it just plain with the chips, just for the flavor.

These fries. Seriously.

First of all. You have the option to sub garlic fries. The answer is yes. Sub the garlic fries. So much extra packed flavor.

Now, let’s talk about the carne asada. This is the most tender, most flavorful carne asada we’ve ever had. You know how carne asada can be fatty and tough? Especially when served in large chunks? Not this carne. It was so unusual, that we spent quite a lot of time trying to break down exactly what ingredients went into it and how the marinade must be made. I can foresee some major carne asada recipe testing in the future.

Next up was fred’s street corn. We went with cool ranch. Basically elote flavored corn ribs topped with cotija, sour cream and cilantro with a side of tapatilo.

And y’all know how I feel about elote. Big love.

While corn ribs are fun in theroy; and make a cool visual statement, in eating execution however, they are not my fav. I feel like a lot of corn gets left behind and you end up eating more of the cob than you would if they were served whole, or taken off the cob completely.

But that’s just my opinion and has absolutely no bearing on the flavor or taste of the street corn - both of which are on point.

As we all know, I’m currently in my watermelon cucumber drink era. So when I saw this marg on the regular menu, I had to try.

Now, to be honest, out of the two, I liked the 1 night stand the best. But, it’s not a regular menu item (unless freds hears this and wants add it to their regular menu- hint hint)… that being said. I would totally order this one again and again.

Since freds is marketed as a taco and tequila spot. What’s a girl to do, but order the tacos. You get to mix and match two of your choice. Which, thank you. So many taco places give you two tacos, but you have to order the same two tacos. Which to me seems silly from a restaurant stand point. Shouldn’t you want your customers to try as many different things as possible? That way you have more chances to fall in love with the menu and come back. So well done in that respect freds. Nailed it.

The two tacos come with rice and beans. However, you can swap out the rice and beans for either pozole or a side salad. And the pozole was clearly the play here.

I first fell in love with pozole at a sushi restaurant. No lie. It was a guest chef combo night, and it was amazing. I’ve since made my own version, featuring corn instead of hominy, however, as I was devouring (and not sharing, mind you), I decided it’s been too long since I’ve made it at home, and I’m gonna have to revamp my original version.

Oh my goodness y’all, this. This is the taco that all tacos should be jealous of. I kid you not. Tastes just like a big mac. But better. It’s the sauce. Dreaming of that sauce. And the perfectly seasoned beef. Onions, tomatoes, shredded lettuce, little bit of cabbage… fries! Perfect combo.

This might make me recant my stand on two of the same tacos… ‘cause you definitely need more than one. This is what taco tuesday a la carte night is for.

Second taco choice? The shrimp taco. While it wasn’t the cheeseburger taco, it definitely was one of the best shrimp tacos we’ve had. As jamie put it, I’ve never been obsessed with shrimp tacos, but if I was to eat any shrimp taco… this is the one I’d eat over and over. Now, considering he’s eaten many a shrimp taco I’ve made, I’m not quite sure what to think about that. At the same time, being a shrimp taco fan (even more so that the socal fish taco), I’m thrilled to have a place we can go where I can order the shrimp taco to share.

Saving the best for last.

There are churros, and then there are churros. And these were the churros. Crispy on the outside, tender and soft on the inside. Served with chocolate and dulce de leche (our fav - barely touched the chocolate because it was so good). Super filing, but 100 percent worth it. 10 out of 10 would order every single time.

So funny, because we weren’t even thinking dessert, until our server suggested it, and we thought, why not. And now I can’t imagine that we could have left without trying it.