This small unassuming restaurant is located at the far northeastern portion of the Market Place shopping center in Yucaipa on the same side of the shopping center as Hops & Spokes and north of the water store.
In its previous incarnations, it had always been a border-style Mexican restaurant serving tacos, burritos, quesadillas, etc. just like scores of other establishments throughout the Inland Empire.
The newest version is called Guadalajara Tacos & Soul Food.

Queso birrio tacos. Redlands Community News Photo by David Cohen
They are planning to make the Mexican menu more streamlined, keeping the most popular items such as al pastor and birria tacos, while broadening the soul food section.
A few words about soul food, which permeates the Black culinary experience throughout the south.
Think collard greens, hush puppies, oxtail stew, fried okra, cornbread, red beans and rice, black eyed peas, fried catfish, smothered pork chops and chicken, and some BBQ items thrown in for good measure.
Now I should state up front that all these changes will not happen overnight.
Both brisket and ribs are currently available, both of which have an undercurrent of heat running through them.
The ribs appear rather crusty, a result of the sauce being brushed atop the bones, but they aren’t burnt, and the meat is quite tender.
The brisket lacks the smoke ring resulting from low temperature and lengthy smoking, but is surprisingly tender and flavorful.

Fried catfish nuggets. Redlands Community News Photo by David Cohen
The catfish nuggets were a revelation — dredged in a salt and pepper flour with a hint of onion and garlic.
The flesh was pristine white and melted in your mouth tender, as if it was freshly caught from the Mississippi delta.
It’s 100 percent fish, not like some versions where each piece of fish is half fish and half coating.
Bet you can’t eat just one order!
Candied yams and collard greens round out this memorable dish. Moving on to the Mexican side of the menu, the queso birria tacos were quite good: tender shredded beef mixed with onions, cilantro and melted cheese holding all the ingredients together.
Another item worth considering is the chili verde with succulent cubes of pork slowly simmered with tomatillos in a green chili pepper sauce.
The pastor tacos, which are filled with tender minced pork, were quite spicy, and blended with achiote paste, which imparts an orange cast to the meat, along with ground clove aromatics as well.

Pastor’s Tacos. Redlands Community News Photo by David Cohen
In summary, watch for more soul food items being added in the near future including smothered chicken served in a rich gravy.
I personally would like to see hush puppies, fried okra, cornbread, oxtail stew and shrimp and grits become part of the regular soul food menu.
After all, the dining public has a myriad of Mexican places from which to choose — but not very many soul food establishments.
Perhaps a different soul food specialty daily?
Kudos to the new owners for bringing an underrepresented cuisine to the dining public.
Finally, don’t miss the photo of Kobe Bryant, with a blinking golden halo above his head.