Chef Lito Saldaña’s empire of tacos expands into Elmwood
When Shen Hua closed last summer, a collective sigh of disappointment drifted up into the atmosphere. As it hovered above Berkeley’s city limits, many disappointed citizens asked themselves, “What other restaurant could possibly move in to fill the void?” When customers walked into Edward Chu’s Chinese restaurant, the sounds and sights of a busy open kitchen immediately confirmed it was the right place for a celebration.
The impatient, terse waiters only added to the experience. They had a dozen other tables to attend to! Their grumpiness gave diners something to bond about, in addition to tasty plates of lemon-pepper prawns and the subtle sweetness of the unforgettable cherry pork.
After some months and several interior architectural updates, Lito Saldaña’s 5 Tacos & Beers has moved into Shen Hua’s Elmwood address. Chef Saldaña is on a restaurant-opening spree. His first restaurant group, Los Moles, has three locations in Emeryville, El Cerrito and San Rafael. 5 Tacos & Beers, his second concept, appears to be keeping pace with Los Moles. Expanding on its initial location in Albany—and followed by the Elmwood entry—5 Tacos & Beers recently opened a third restaurant in Walnut Creek.
Yecenia Rodríguez, the general manager of Elmwood’s 5 Tacos & Beers, said that their landlord had been a customer in Albany. He liked the concept and wanted Saldaña to open the restaurant in Shen Hua’s place. Rodríguez, who is also Saldaña’s sister-in-law, had previously worked with him at Los Moles and at the Albany branch. In a telephone interview, she told me that after establishing three Los Moles locations, her brother-in-law wanted to start a new concept.
“Lito loves tacos, he loves beers,” Rodríguez said. “He thought that was a great idea.” The throughline for the tacos is that they’re homemade from scratch. “He tried out this new concept. Tacos, homemade tortillas, good quality meats, fresh vegetables and local craft beers—and it started doing well.”
Rodríguez said that Los Moles serves a variety of different dishes but specializes in moles. Saldaña serves at least 10 different kinds there. “Lito tried to make a different recipe from each state of Mexico,” she said. “He’s from Jalisco. He made his mother’s recipe and my mother’s recipe.”
The beer menu features lagers, pilsners, ales, sours, gluten-free beers, Belgians, seltzers and hard ciders. For $20, a beer flight includes five 5-oz. beers. Some of the locally made brews include Hell or High Mango, a wheat ale from 21st Amendment in San Francisco; Venti is Large, a dark beer from Hop Dogma in Half Moon Bay; and Lawn of the Dead, a tart-but-fruity raspberry-and-blood-orange sour from Oakland’s Temescal Brewing.
The food menu is essentially the same at each location, with some monthly specials rotated in. Under Rodríguez’s watch, the approach to service and hospitality is notably cheery. Hosts, servers and bartenders spread a shared feeling of sunniness throughout the restaurant. The kitchen remains open but the main dining room is now more defined by new partitions. The second, smaller dining room looks like a shared-but-separate space—and the acoustics are better because of the definition. The kitchen might have clattered away behind me but the activity played like a background performance accompanying the meal and not as an unwelcome distraction from our conversation.
From the taco menu, we ordered the suadero ($5.95) with brisket, onions, cilantro and salsa, and a pork al pastor ($5.95) with marinated pork butt, grilled onions, cilantro and salsa. Both are substantial portions and plenty for a single diner. There are actually six tacos on the menu, five with proteins and a vegetarian sixth with grilled nopales ($4.95).
Our flautas de pollo ($16) arrived vertically and sliced in half. The plate was pretty and bright, flowering over with vegetable colors—green guacamole and light-green cabbage, red onions, white queso fresco and salsa roja.
Shen Hua served as a place of pilgrimage for UC students, their parents and Elmwood residents, and 5 Tacos & Beers retains a similar air of family friendliness. The community can rest assured that when they frequent this new restaurant they are still in good hands.
5 Tacos and Beers, open Mon to Fri 11am to 9pm and weekends 10am to 9pm. 2914 College Ave., Berkeley. 510.570.2589. 5tacos.com
