La Victoria Taqueria, San Jose

My friends out here can't stop raving about "La Vic's," a late night Mexican place conveniently located next to a number of watering holes (131 West Santa Clara Street, 408-993-8230, with other locations in the area). So after a few drinks in downtown tonight, we popped on over to get a bite.

I got the Super Nachos loaded with lengua beef tongue, which definitely satiated the cravings on its own. But the reason why this place is so famous is because of the so-called "orange sauce." That's an orange-colored (not orange-flavored) hot sauce sitting in plastic squeeze bottles that apparently has been quite a bit of a discussion itself. Some say that it's made from mayonnaise, some say that it's made from ranch dressing, and yet others say that it's made from chorizo grease (apparently to the dismay of a number of vegans). I'm not sure which one it is, but I'm inclined to believe the last one given how explosively rich the sauce was. I only needed one little squirt on my food before exclaiming, "Damn, that's pretty f*ckin' good." Mmm...now I know what all of the buzz is about.

These guys are very proud of the sauce, running taglines such as "Home of the Orange Sauce" and "Orange you glad you tried La Victoria." Even as we left the place, I heard passers-by saying stuff like "that place is the best" and "we gotta steal the sauce," all literally within seconds of each other. Perhaps the latter is the reason why they strictly allowed only one bottle per table inside (although it is for sale if you want to buy some for yourself). Yup, the orange sauce is the reason for coming here. It may not be very healthy, but post-drinking grease bombs rarely are.