Of all the parts of the cabeza, Don Arturo Olivares loves the eyes the best. “No cilantro, no onion, just a little bit of salt,” he said. Olivares is the owner of La Gran Chiquita, a popular taqueria near the Fruitvale BART station that specializes in Mexico City-style casual dishes, and often that means doing something different. 

“When we started out, we did a lot of research on what other taquerias were doing,” says Olivares. “And we decided that we weren’t going to Americanize our food, that our specialties would be the food that we can’t get here in the U.S.,” he said.
That beginning was in 2002, when Olivares opened La Gran Chiquita Taqueria on International Blvd. He started with quesadillas filled with flor de calabaza (squash blossoms) and huitlacoche (a corn fungus akin to a Mexican truffle). Both ingredients have only recently appeared on Mexican restaurant menus in the U.S. Then it was blood sausage and a sandwich called the pambazo, a toasted roll drowned in salsa filled with potatoes and chorizo. Name a cut of meat and Olivares probably has it: from gizzards to cheeks and lips.

However, it’s the barbacoa that brings families from all over the Bay Area to line up outside of La Gran Chiquita on the weekends. It’s optional to include pancita, tripe and small intestine, and the meat comes steaming in a foil packet alongside a rich soup with garbanzo beans, rice, carrots and laced with chipotle chilies.
Olivares’ refusal to not compromise on the authenticity and taste of his food has created a loyal following of people in Oakland and throughout the Bay Area.

Prior to La Gran Chiquita, Olivares and his wife started making tacos in Richmond for birthday parties and other celebrations. In Mexico, Olivares made barbacoa for a living – in Richmond, he made adjustments to the recipe and pieced together his equipment and it wasn’t long before catering orders were booking up their weekends. When Olivares lost his construction job, making tacos kept the family afloat.

Olivares can often be seen in the front window of his taqueria, making tacos at the grill and serving them to customers. There is a lot of good Mexican food in the Fruitvale district, but there are only a few that stand out for their absolute Mexican authenticity and dedication to tradition - La Gran Chiquita is clearly one of them.