Doble Tinta
Order for pickup

Breakfast from 8 am, Tuesday to Sunday
618 Cobalt Avenue, Mesa Linda
(555) 014-2290

Taquería 618 Cobalt Avenue · Mesa Linda

Hot tortillas, loud salsa, open late.

A corn-first taquería: masa ground and pressed here every morning, al pastor shaved off the trompo, seven salsas from polite to dangerous, and a risograph in the back room that prints our menu every Monday.

Order for pickup See the menu
Today
Breakfast from 8 am
Masa pressed
Every morning, 6:30
Late window
Fri & Sat until 1 am
Three tacos al pastor with pineapple, onion and cilantro on a speckled enamel plate, with green and red salsa and lime on a blue table
Run 041 · Al pastor

Taco Tuesday 3 for $12 any mix, all day

La masa · from corn to counter

How a taco gets made

Five steps, about forty hours, and the reason we never buy a tortilla. Scroll, and we'll build you one.

A drawing of a taco al pastor being built on a comal: corn, masa, a pressed tortilla, shaved pork and pineapple, then onion, cilantro, salsa and lime

  1. 01 Nixtamal

    Corn, soaked overnight

    Dried white and blue corn from a grower up the valley, simmered with cal and left to rest overnight, the old way. It's what makes the masa taste of corn and not of a bag.

  2. 02 Masa

    Ground at 6:30, pressed to order

    Marisol runs the stone mill before we open. Every tortilla is pressed when you order it: fourteen centimeters for a taco, twenty for a quesadilla.

  3. 03 Comal

    Forty seconds a side

    Onto the hot comal, flip, flip again. When it puffs, it's done, and that's the one we put your taco on. Nothing waits under a towel for long.

  4. 04 Trompo

    Shaved straight off the spit

    Pork marinated for two days in guajillo, achiote and pineapple, stacked on the trompo by Teo every afternoon and shaved onto the tortilla in thin, crisp-edged curls.

  5. 05 Salsa

    Onion, cilantro, lime, your call

    Finished at the counter with white onion, cilantro, a squeeze of lime and whichever of our seven salsas you're brave enough for. Pick your heat.

Hands lifting a freshly pressed corn tortilla off a wooden press, with tortillas puffing on a black comal and steam rising behind
6:42 am. The first press of the day, and about nine hundred to go.

900 tortillas pressed on a Saturday

2 days in the al pastor marinade

0 tortillas bought, ever

The salsa bar · seven, made twice a day

Pick your heat

From a whisper to a dare. Slide along the scale, and we'll tell you what it tastes like and what to put it on.

Heat 4 of 7

Morita

Smoked morita chiles, roasted tomatillo, garlic

A slow build: smoke first, then a warmth that arrives after you've decided it's fine.

Put it on Carnitas, suadero, the papa con rajas

Pick a salsa by heat, from mildest to hottest
The dining room at dusk: a long steel counter with stools, the trompo glowing by the grill, pink and blue walls and a wall of two-color posters
The counter at 7 pm on a Thursday, and the poster wall on the right.

The back room

Printed in two inks, behind the kitchen

Behind the walk-in there's a two-drum risograph and exactly two colors of ink: fluorescent pink and medium blue. Every Monday Inés prints the week's menu on it, and every month the new taco gets a poster.

Spend $40 or more with us in a month and the poster's yours: ask at the window. Thirty-one months in, the wall by the counter is nearly full.

The poster wall, so far this year

  • January Quesabirria

  • February Taco de pozole rojo

  • March Nopal y frijol

  • April Hongos al ajillo

  • June Baja-style rockfish

  • October Short rib en mole de olla

Who's behind the window

  • Marisol

    Co-owner · the masa

    Up at 5:30 for the mill. Grew up in her family's tortillería and swears she can hear when a tortilla is ready to flip.

  • Teo

    Co-owner · the trompo

    Stacks the al pastor every afternoon, layer by layer, and runs the late window on Fridays and Saturdays.

  • Inés

    Front of house · the prints

    Runs the dining room, prints the menus and draws every month's poster. Ask her which salsa; she'll tell you the truth.

Every week at Doble Tinta

What's on, day by day

  1. Monday

    Closed

    The kitchen rests and the menu gets printed.

  2. Tuesday

    Taco Tuesday

    Any three tacos for $12, all day, the October taco included.

  3. Wednesday

    Pozole night

    Pozole rojo from 5 pm, $14 a bowl, until the pot's empty.

  4. Thursday

    Salsa flight

    All seven salsas and a basket of chips for $6. Bring a friend.

  5. Friday

    Late window

    Al pastor from the window until 1 am, or until the trompo's bare.

  6. Saturday

    Late window

    The same, plus quesabirria from 10 pm for the night owls.

  7. Sunday

    Barbacoa

    Lamb barbacoa and consomé from 8 am, until it's gone (usually noon).

Parties, big tables, catering

Bring everybody

Walk-ins for up to five, always. For six or more, the back room or a taco cart at your place, tell us the date and the headcount and Inés will write back within a day.

6 to 14 guests

The big table

The long table by the poster wall, booked ahead so it's waiting. Order off the menu, or let us bring a taquiza for the table.

Taquiza from $28 a guest

Up to 40 seated

The back room

Yours for the evening, Sunday to Thursday: a taco bar with four fillings, the salsa bar, aguas frescas and churros. Posters on the walls included.

From $38 a guest · $800 minimum

25 to 150 guests

The taco cart

Our cart, a comal, two taqueros and three salsas at your wedding, office or backyard, within fifteen miles of Cobalt Avenue.

From $22 a guest · 25 minimum

Ask about a date

Rough estimate $1,520 for 40 guests in the back room, before tax and gratuity

What are you planning?
40

Nothing's booked or charged until we've talked.

Visit

Come hungry, come late

Breakfast from 8 am, Tuesday to Sunday

618 Cobalt Avenue
Mesa Linda, California
(555) 014-2290
Hours
Tuesday8 am – 10 pm
Wednesday8 am – 10 pm
Thursday8 am – 10 pm
Friday8 am – 1 am
Saturday8 am – 1 am
Sunday8 am – 9 pm
MondayClosed

The kitchen takes its last order fifteen minutes before close. Breakfast runs until 11:30 am.

Map of the blocks around Doble Tinta Doble Tinta is on Cobalt Avenue at the corner of Fresno Street, a block south of Mesa Linda Station, beside Arbol Park. Arbol Park COBALT AVENUE FRESNO STREET MESA LINDA STATION Doble Tinta
  • By train: a block south of Mesa Linda Station, past Arbol Park.
  • Parking: free on Cobalt Avenue after 6 pm; a bike rack by the door.
  • Access: a step-free entrance, a lowered section of the counter and an accessible restroom.

Good questions

Asked at the window

Can I book a table?

For five or fewer it's walk-in only, and the wait is rarely more than ten minutes. For six or more, ask about a date and we'll hold the long table for you.

Is everything gluten-free?

Nearly. Our corn tortillas are just corn, cal and water, so every taco is gluten-free except the pescado (battered) and the gringa (flour). The fryer is shared, so tell us if it's an allergy and we'll take care.

What can vegans eat?

Four tacos at all times (calabacitas, nopal y frijol, papa con rajas and whichever special is vegan that week), the guacamole, the rice, the aguas frescas and the paleta. Our beans and rice are cooked without lard.

Do you deliver?

We don't use delivery apps, so the tacos get to you hot and the price stays the same. Order here for pickup and we'll have it at the window at the time you choose.

Are kids welcome late?

Until 9 pm, with pleasure; we have high chairs and a plain quesadilla for picky eaters. After 10 on Fridays and Saturdays it's the late-window crowd, and it gets loud.

Can I buy a poster?

They aren't for sale: they're thank-yous. Spend $40 with us in a month and ask at the window for that month's poster while we have them.

Sample site · See our work