This 7th Street taco stand bears their son’s name, and business is booming

When their son turned 2 years old, money was a constant worry for Tacos Uziel co-owners Luis Perez and Adriana Mancia.

They had just gotten moved off of their original sidewalk location near Cal State Long Beach, there were days when nobody bought tacos and, at times, they had to discard their unused product.

This week, it was a much different scene. On Tuesday, the cash-only taco stand bearing their son’s name, Uziel, celebrated its second anniversary at the corner of East Seventh Street and Termino Avenue with discounted specials including $1 tacos and $5 burritos.

For its first anniversary, the line stretched around the corner past the bus stop and almost to the Sherwin-Williams Paint. From opening time at 4 p.m., the stream of customers remained constant as they served up hundreds of discounted tacos over the next seven hours.

Mancia said she’s thankful for all the customers who made it possible for the stand to celebrate two years at the location just north of Belmont Heights.

“At first, it was very difficult to find a location,” she said in Spanish. “By chance, we ended up there and we stayed there.”

Anyone driving west on Seventh Street, less than a mile past Recreation Park, has likely seen the line during the evening.

Customer favorites include the carne asada, al pastor shaved off the trompo, suadero (beef belly) and cabeza (steamed cow head). There’s also carnitas, chorizo, pollo asada and buche (pork stomach).

Tacos are $1 on Tuesday and $2 the rest of the week — the same price as the agua frescas that come in jamaica, horchata, watermelon, cucumber, pineapple, mango and cucumber with pineapple.

Tacos Uziel has a bilingual staff so orders can be placed in English or Spanish. They take catering orders as well.

Long Beach resident Ernesto Flores said he’s been coming to the stand every week on Tuesday for the last six months to order 30 or 40 tacos for his family.

“The way I see itm they’re bringing value to the dollar,” Flores said. “You can’t get anything for a dollar anymore.”

The stand also offers $10 burritos with beans and rice to accompany the mouth-watering meat of your choice.

You can’t go wrong with any of the meats offered. The real tough choice comes when choosing among the variety of salsas. The citrus taste of the light green salsa perfectly accompanies any taco or burrito.

Quesadillas, mulitas and papas asadas are also available.

Erick Trinidad, who lives near Cherry Avenue and Seventh Street, said he tries to stop by every other day and has been eating at the stand for over a year. On Tuesday, Trinidad brought one of his friends to try the tacos for the first time.

The husband-and-wife duo behind Tacos Uziel moved to the United States in 2016 from a small town in the mountains of Oaxaca, Mancia said.

Coincidentally, Perez and Mancia hail from the same town as the owner of the well-known Tacos Lionydas stand.

From Tamazulapam del Espíritu Santo in northeast Oaxaca’s Indigenous Sierra Mixe region, each stand has brought its unique take on the Mixe style, which typically has a higher amount of vinegar and dried chiles.

Mancia and Perez now live in South Central Los Angeles with their son, who is now 4, but they decided to open a stand in Long Beach because they realized there weren’t many other stands offering tacos like theirs.

Luis works at the stand Tuesday through Sunday, with Monday as a rest day, along with a few family friends who need work.

Tacos Uziel , at the corner of Termino Avenue and East Seventh Street, is open Tuesday through Sunday from 4:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m.

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