It came from Mexico City

Though tacos and burritos reign as perennial favorites on this side of the border, they are not nearly as popular, and even nonexistent, in some parts of Mexico. In Mexico City, torterías are nearly as abundant as taquerías, with many storied establishments offering legendary takes on tortas—our southern neighbor’s closest cousin to the sandwich. La Casa del Pavo, for instance, has been serving its famous turkey tortas since 1901.

When determining how to break into Chico’s Mexican food scene, saturated as it is with an expansive fleet of taco trucks and well-established storefront favorites, Gloria and Fausto Velazquez wisely decided they needed to find a unique niche to be competitive. During a recent visit to their Aztlan Mexican Restaurant, Gloria explained that her husband hails from Mexico City, and the couple would regularly fill their cravings for that city’s distinctively styled tortas in Sacramento, the closest place they could be found before Aztlan opened its doors.

Aztlan is housed in a strange spot for an eatery, in a diminutive (but remodeled) building that used to be a cashier shack in the parking lot of what is now the Money Saver/Food Mart gas station/mini mart on Park Avenue. But inside the tiny restaurant lurk—to borrow the namesake of a now-defunct local surf band—mammoth tortas.

While many restaurants offer tortas on fattened tortilla-like flatbread or thinner telera buns, Aztlan’s offerings come stuffed in delicious, fluffy and flaky, bolillo rolls, freshly baked just down the street at Panadería la Michoacana. But what really distinguishes Aztlan’s tortas Chilangas (a “Chilango” is a denizen of Mexico City) is what’s stuffed inside the sliced bolillo.

Aztlan offers more than a dozen different varieties of torta, with base ingredients including beans, mayo, onions, tomatoes, avocado, cheese and jalapenos. I opted for the Texana, which contains breaded steak, pork leg and sausage, all ingredients atypical to your standard local torta.

The breaded steak is a Mexico City staple, according to Gloria, and is also a delicious break from the more common carne asada (which is also offered at Aztlan). The pork leg, pierna-style, resembles thick-cut bacon in consistency and flavor, while “sausage” is a colloquial term for your standard sliced, grilled hot dog.

Other types of sausage are offered as well—the Cubana, for example, includes all of the above and a bit of chorizo, as well as egg and pineapple. Another promising variation, guaranteed to be the next thing I try at Aztlan, is the Hawaiian, featuring ham, pineapple and cheese.

Aztlan’s tortas are fantastic, a massive mess of delicious, two-fisted gooey goodness. At only $5.99 each ($7.50 for the massive Cubana), it’s also a great price for a fast and filling lunch.

I also sampled a two-taco combo plate, with one carne asada and one al pastor taco and rice and beans ($5.75), to get a feel for Aztlan’s grasp of the fundamentals, and was not disappointed.

Aztlan offers a full menu featuring all the staples, and the selections are still expanding (recent additions include some very promising looking fish tacos). I look forward to sampling all of them in the near future, but it’s gonna take a good long while to work through the torta menu first.